I always look around me at some of my friends who are quite addicted to the doctor syndrome. It is almost as if they lose their identity if they are no longer a doctor. This is probably the most common symptom of those constructively erased from the GMC or the NHS. Symptoms are repeatedly writing their degrees after their names, obsessively using the "Dr" title and hanging onto some kind of element of being a "Dr". A lot of doctors face the prospect of dealing with bereavement from their medical careers. For some it is difficult for them to accept that its over so they continue to bash their heads against a brick wall - usually the GMC, trying to justify how right they are. Of course, they are usually right but the GMC never listens. It is this addiction to their lives as doctors that makes them feel that they do not exist without belonging to the medical profession.
For me, I accepted the end of my medical work. It wasn't a sudden issue. I had always understood that the prognosis was poor and that I was on borrowed time. Whistleblowers don't survive long in the NHS. When the end came in the form of a GMC referral in 2007, I accepted the fact that I was either going to spend years banging my head against the brick wall or circumstances would just cut me off from the medical profession. And it did cut me off as predicted. I was cut off from the mother ship, few noticed or cared. Few wondered what I would live on or survive with. These are of course not issues that the public worry about because to them doctors always have money. I am not sure where it grows, probably a money tree. I didn't have the seeds so I survived the hard way. I probably moped for a day or two cursing the GMC, the NHS but in end you just have to dust your coat and move onto the next episode of your life. And that is what I did. Once doctors understand and accept the end, moving on is probably empowering in many ways. The shackles that once tied you to the system are broken, you discover that there is a world outside medicine. Starting to live like a normal person is hard but not impossible. You look around you and 90 percent of the world exists quite happily without being linked to the medical profession.
So I haven't missed my medical friends. I often find those I have stopped contacting, tiresome and limited in their view point. They all live in their limited worlds gloating about one degree or another, puffing their chests and running at 100mph with society - never once thinking that there maybe another dimension of thought. I wrote this for those who find themselves at a crossroad. You either leave medicine or you are thrown out - either way, acceptance of your situation is the key to the future. I never look back with regret. It is after all not my loss that the medical profession threw me out of the mother ship. I have existed and do exist quite happily without them. That is the product of having an alternative ego.
Update
Following the above post, I quite liked this though provoking comment left below. I have cut and pasted it here because it makes a lot of sense.
For me, I accepted the end of my medical work. It wasn't a sudden issue. I had always understood that the prognosis was poor and that I was on borrowed time. Whistleblowers don't survive long in the NHS. When the end came in the form of a GMC referral in 2007, I accepted the fact that I was either going to spend years banging my head against the brick wall or circumstances would just cut me off from the medical profession. And it did cut me off as predicted. I was cut off from the mother ship, few noticed or cared. Few wondered what I would live on or survive with. These are of course not issues that the public worry about because to them doctors always have money. I am not sure where it grows, probably a money tree. I didn't have the seeds so I survived the hard way. I probably moped for a day or two cursing the GMC, the NHS but in end you just have to dust your coat and move onto the next episode of your life. And that is what I did. Once doctors understand and accept the end, moving on is probably empowering in many ways. The shackles that once tied you to the system are broken, you discover that there is a world outside medicine. Starting to live like a normal person is hard but not impossible. You look around you and 90 percent of the world exists quite happily without being linked to the medical profession.
So I haven't missed my medical friends. I often find those I have stopped contacting, tiresome and limited in their view point. They all live in their limited worlds gloating about one degree or another, puffing their chests and running at 100mph with society - never once thinking that there maybe another dimension of thought. I wrote this for those who find themselves at a crossroad. You either leave medicine or you are thrown out - either way, acceptance of your situation is the key to the future. I never look back with regret. It is after all not my loss that the medical profession threw me out of the mother ship. I have existed and do exist quite happily without them. That is the product of having an alternative ego.
Update
Following the above post, I quite liked this though provoking comment left below. I have cut and pasted it here because it makes a lot of sense.
"I agree with you and would like to say that it is hard to deal with losing any career, not just medicine, when you have spent too much time and effort to prepare for it, and specially when you have had high hopes for future prosperity and progression in that career only to see all these hopes crashing so suddenly. As you say, it does take time to get over it- that's providing you know that it is still 'you' inside that body and that you can do it again and again. I chose, or I had to choose, to leave a promising career because of family matters, sulked and stagnated and was really limp and angry for a while, then because it was me still inside there, I just one day got up and got out. I rose to the challenge and I never looked back since! I suppose I was in such a deep predicament that it became impossible to allow it to continue. I now remember the old days with affection rather than bitterness. Perhaps because it worked out better than if I had stayed in that career I left - and because I did it on my own without anyone's help too. There is definately personal gratification in that.
So, as you say, there is plenty of hope out there and it is free. And when some are lost, more will just appear - on their own - as if by magic! You just need to leave your heart and your eyes open so that you don't miss them when they pass by"
1 comments:
I agree with you and would like to say that it is hard to deal with losing any career, not just medicine, when you have spent too much time and effort to prepare for it, and specially when you have had high hopes for future prosperity and progression in that career only to see all these hopes crashing so suddenly. As you say, it does take time to get over it- that's providing you know that it is still 'you' inside that body and that you can do it again and again. I chose, or I had to choose, to leave a promising career because of family matters, sulked and stagnated and was really limp and angry for a while, then because it was me still inside there, I just one day got up and got out. I rose to the challenge and I never looked back since! I suppose I was in such a deep predicament that it became impossible to allow it to continue. I now remember the old days with affection rather than bitterness. Perhaps because it worked out better than if I had stayed in that career I left - and because I did it on my own without anyone's help too. There is definately personal gratification in that.
So, as you say, there is plenty of hope out there and it is free. And when some are lost, more will just appear - on their own - as if by magic! You just need to leave your heart and your eyes open so that you don't miss them when they pass by.
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