Prestige of Lawyer vs Physician

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What lawyers fail to understand--repeatedly--is that most people consider them leeches (or cockroaches--pick your metaphor).

I grant my trash collector more prestige than I do pretty much any lawyer. At least he's doing an honest job for a fair wage.

What about when you get in a car accident or your ex is being difficult in a divorce case, or you have some other reason you need a lawyer. Yes plenty of lawywers are leeches but we live in a society where even your own mother will screw you over.

Being a doctor is prestigious but our medical system is a mess. One of the top debts people have are medical bills so some might consider doctors to be leeches also especially when you look at how some procedures and services are seriously being over charged.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What lawyers fail to understand--repeatedly--is that most people consider them leeches (or cockroaches--pick your metaphor).

I grant my trash collector more prestige than I do pretty much any lawyer. At least he's doing an honest job for a fair wage.

What about when you get in a car accident or your ex is being difficult in a divorce case, or you have some other reason you need a lawyer. Yes plenty of lawywers are leeches but we live in a society where even your own mother will screw you over.

Being a doctor is prestigious but our medical system is a mess. One of the top debts people have are medical bills so some might consider doctors to be leeches also especially when you look at how some procedures and services are seriously being over charged.

The way I understand it doctors are not setting the rates for medical care, it's hospitals, insurance companies and the medical industry as a whole. The reason that aspirin in the E.R. costs $100 is because it helps offset the cost for the next 100 patients with no insurance that walk into the E.R. and get free services, surgeries, care and medication. That plus the large of amount of insurance they have to have to cover liabilities in this culture where legal cases are so prevalent.

This thread is ridiculous, lawyers if it strokes your ego a bit- thank you for your tenacity at always wanting to get in the last word, even if that means bumping an old thread to do so.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
What lawyers fail to understand--repeatedly--is that most people consider them leeches (or cockroaches--pick your metaphor).

I grant my trash collector more prestige than I do pretty much any lawyer. At least he's doing an honest job for a fair wage.


What about when you get in a car accident or your ex is being difficult in a divorce case, or you have some other reason you need a lawyer. Yes plenty of lawywers are leeches but we live in a society where even your own mother will screw you over.

Being a doctor is prestigious but our medical system is a mess. One of the top debts people have are medical bills so some might consider doctors to be leeches also especially when you look at how some procedures and services are seriously being over charged.

The hostility to lawyers is more in the business world. Lawyers are expensive, they are from outside of your business, sometime you see them in bad situations(ie how much will this cost us) and are compensated by the hour. You do a deal and know that the lawyers will come in and take their percentage(ie they are a cost of doing the deal, but it kills you), you ask for a quick clear answer so you can move forward and they never really answer the question (paid by the hour...being thorough or just bilking you?), etc. There are other things(like threatening legal action for person gain, bad inter personal skills, billing issues). Those are one off things, but you remember the people and that they were lawyers.
Vs
Doctors ...hey you helped my kid with the broken arm...you are great! Thanks.

[Anonymous]

Both professions are filled with greedy people. Drs are as much to blame for the health care crisis as anyone else.

[Anonymous]

Physician, no question.

Lawyers make more money and have better career options but prestige doesn't hinge entirely on those. A big part of prestige is the respect your profession commands, and the life-or-death quality of advice you get from these professionals. People care about their health more than about anything else in the world, and especially about the health of their children. Plus medical education is very far above the intellectual potential of most people, so people look up to doctors as the holders of privileged information. Law is tricky but I don't think most people consider themselves unable to understand it.

[Anonymous]

Plus, it's entirely possible to go through life without ever using a lawyer. But every one of us will taste sickness and death of our loved ones, so for every one of us a time will come when we will look at a physician with pleading eyes in hopes of hearing something hopeful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What lawyers fail to understand--repeatedly--is that most people consider them leeches (or cockroaches--pick your metaphor).

I grant my trash collector more prestige than I do pretty much any lawyer. At least he's doing an honest job for a fair wage.

What about when you get in a car accident or your ex is being difficult in a divorce case, or you have some other reason you need a lawyer. Yes plenty of lawywers are leeches but we live in a society where even your own mother will screw you over.

Being a doctor is prestigious but our medical system is a mess. One of the top debts people have are medical bills so some might consider doctors to be leeches also especially when you look at how some procedures and services are seriously being over charged.

The way I understand it doctors are not setting the rates for medical care, it's hospitals, insurance companies and the medical industry as a whole. The reason that aspirin in the E.R. costs $100 is because it helps offset the cost for the next 100 patients with no insurance that walk into the E.R. and get free services, surgeries, care and medication. That plus the large of amount of insurance they have to have to cover liabilities in this culture where legal cases are so prevalent.

This thread is ridiculous, lawyers if it strokes your ego a bit- thank you for your tenacity at always wanting to get in the last word, even if that means bumping an old thread to do so.

I've seen my insurance pay a doctor over $300 for a five minute visit. Some doctors are really overpaid for what they do. Not to mention, I spent three years being misdiagnosed for something that ended up needing major surgery. Just having an MD or a JD is not enough for me to consider a person as having a prestigious career. It's what they are doing or have done with it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Physician, no question.

Lawyers make more money and have better career options but prestige doesn't hinge entirely on those. A big part of prestige is the respect your profession commands, and the life-or-death quality of advice you get from these professionals. People care about their health more than about anything else in the world, and especially about the health of their children. Plus medical education is very far above the intellectual potential of most people, so people look up to doctors as the holders of privileged information. Law is tricky but I don't think most people consider themselves unable to understand it.

There are caps on the number of medical students and residencies which holds down the number of people that go to medical school. There is no shortage of qualified people applying to med school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op here. My argument is as follows-

JD is more intellectual than MD
JD has much higher salary potential
JD is much more versatile - the prestige speaks for itself in many industries
JD ceiling is higher - Supreme Court justices have no medical counterpart near as prestigious
JDs in big law get car service, catered lunches, and suits - MDs have cabs/trains, cafeteria, and scrubs
JDs are sole in their ability to practice law - MDs have DO and foreign competition
JDs charge by hour - MDs have to deal with government dictated reimbursements


How are docs more prestigious?

MDs have excellent job security and the longer the tenure the more they make and solidify their speciality, patients, reputation.

Lawyers are only as good as their last few cases or client revenue streams and have awful job security. Plus the more you make the more you have a target on your back for replacement by a cheaper jr partner. Competitive advantage is not skill but how many hours more you will work than others.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm a former BigLaw lawyer, from a top ranked law school. My good friend is an ER doctor, from a middle-ranked school.

I am blown out with respect for her. She actually can make a real difference--a life and death difference, and does all the time.

I'm almost 50 and so are many of my friends, so a common theme is: "I am entering into the second half of my life. I want to leave the planet a better place. (Besides raising good kids) What can I do to make difference?"

My doctor friend does not have to mull over this one.

I vote doctor.

You mean she is great at consults? ER docs don't deal with life and death. They exist to turf patients.

Hey hey now this is getting personal! Don't tell me an ER doc doesn't deal with life and death until you'be manually pumped someone's heart (as in with your own hands) as a desperate last measure to save their life.

LOL as if ER docs ever do that in their careers. Maybe 1 in 100 of them? And ER thoracotomies are hack jobs with poor outcomes done by Cowboys - don't step into the ring unless your ready to play.

100 out of 100 lawyers will never do that is the point

[Anonymous]

Because no one has ever frantically screamed "help! Is anyone a lawyer, please help me" when their LO collapses on the street

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why has this ridiculous thread been resurrected?

Sorry, lawyers, you will never change the public's mind on this. There is absolutely never a situation where a lawyer outranks a doctor. Not one.

Not so. Being a prosecutor is a lot more intellectually demanding than being a family medicine doc.

Ha ha ha, sorry, no. Doc is still the winner. Lawyers have a whiff of the disreputable about them.

[Anonymous]

well, when the doctor gets sued for malpractice who's he gonna call? "A dumb lawyer", thats who.

[Anonymous]

Doctors save lives, care, improve the quality of life, truly give of themselves to help not only patients, but patients' family and friends. No question here. None.

[Anonymous]

Why would someone top such a repulsive thread?