Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In medicine, too. Not family-friendly. Exhausted. Patients are exhausting. Insurance is exhausting. Electronic records are exhausting. I’d take my exhausting toddler over any of it any day. Agree that medicine is a terrible choice if you want balance. I had unpaid leave when my toddler was born. My friends in law are just as regretful of their life choices.

What do you all think is more balanced? OP stated Law, which is laughable outside of certain highly coveted roles (e.g. government). All of which pay less. And none of which are giving 5-6 mos maternity leave.

In government for a lawyer at least for the feds you get three months of unpaid leave and that’s it

No, you get 12 weeks paid leave.

Anonymous wrote:That’s strange because some articles claim medicine is a family friendly career, for the ability to work part-time. I know women physicians that work just one or two days per week. Of course that assumes they have a partner working full time.

That's crazy. Medicine is incredibly family-unfriendly because of the strict schedules, which only gets worse if you have to do call.

Except in cases where there is a SAHP, every doctor I know with young kids gets a nanny that is able to work long and unpredictable hours. Which obviously gets expensive.

Mid-level providers end up in a very difficult middle zone. The hours are still inflexible, but they don't make nearly enough money for a nanny. I really don't understand how those got a reputation for being more family-friendly careers in medicine. In my experience, it is precisely the opposite.

OP can do plenty with her MD degree and is in a far more fortunate position than most. But it’s easier to sit around and moan.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In medicine, too. Not family-friendly. Exhausted. Patients are exhausting. Insurance is exhausting. Electronic records are exhausting. I’d take my exhausting toddler over any of it any day. Agree that medicine is a terrible choice if you want balance. I had unpaid leave when my toddler was born. My friends in law are just as regretful of their life choices.

What do you all think is more balanced? OP stated Law, which is laughable outside of certain highly coveted roles (e.g. government). All of which pay less. And none of which are giving 5-6 mos maternity leave.

There are tons of options out there that earn between 60 and 100K.

Lol wut?

Consider some life coaching for ideas. https://www.mamadoclifecoach.com/pages/about-us

You can bond with your child starting today. There is nothing magical about the bonding in early infancy. Sure it’s fun to have, and it’s understandable you feel the loss, but it doesn’t make or break the relationship. Snuggle with your kid today.

P. S. As a matter of fact, a quick search showed that Winona, an online platform for menopause care, is advertising for two remote part-time physician positions!!

https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/Winona

You would need to get a licensed in other states, but that’s a matter of paperwork and $.

You could also leave your job, tighten the belt for 6 months, then get snapped back up into full-time somewhere. That’s possible in medicine.

Anonymous wrote:As an OB/GYN, could you go into a more specialized role like menopause care? There is a huge lack of available doctors in that space, and you won’t be delivering babies. Many older women are looking for a specialist in that area, as well as wanting a practice where appointment times are more likely to be honored because of far fewer unexpected emergency issues or delivery calls. I don’t know how much malpractice insurance would go down if you dropped the OB entirely.

Jackpot, absolute jackpot! Women are clamoring for this. Menopause specialists are booked and don’t have to take insurance.

Anonymous wrote:Op here- curious what fields of medicine everyone friends/ family in medicine seem to work only 1 day a week? Most jobs won’t hire you for such a small amount as that doesn’t even cover malpractice. Even in more traditionally more family friend fields like primary care, the work load has balloon such that even working part time= full time for most job with all the patient messages and documentation etc. My field, OB-GYN is very difficult to practice part time.

Also, I’m wondering why people think law is not family friendly? Just out of curiosity as my husband’s career as a government lawyer has been a fantastic balance and I find it hard to replicate in medicine.

OP, it sounds like you are in private practice, but there are also government jobs in medicine that you could look into.

Your husband is a government lawyer, which is much different than private practice in a law firm. A law firm is a business, just as a private medical practice is a business.

You are right that law is more conducive to telework than medicine, for obvious reasons. However, in both businesses, it's about getting clients (patients) and billing hours/appointments/procedures to cover overhead and make a profit.

As an aside, from purely a business perspective, medicine is an "easier" business to start in the sense that you can collect payments from insurance companies, whereas in law, you have to be able to collect from the individual client or a business. That's why BigLaw typically makes so much more money than solos or family law, criminal law -- because their clients are Big Businesses that have the ability to pay. With medicine, at least you know you can count on insurance to pay.

That's why your husband's job as a government lawyer seems comparatively easy-- he's not being squeezed to bill hours to cover overhead and partner profit.

You could look into VA or some government / non-profit work. Or work directly for a large hospital network or mega medical practice, where they can afford to float the insurance because it's spread out among so many providers.

Compared to lawyers, your malpractice insurance is high -- thanks, in part, to lawyers and lawsuits...

As an OB/GYN, could you go into a more specialized role like menopause care? There is a huge lack of available doctors in that space, and you won’t be delivering babies. Many older women are looking for a specialist in that area, as well as wanting a practice where appointment times are more likely to be honored because of far fewer unexpected emergency issues or delivery calls. I don’t know how much malpractice insurance would go down if you dropped the OB entirely.

Anonymous wrote:Are you a doctor? Because I have come across many in private practice (ob/gyn especially) who work part-time.

If you're a doctor in private practice in a specialty like OB/GYN, the malpractice insurance is going to be high, whether you're part time or full time. You're also paying for overhead, including employees, if you're a business owner (partner or member in the medical practice). Unlike a law firm, it's not a business where overhead can be reduced by telework.

Anonymous wrote:Op here- curious what fields of medicine everyone friends/ family in medicine seem to work only 1 day a week? Most jobs won’t hire you for such a small amount as that doesn’t even cover malpractice. Even in more traditionally more family friend fields like primary care, the work load has balloon such that even working part time= full time for most job with all the patient messages and documentation etc. My field, OB-GYN is very difficult to practice part time.

Also, I’m wondering why people think law is not family friendly? Just out of curiosity as my husband’s career as a government lawyer has been a fantastic balance and I find it hard to replicate in medicine.

1 day a week??? Trust me there is no decent paying job in law that allows you to work one day a week.

The fields my relatives are in is GI and urology (lots of procedures so good money and hours), psychiatrist, and anesthesia. They all have a way better ability to earn a lot of money while controlling their hours than any lawyer I know. Plus tremendous job security.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In medicine, too. Not family-friendly. Exhausted. Patients are exhausting. Insurance is exhausting. Electronic records are exhausting. I’d take my exhausting toddler over any of it any day. Agree that medicine is a terrible choice if you want balance. I had unpaid leave when my toddler was born. My friends in law are just as regretful of their life choices.

What do you all think is more balanced? OP stated Law, which is laughable outside of certain highly coveted roles (e.g. government). All of which pay less. And none of which are giving 5-6 mos maternity leave.

There are tons of options out there that earn between 60 and 100K.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In medicine, too. Not family-friendly. Exhausted. Patients are exhausting. Insurance is exhausting. Electronic records are exhausting. I’d take my exhausting toddler over any of it any day. Agree that medicine is a terrible choice if you want balance. I had unpaid leave when my toddler was born. My friends in law are just as regretful of their life choices.

What do you all think is more balanced? OP stated Law, which is laughable outside of certain highly coveted roles (e.g. government). All of which pay less. And none of which are giving 5-6 mos maternity leave.

In government for a lawyer at least for the feds you get three months of unpaid leave and that’s it

Anonymous wrote:In medicine, too. Not family-friendly. Exhausted. Patients are exhausting. Insurance is exhausting. Electronic records are exhausting. I’d take my exhausting toddler over any of it any day. Agree that medicine is a terrible choice if you want balance. I had unpaid leave when my toddler was born. My friends in law are just as regretful of their life choices.

What do you all think is more balanced? OP stated Law, which is laughable outside of certain highly coveted roles (e.g. government). All of which pay less. And none of which are giving 5-6 mos maternity leave.