Thursday, September 18, 2003

So my kid sister wants to be a doctor.
What should I say?
I mean, on one hand, she's very smart, and has the gentlest of hearts and has the compassion to care for the sick.
But on the other hand, would I subject a family member to the torture my peers and I had to endure? Standing for 20 hours. Awake for 36. Having to stick large needles into bellies of cirrhotic, dying patients? Having patients crash (not in the literal sense) in front of you, spewing blood everywhere, while you watch helplessly as she drifts away. Or having drug addicts harrass you for Oxycontin?
I did what I felt was right; I tried to talk her out of it. But, like her brother, she's stubborn. And she seems to be doing well in her first year.
I pray that the training doesn't brainwash her into an insensitive, mindless patient-training machine.
And she's got my support 100% now (although I do try to talk her into choosing an easy specialty like pediatrics! :)).