Under the weather

The U.S. healthcare system is expensive and increasingly impersonal, but some doctors are finding a better way | Susan Olasky

Nicole Bengiveno/The New York Times/Redux

A recent New York Times article contrasted the medical career of Dr. Kate Dewar with the careers of her grandfather (Dr. William II) and father (Dr. William III), who were also medical doctors. The most obvious difference, that Dr. Kate is female and a mother of twins, partially explains the other differences noted in the article.

She chose not to go into private practice, opting instead to work 36 hours a week as an emergency room physician. The Times called her decision "part of a sweeping cultural overhaul" that finds young doctors "taking salaried jobs, working fewer hours, often going part time and even choosing specialties based on family reasons. The beepers and cellphones that once leashed doctors to their patients and practices on nights, weekends and holidays are being abandoned. Metaphorically, medicine has gone from being an individual to a team sport."