Career curves: When it's time for a change

Three physicians describe what it's like to switch from one kind of medicine to another in mid-career. And they all agree that although it's a challenge, it's worth it.

By Myrle Croasdale, AMNews staff. Oct. 11, 2004.

Anson Thaggard, MD, had reached many of his goals in life. A family physician in the small town of Kosciusko, Miss., he was married with three children. He owned a house, and much of his medical school debt was paid. Yet he wasn't happy.

"My last year I practiced, 80-hour weeks were not uncommon," Dr. Thaggard said. "I worked 140 hours the week of spring break [when his partners were out]. I was a walking zombie."

Physicians' satisfaction with their chosen profession has been ebbing over the years, according to numerous studies and surveys. Doctors want more time with their families, better reimbursement, less stress and more balance in their lives. Some leave medicine altogether, but others are finding that they can change specialties or retool within clinical medicine to find deeper satisfaction.

Dr. Thaggard is one such doctor. He had spent eight years in family practice and obstetrics when he began thinking about making a change.

His group was planning to drop obstetrics because of the cost of medical liability insurance. A third of his practice was delivering babies, and obstetrics was one of the reasons he became a doctor. He didn't like the idea of practicing only internal medicine.

The constant intrusions into his family life also were becoming frustrating. "In a small town, you're never off," he said. "I had people even come to my door at home asking for medical advice. I felt like I was being consumed."

He has six class-action lawsuits pending against him in which plaintiffs seek damages related to a drug from the pharmaceutical company that made it and the physicians who prescribed it.