'Miserable' Doctors Prescribe A Different Career

Celeste Headlee | NPR | April 17, 2014

A lot of children grow up wanting to be doctors, but now some physicians are discouraging others from joining the profession. What has changed over the years?

CELESTE HEADLEE, HOST:

This is TELL ME MORE from NPR News. I'm Celeste Headlee...It used to be that doctor was a profession many people aspired to - it brought prestige, money of course, a sense of purpose, bragging rights for your parents. But now a growing number of physicians say it's not really all it's cracked up to be.

The Daily Beast recently reported that many doctors are discouraging others from joining the profession. There are still doctors out there who are happy with their choice, though. So here to talk about it is Dr. Stephen Schimpff, author and former CEO of University of Maryland Medical Center. He was featured in The Daily Beast article. Also with us is Dr. Marilyn McPherson-Corder. She's a pediatrician and a professor of pediatrics at Howard University and the University of Maryland. Welcome to both of you...