Comment by unsupp0rted 2 months ago
In Canada they're dangerously understaffed. And the staff are burnt out and lack qualities like: attention to detail, common sense and basic human empathy. Or at least I hope it's because they're burnt out and not because the hospital regularly hires amoral robots, which is also a possibility.
> Europe where the average doctor is paid 1/3rd as much and there are significant waiting periods for non immediately necessary procedures
I'm not sure where exactly you evaluated this based on (personal experience I suppose?) but this hasn't been true for me in Spain with either public healthcare nor private. Don't remember it being like that in Sweden (public healthcare) either, and I'm sure there are plenty of other European countries where the waiting time isn't significant either, and you also get great care.
Some countries seems to just have figured out how to make healthcare costs manageable, with great care, well educated doctors/nurses and also relatively low waiting times. I'd probably still say they're underpaid, because they're literally saving people's lives, but I guess that's true for everywhere, even the US.
Canadian doctors earn decently well:
https://www.dr-bill.ca/blog/career-advice/doctor-salary-us-v...
Sure, there's the exchange rate, but it's still quite good. The disparity for tech workers is much greater.
I think they (doctors here) have other concerns more about regulation / paperwork and overhead that comes with it, less than total compensation. Family doctors anyways.
That and the schools simply won't graduate enough of them. Doctor shortage is a serious problem. But so is nurse shortage post-COVID.
System here seems to be in crisis. Combination of many factors.
But all my experiences in the last few years have been... very positive? Excellent recent care for my teen at McMaster Children's Hospital. Family doctor 5 minute drive away, can get appointments quite quickly. So, yeah, it's regional and situation dependent.
Either you go with America and get bankrupted by medical care if you don’t have excellent insurance, or you go to Canada or Europe where the average doctor is paid 1/3rd as much and there are significant waiting periods for non immediately necessary procedures. Heads I lose, tails you win.
People wonder why folks hate doctors or get “white coat” syndrome. Same shit from dentists wondering why everyone hates them.