Philadelphia Medicine Summer 2020 - 9

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The Pain of a Phila. Trauma Surgeon
Some doctors develop on-the-job post-traumatic stress disorder.
This is especially true in emergency medicine. Dr. Michael Weinstein
was a top gun trauma surgeon at a prestigious Philadelphia hospital/
medical school, drawing acclaim and making a lot of money. He
blames the system he was trained in and ended up working in, for
helping to push him hard toward suicide.
The daily workload, the sheer number of hours spent at the hospital, the lack of control over the work environment, the mountain
of paperwork, the economic drivers of the profession, were too
much for him.
Only intervention by his wife led him to a psychiatric hospital,
and weeks of what he describes as pharmacologic and compassionate
cognitive behavioral therapies that "opened my heart."

is help remake the health care system
that is so dysfunctional, so centered on
ego, profit and power, that it forgets
our humanity. We need to find ways
to truly foster healing.
"The things that prevented me from
healing are very similar, I think, to the
things that are causing suffering and
dissatisfaction among those of us in
the health care system."
Dr. Wible says burnout is a leading cause of mistakes by physicians. A Johns Hopkins study concluded that more than a quarter
of a million people in the U.S. die each year from medical errors,
making medical errors the third leading cause of death, behind heart
disease and cancer.

He said there was nothing in the medical school and residency
The long hours residents must work, Dr. Wible says, are
system that he went through that helped him deal with mistakes. designed to create profits for the hospital by employing
He blamed himself for them. "I didn't know what to do with those a ready source of cheap labor. "With the hours they put in,
feelings. I didn't believe anyone around me had similar thoughts." they make less money than someone working at Starbucks."
He said none of his fellow residents talked about such issues.
He is co-creator of the LiveWell Foundation, dedicated to fostering physician wellness. "One of the things I really want to do now

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Summer 2020 : Philadelphia Medicine

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Philadelphia Medicine Summer 2020

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