Bumped into one of our neurosurgeons at the airport before flying down to Queenstown.
He was very excited to see me. “I hear you’ve bought a blue Tesla! I’m so jealous!” I had to tell him it was a lie, I’m not sure who’s been spreading such untruths – it’s not blue, it’s red. I showed him a photo and he was green with envy, that I should own such a beautiful car. “I hope to be able to afford a Tesla one day…” I felt a bit sorry for him. Most of the other surgeons who’ve showed an interest in my car have been orthopaedic surgeons, so can admire it from the comfort of already owning two Porsches and a Ferrari. The other anaesthetists who’ve gone all electric have generally gone for a second hand Nissan Leaf.
When choosing what specialty to go into years ago, it never even crossed my mind to think about monetary considerations. It’s possible that was because I didn’t come out with a huge student loan, but I was more thinking about finding something I enjoyed and was good at. Some medical students get courted by all the specialties they rotate through, trying to recruit them and encourage them to specialise in that area. That never happened to me. The curse of the diffident and non-confident. I’m lucky I found anaesthesia.
The specialties with the best earning potential tend to be the ones with a large scope for private work. One of the orthopaedic registrars was telling me about a private hospital he’d worked at in Melbourne where they did multiple orthopaedic lists each day, and often not finishing till 10 pm. One surgeon he worked with finished operating at 2:30 in the morning the day before the COVID lockdown earlier this year. And this isn’t acute stuff like broken legs – this is completely elective hip and knee replacements. Those surgeons will be earning multi millions per year, but at what cost? Most are already onto their second or third marriages. Hard to keep a marriage together when you’re never home. The second and subsequent wives are traditionally nurses, because who else do they meet? Plus the nursing staff give them the respect they don’t get at home from their tired, grumpy and world weary first wives. And then of course alimony and child support bills send them to working even longer hours.
Neurosurgeons in Australia are paid via a completely different model to those here in NZ, so that the Sydney neurosurgical department are known for prostitute and cocaine fueled parties, as well as their flash houses and cars. In contrast, our neurosurgeons are quiet, polite, poor intellectuals. Personally I know who I’d rather be married to. Money only goes so far.