What Are the Worst Jobs for a Doctor?

Mary Black, a public-health physician in Serbia, offers her ideas in the current issue of the British Medical Journal (abstract only). [Yes, I know: two posts in two days from BMJ — but hey, it’s interesting stuff.]

Black’s criteria: “[T]hese are jobs that seriously compromise ethical and moral standards, are difficult to justify to your children, and are likely to be a source of regret on your deathbed.”

Here is Black’s list:

1. Head of medical services at Guantanamo Bay.

2. Research scientist at any major tobacco company.

3. Biochemical weapons developer.

4. Surgeon in the commercial kidney transplant trade.

5. Sports doping doctor.

I would also be interested to hear from physicians about their ideas of the hardest jobs in medicine. Personally, I don’t know how anyone can be a pediatric oncologist. But thank goodness for individual preferences, and that lots of other people feel different than I do.