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Path: utzoo!linus!decvax!harpo!seismo!hao!hplabsb!pc
From: pc@hplabsb.UUCP (Patricia Collins)
Newsgroups: net.women
Subject: a balanced life
Message-ID: <1834@hplabsb.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 6-Sep-83 19:51:27 EDT
Article-I.D.: hplabsb.1834
Posted: Tue Sep  6 19:51:27 1983
Date-Received: Wed, 7-Sep-83 15:23:37 EDT
Organization: Hewlett Packard Labs, Palo Alto CA
Lines: 36


	Today I learned that my son's pediatrician is quitting practice.
It seems that the medical profession cannot accomodate people who want
to restrict their practice to, say, 40 hours/week.  Although the idea of
job-sharing seems quite reasonable in a field where "full-time" means
about 60 hours/week, there was apparently no possibility of this in the
foreseeable future.  This Pediatrician was considered the pick of the
crop after finishing a pediatric fellowship at Stanford.
	I have also heard that my Ob-Gyn is leaving practice as well.
I have not heard the details, but I believe the problems are similar.
Both of these physicians have young children at home.  They are not
content to have someone else with their children all day, every day.
	I consider both of these physicians to be exceptional in their
fields.  I suppose that the idea of balancing one's profession with
other aspects of one's life is fairly radical to some, but it seems
HEALTHY to me.  I feel fortunate that I work for an employer who is 
supportive of professionals (*) who balance their personal, spiritual,
civic, and social lives.  I wish there were more I could do to be
assured that my physician attempts a balanced life.

	For those who wonder why I've posted this to net.women and
not net.med, I guess it is because I see this as a problem of interest
to the "kind of people" who subscribe to net.women.  It happens that
the only people I know personally who are struggling with this
problem are women.  But, I realize there are like-hearted men out
there struggling with the same problems.

	Are there any organizations working toward The Enlightenment
of The Establishment in this area?  Where do I sign up?

					Patricia Collins
					hplabs
(*) I use the term "professional" to refer to anyone who takes her/his
job seriously and approaches it in a responsible, respectible manner.