Lyrics from Sly and the Family Stone:

Sometimes I’m right but I can be wrong
My own beliefs are in my song
The butcher, the banker, the drummer and then
Makes no difference what group I’m in
‘Cause I am everyday people, yeah, yeah

There is a blue one who can’t accept the green one
For living with a fat one, trying to be a skinny one
And different strokes for different folks
And so on and so on and Scooby dooby doo-bee
Oh, sha sha, we got to live together

A provocative opinion appears in the NY Times – Don’t Quit This Day Job – in which the author, a woman physician writes these harsh words:

It isn’t fashionable (and certainly isn’t politically correct) to criticize “work-life balance” or part-time employment options. How can anyone deny people the right to change their minds about a career path and choose to spend more time with their families? I have great respect for stay-at-home parents, and I think it’s fine if journalists or chefs or lawyers choose to work part time or quit their jobs altogether. But it’s different for doctors. Someone needs to take care of the patients.

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But the productivity of the doctors currently practicing is also an important factor. About 30 percent of doctors in the United States are female, and women received 48 percent of the medical degrees awarded in 2010. But their productivity doesn’t match that of men. In a 2006 survey by the American Medical Association and the Association of American Medical Colleges, even full-time female doctors reported working on average 4.5 fewer hours each week and seeing fewer patients than their male colleagues. The American Academy of Pediatrics estimates that 71 percent of female pediatricians take extended leave at some point — five times higher than the percentage for male pediatricians.

So this hard working female anesthesiologist opines that women who work part-time or quit medicine are failing society.  She has harsh words and seeks to cause much guilt.

And she writes a very judgmental piece.  And I disagree with her sanctimony.

I recently spoke with a college student who asked me if anesthesiology is a good field for women. She didn’t want to hear that my days are unpredictable because serious operations can take a long time and emergency surgery often needs to be done at night. What she really wanted to know was if my working life was consistent with her rosy vision of limited work hours and raising children. I doubt that she welcomed my parting advice: If you want to be a doctor, be a doctor.

I would rather see a committed part-time physician than a burned out full-time physician.  Over the years in my administrative position I worked with many women.  Some worked full-time; some worked part-time.  Each woman made a decision about work hours that fit her situation.

I’ve known many women who always thought they would work full-time, until life intervened.  Having them work hard part-time and remain satisfied with both their personal and work lives seemed to me then, and seems to me now as an appropriate use of their talent.

What does full-time really mean?  How arbitrary is that term?  Does devoting our lives solely to medicine make us better physicians?

Dr. Sibert, who wrote the piece, has made the decision that works best for her.  However, her opinions on what others do appears arrogant and presumptuous.  So, I respect her right to write, but I am must disagree with the vigor of her screed.