morgan
i think i'm going to keep this message of yours, if you don't mind!
i so completely agree with you! being a doctor, i'm all the time being criticized 
because i don't want to be "exceptional" in the terms of many other 
coleagues. this means i work less hours to be more with my kids, i don't do 
nightshifts because i am breastfeeding and the law allows me to do so. this 
doesn't mean i don't get involved. when i am working i am there 100%. but 
when i leave the hospital i try to totally forget what i did there and 
concentrate in my family (sometimes it is hard!).

and if the system colapses because i do this, well, then it is the system's 
problem. i'm sick and tired of hospitals surviving because doctors accept to do 
extra, extra, extra hours, lowering the standard of care! because a tired 
doctor is less patient and less competent. there is no way around this.

i'm also tired of gynaecologists saying they can't help being so interventive 
because the system doesn't allow them time and space to do otherwise. big 
excuse not to change. and nurses who are not enough, and so keep putting 
the babies in nurseries?
people should complain more, but not in a nagging way, in a proactive way, as 
you say.

i do the same you do, when i am determined. i phone, i talk, i nag sometimes, 
hoping that "educating one" i reach many. (it sounds a bit arrogant, but...)

good luck and keep the energy to change!
m. pina, MD

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