> Doctors are known for making alot of money, right?
You must be kidding. While there might be a high gross on paper, your average physician is just trying to pay off their student loans. Myself, I'm in debt to the tune of around US$180,000, and that's all accruing interest (can't do much about it as a resident).
There are some Christian organizations that will help you with this debt, but for many who intend to do medical missions, it's a very big sacrifice. (I haven't decided on this yet. There are just as many opportunities to do volunteer indigent care in this country too, after all.)
As for lawsuits, yes, doctors (especially in the States, and especially litigious populations like Californians) do get sued a lot -- but it's often not for true malpractise. Rather, doctors seem to get sued a lot for bad outcomes. Granted, if this is not explained well to patients, this usually results in a suit for no other reason than to find out what really happened, and doctors who actually sit down and spend time with patients and try to open up lines of communication have the lowest lawsuit rate of all.
The most frequently sued specialties include neurosurgery and OB/GYN, and these are the specialties with higher potentials for bad outcomes, too. Unfortunately, the bad outcomes are often unavoidable no matter what the physician does. Fortunately, when us MD's are all sued into oblivion, there will be plenty of lawyers to operate on you. Good luck.
Okay, soapbox off.
"you're a doctor.... and 27 years.... so...doctor + 27 years = HATORI SOHMA" - RoyalWing, when I was 27
"Al hail the forum editting Shooby! His vibes are law!" - Osaka-chan
I could still be champ, but I'd feel bad taking it away from one of the younger guys. - George Foreman