the resignation of a cardiothoracic surgeon.

the resignation of a cardiothoracic surgeon.

It's like having a nightmare every day. It's unbelievable that healthcare in this land has been destroyed beyond repair in just a month. When we had the whole team just a month ago, there was nothing to be afraid of coming, but now seeing them is scary and painful. I know I have a hand on how to treat him, but I'm trying to realize how much it makes the doctor so poor that I can't treat him because I can't afford him. The doctor in the outpatient clinic said, "I'm going crazy, too. If I had my team, I could operate on as many people a day. I really want to do it, too. It's not that I can't do it anymore, but I'm in a situation where I can't." I was even more surprised when he choked up and said. "It's not a big deal because I've already been an intern, a resident, and a patient who has been operating without a prior appointment and has been operating all night long. It's not a big deal, but I'm mentally challenged. There are less than half of the patients I can operate on my own after the resignation of a resident. If you operate on urgent patients first, the rest of the patients just pile up, and even if you try to send them to other places, all those patients at Big 5 hospitals who were criticized for being "surgery factories" are worried about where and how they can find them. Last year alone, we looked at the rate of surgery within a month after diagnosis of lung cancer, and now lung cancer patients are waiting for surgery without any promise. The difference that has changed in just a month is so great that I can't get my mind together, and I'm scared because I'm unfamiliar with myself waiting for the dawn, suffering from insomnia even on days when I'm not on duty.
I am resigning because I can't stand the situation. I will no longer establish a new patient-doctor relationship, and I will leave this proud hospital after I manage to reach the patients I promised to operate on. I have been the happiest cardiothoracic surgeon in my life. I was well educated as a student/major, and when I became independent as a surgeon, I was able to tackle any difficult situation with the help of my best colleagues. During my outpatient visit, I have been grateful for all the gifts I received from my patients and said, "What am I supposed to say?" I have lived a life of complete pride and appreciation for anyone I meet who does their job and connects them to the patient's life. I was truly grateful for the great joy of working, teaching and learning together at this hospital where I had the largest number of cardiothoracic surgeons in my country. There were many wonderful and precious moments when I could have done it for the rest of my life... and I was sure that if there was ever one more cardiothoracic surgeon in the world, that would be my job… I had never thought that I would leave like this. However, I know that the golden age of cardiothoracic surgery in Korea, the period of feeling proud of myself everywhere I looked and saw it, is over. I am so sad and puzzled that I have been wandering with my head blankly these days.
We must accurately diagnose each patient's disease, plan for a surgical operation, and carefully judge whether the patient can tolerate it. Then, how much more careful should we be in changing the healthcare system across the country? You must not go as far as this. No matter how good the policy's intentions are, if it causes a country's healthcare to collapse, it is just an amateur government or a quack government. My question is: Have we done so poorly? Have our healthcare systems been so broken? Were these destructive healthcare policies really necessary? No one can deny that this country is the world's fastest country to see doctors with the most comfort. It is also clear that this country offers the most difficult surgery at the lowest cost. All this was possible because of the residents' presence, but due to the ruthless policies of this administration, all of whom have decided to resign voluntarily in despair in the future. The residents are those who, despite poor circumstances, are committed to the service of some of the most difficult patients on this land, and will become specialists and continue the legacy of this land medicine. Since our medical residents were our future, the future of our country's medical care now that they have all left behind nothing but despair. I feel terrible that I cannot prevent this situation.
Currently, Korean medical doctors with vested interests must be held accountable, but the government has persistently harassed only doctors and students who are dedicating their lives to caring for patients and studying with a sense of mission. Until the government insisted on this policy, doctors had learned their best even in poor conditions, and many students were pledging to devote themselves to essential medical care. Now, 30,000 doctors and students are desperate for the future of medical care in our country. There are only 100 cardiothoracic surgeons in the country. Only a handful of them, each of whom is about 20 every year, are the ones who will save the 10,000 Korean people. At a time when all the young doctors, who have decided to devote their entire lives to the profession, are gone, the government is still treating them with only threats and commands, instead of making any effort to resolve them. The death of a single patient leaves a deep scar on the doctor's side. Now, I can't stand the situation, knowing that tens and tens of thousands of lives are at stake. If they had experienced even a single patient's death in person, they would never have been able to insist on such a confident policy that would ruin the entire country.
I give up what is most precious to me, the medical work I have built over decades, the purpose of my life I have decided to devote my entire life to. This administration's policies will destroy healthcare in this country permanently. If the medical professionals don't come back, there will be no future for cardiothoracic surgery in our country anyway. The only cardiothoracic surgery that has been able to endure for some time will collapse after the rest of us have changed our minds and bodies. Rather than watch helplessly as I end up giving up the most difficult patients on this planet, I leave the medical profession.
Who is driving this country's healthcare down the road? Who is threatening our people? Who let young doctors leave in despair after doing their best to save their patients in their respective positions until a month ago? I ask our people to remember for a long time that the responsibility lay with the people planning and doing this when so many of those young doctors who left are dying in pain.