Anesthesiologist=Second class physician?

[orangele]

I have worked the past 10 years as an anesthesiologist.  I trained at a respected U.S. medical school, completed a Ph.D. in pharmacology from the top program in the U.S., completed a anesthesiology residency and fellowship and stayed in academics for four years prior to entering private practice. 

My first five years of private practice was a dream come true.  I was well respected by both the administration of the hospital and the other physicians on staff, and I had a mutual respect for the other members of the staff.  Unfortunately, due to decreasing volume, the hospital ended up closing. 

In order to stay in the same city where my home was, the only nearby hospital was about 40 mins away in a rural area.  The administrator who recruited me was honest and supportive.  Unfortunately he retired 4 months after I started, and a new administrator came on who basically had one objective in mind-making money for the hospital.    We now are being asked to do elective cases at all hours with no free anesthesia personel available despite the fact that we have laboring patients and patients with running epidurals.  Additionally, although the majority of surgeons were not bad, I found that there were surgeons on staff that definitely had FAR more complications than I would expect.  Additionally one of the surgeons appeared to have an issue with power, and had mulitple conflicts with the CRNAs on staff.  After this surgeon basically chased off the CRNAs he now appears to be playing a power game with me.  He basically is attempting to dictate to me what labs I may or may not order.  The other surgeon  has attempted many times to pressue me to do clearly elective cases on full-stomach patients.  All of the surgeons have had multiple lawsuits in the past. 

In one case, the administrator came to talk to me about why I would not do  an elective case on a full-stomach patient.  She asked such questions such as "can't you just give a little sedation, or do a spinal so that you do not have to put them to sleep?"

I am beginning to feel as though I am constantly being pressured to ignore all the years of training and board-certification, in order to cater to surgeons that I personally would never go to.  I feel no support from the administration since they are interested in making the surgeons happy and increasing volume. 

I would further add that in the ten years of practice I have never been sued or faced any board or legal action.
I am by nature very easy going, and have never had any type of yelling match during any of these issues, but have been apologetic and explain why I do not feel comfortable doing something I feel is not safe. 

Have others faced this situation, and how have they dealt with it. 

[Dr.Rengarajan M.D]

It's really surprising and shocking to know u had this type of experience in US.What I had was a rosy picture about US.In India Anesthesiology is in transition phase.Now the surgeons are dominating.But It has improved over past 5 years.Another 5 - 10 years our professional work will also be equally respected.

[lovebailey2000]

Hi
A new member of this site. Sorry to hear about ur problem. but it is almost same e'where in india too!

[Noyac]

This is an important question in regards to how you handle this. 

Are you a hospital employee or a private contractor?

If you are an employee, you can submit a complaint to the administration.  The complaint will need to mention "disruptive physician".  Your hospital must have a disruptive physician policy.  In this letter you need to mention "hostile work environment".  This ought to get hteir attention.  If it doesn't then you need to decide whether it is worth getting an attorney or letting it ride.  The term "hostile environment" shoulder get the attention of any CEO worth their salt.  The bottom line is to write letters and have situations documented.

[edalemd]

I would advise you to immediately look for other opportunities. There are many excellent jobs out there with great places to live. I relocated 6 years ago for similar reasons, and could not be happier. My group is located in Central Florida.
We are searching for a new member. If you are interested please reply.