Surgeons Quitting Medicine? Seeing Eye-to-Eye Podcast #8. Shannon Wong, MD and Max Medert, MD.

The seeing eye to eye (SEE) podcast with Shannon Wong, MD and Max Medert, MD is a podcast with two eye surgeons discussing medicine, business and life. This is episode 8 of the seeing eye to eye podcast.

Shannon Wong and Max Medert are ophthamologists/eye surgeons at Austin Eye in Austin, TX in practice together.

Video segments:
0:01 Introductions
0:28 What is the seeing eye to eye podcast about?
0:50 The video which is the focus of our talk – Goobie and Doobie – neurosurgeon quits medicine
2:39 Who is Goobie? What is the true identity of Goobie Neurosurgeon? Is he telling a true story?
5:20 The Hippocratic oath. The white coat ceremony. The job of doctors is to relieve suffering.
9:15 Idealism vs Reality. Realities of medicine. What is involved in a career in medicine?
13:20 Goobie’s medical training journey
15:05 Becoming disenchanted with medical training. Opportunity costs involved with medical training. How we find our career destinations.
20:30 “MIT trained neurosurgeon.”
23:00 Goobie’s realization that his choice to pursue neurosurgery would not lead him toward a path of happiness.
24:00 Should we only pursue what makes us happy? Idealism vs reality.
26:15 The Journey vs the destination. There is beauty in the struggle.
28:30 Adjusting, adapting and pivoting in a career
30:55 Why Goobie felt that his neurosurgical skills were not actually addressing the root causes of patient suffering
34:05 Can doctors fix all medical problems? Can doctors fix all medical problems with surgery?
40:09 Why surgery is not addressing the root cause of patient suffering.
45:55 Is preventative medicine always effective?
46:40 Simple. Never Easy. Human will power.
54:00 Goobie's analysis of the medical system.
56:52 Population medicine. Outcomes driven medicine. Fee for service medicine. Value based healthcare. The complexities and incentives that drive health care utilization.
1:24:00 Why Goobie quit neurosurgery.
1:26:40 Moral injury. What is the purpose of life? Is the purpose of life to live for one's own pleasure? Is the purpose of life to live to serve others? What should Goobie do in retirement?
1:46:00 Being adaptable. Why choose ophthalmology as a career choice?

[nfa]

Thank you for having this discussion, its really eye opening . I wish he will be successful in his journey in life

[IMadeOfClay]

Very fun podcast. Thank you both. You two are like legit pun masters 😂

[bcjoey]

Saw this when it first released. The world needs more ethical people.

[tejavuu]

This isn't on Pocket Casts! Or on Spotify

[syafiqazmanophthal]

his neurosurgeon friends are also very busy & no time to verify him😂

[RebekahsZ]

There is a reality in the US, and so don’t know if this applies in the Canadian system. But, as a spine surgeon, an awful lot of his patients are pursuing disability. I have found it very hard to serve the leisure class, as I refer to the US citizen on a disability check. Most of his patients likely aren’t after a cure. They are looking for another surgery that they can put on their disability resume so that they can be assured of living financially independent without earning their income. These patients self-select against surgical success. That’s got to be hard on the doctor’s morale.

[kathykroon]

I think he was so overwhelmed and depressed he could not make the best decisions