You seem to present a pretty strict dichotomy here the Ideal Doctor who is always kind and respectful and is never frustrated by his patients and knows everything he is supposed to know and is never tired and , naturally , has time for his family , exercise , and healthy eating vs the Jerkoff who hates his patients , mocks them endlessly , bitches about his salary , and subscribes to the idea that he ' s the injured party in all his interactions , and was probably only in it for the Porsche anyway . You leave no room for the vast majority of doctors who are somewhere in the middle and are doing their best to reach for that ideal state . If you state that your patients you know , actual human beings who deserve if nothing else our respect , why can ' t we concede that the vast majority of doctors are as well ? Humans being that are held to higher standards are still going to behave like human beings . We can put ourselves on a pedestal all we want and tout the honor of our profession , but at the end of the day , human beings get tired , human being occasionally tell an off color joke , and human beings have emotions that cannot always be suppressed , nor should they be . I know no doctors who got into it for the money . Maybe I just made friends with the right people . But I do know plenty of residents who are tired , who are emotionally exhausted from a patient population that is riddled with psychosocial issues that hinder care , from administration that asks for your input and then shuts your every suggestion for improvement down . You are not the only one who wants to be the best doctor they can be . I ' m just worn by knowing that I don ' t know enough , that despite my efforts I will never truly know enough , and that on a daily basis , I am probably failing at least one patient somehow . I ' m failing my ideal self somehow every day . And so I ' m tired . I ' m cranky sometimes . I laugh at Gomerblog articles sometimes because I can relate to them . There are days when I hate my patients , and there are days when I can be content with the fact that I did something good for someone who needed it , and I do my best to make sure that the quality of my care doesn ' t differ for either one . I ' m glad you ' ve reached a place where you can brush off the daily annoyances of residency . I ' m glad that you can treat your patients with respect and can stand up to people of authority who don ' t do the same . But understand that not all of us are there yet . And some of us will move close to that Ideal or further away based on the day , month , year of their training . Perhaps your colleagues could benefit from receiving the same level of compassion that you show your patients . And since you brought it up hell yeah , physician depression and suicide rates are a problem . And it ' s one that gets swept under the rug at most institutions despite the lip service admin pays to resident wellness . I haven ' t quite parsed a solution out myself , but it feels wrong to say that maybe people aren ' t cut out for it . It feels like a cop out . Instead we need to be responsible as a medical culture . We need to be teaching students and residents how to ask for help to be better students and residents instead of maintaining the facade Be the Ideal Doctor at All Times that they ' re fine and that everything is completely under control .