I was an overwhelmed family doctor. So at age 45, I called it quits – CBC
For years, I thought I was irreplaceable to my patients. But that’s truer for my family
Apr 13, 2022
On April Fool’s Day, I turned in my medical licence. It was no joke.
A sense of deep relief immediately replaced the weight on my shoulders. It was the weight of thousands of stories heard over 18 years of medicine. The weight of empathy and patience, of responsibility to do no harm and of personal sacrifice.
Leaving my practice at the age of 45 is bittersweet. There are things that I already miss, like the privilege of being part of the lives of 2,000 people. I’d made a point early on to take on patients from all walks of life: language, religion, socioeconomic status and, importantly, health challenges.
Being indiscriminate added an extra dimension of challenge, but it was well worth it to discover the richness of Montreal’s people.
However, often I’d leave my clinic in Montreal’s Notre-Dame-de-Grâce neighbourhood exhausted, drained of emotion, unable to form full sentences. I’d come home after midnight to face my partner, children, the dog and the chickens, feeling like I had nothing left to give them.
