I'm new to the forums (I've got some questions I'll post in another thread), but I'm another engineer who is contemplating medical school.
A year ago I was gung-ho on going to law school, anybody else here consider that as well? I eventually gave up on it because I realized the only reason I was interested was for the money. I'm a little surprised, because the general attitude about being a lawyer, from the forums I was reading, was similar to what people are talking about here. In law you start out, at least for big-law type firms, in a similar fashion to a resident (not as bad, but still). You work 70-100 hours a week, the people above you are fairly vicious, but on the upside - at least you're making $150k/year and can expect to get $10k/year raises for at least 5-7 years.
So if all you guys want to do is make a lot of money, become a lawyer! Sure it means you sell your soul, kinda, and the depression rates are similar to the stuff posted on here for doctors, but if all you care about is money, 3 years of law school is a lot easier path.
Not to mention, you get *scholarships* to law schools - even the top 10 schools give out a fair amount of full ride scholarships, so you don't even have any debt!! And it's way less competitive to get into law school, the only time it's at all difficult is for the top 3 schools (Harvard/Yale/Stanford), after that it's all about a 3.8+ GPA and a 170+ LSAT.
That being said, I couldn't be happier that I am not going to law school - it'd be worse job satisfaction than engineering (which I'm not enjoying), the only benefit is money.
Great thread, I know a ER resident right now, and it certainly sounds brutal. I think as long as you're prepared for what's ahead and know what to expect, you can survive. All the ideal jobs that a upper-middle class parent wants for his kid (investment bankers, lawyers, doctors) seem to have different "weed-out" sessions, doctors seem to be the worst though (and the worst paid).