It Finally Happened (DVM Tried to Dissuade me from Vet Med)

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Politics is something I'm very into and passionate about. There's an alternative reality where I went to law school instead and would be making my way towards my state Senate some how.

So there's vet me, politician me, and B&N me within my multi-verse 🤣
 
Politics is something I'm very into and passionate about. There's an alternative reality where I went to law school instead and would be making my way towards my state Senate some how.

So there's vet me, politician me, and B&N me within my multi-verse 🤣
I almost went to law school after undergrad, but I only wanted to focus on constitutional law…..scrapped it when my mentors told me I’d never get enough cases to keep me busy.

My husband often says, “so, what would constitutional lawyer Indy be doing now?” Typically when some horrific offense to the constitution is announced 🤪

I’m not sad I didn’t go that path but I WOULD’VE been busy. Who would’ve guessed that in 2012? *cries*
 
I almost went to law school
Everyone used to tell my parents I would make a great lawyer, which I think was a nice way of saying I was an argumentative little ****. 🤣 Considered it for a while, but decided I don't like the concept of defending a guilty person, which is a crucial part of the whole "due process" thing that I'm very passionate about.
 
This is actually a great word for it. Sometimes my brain feels hungry for things that don't require critical thinking. Again, not to suggest that other jobs are 'easy,' but medical decision making is exhausting. Sometimes I can't even get around to watching more compelling TV shows/movies because I take such comfort in my favorites that require no processing to sit through (Jersey Shore, Gossip Girl, The Office, Kardashians, etc....judge away :laugh: ).
Was thinking about this as I'm rewatching Supernatural for the third time.

I actually do love my job a lot but sometimes you just want to turn your brain off.
 
Was thinking about this as I'm rewatching Supernatural for the third time.

I actually do love my job a lot but sometimes you just want to turn your brain off.
Just this morning my husband was joking that I turn my brain off outside of work (I did something that was clearly going to have an unwanted consequence, lol). He's 100% right though :laugh:
 
FWIW, my brother is a lawyer and it's a brutal existence. You have to go to a top 14 law school to get a big law job. If you don't go to a Top 14 law school, unemployment among lawyers is rampant. We have a cousin who is a lawyer who went to a state school and has never been able to find a job as a lawyer. There is a dental hygienist at my dentist's office who went to law school and was never able to find a job as a lawyer.

My brother and I had an apartment together in the city when I was in school in the city and he was working at a big law firm. I would text him to make sure he was okay because he would disappear for days at a time because he was at work and sleeping 3-4 hours a night on the floor of his office. Those occasions were few and far between and he usually worked 9-9, but *they happened*.

I am not saying the grass is totally green in vet med either. Everyone always asked me in undergrad if I was interested in Vet Med because I was a Bio major who loved animals and I was like "F no" in nicer words. The grass isn't 100% green anywhere.
 
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There were various points during my PhD where I was like "wow I think I'll just quit and go work in a bookstore". My "fallback" is writing which...lol not with my student loans.

I've been extremely lucky with the clinical side of my residency experience and I know it's going to spoil me for the future real job search.
 
FWIW, my brother is a lawyer and it's a brutal existence. You have to go to a top 14 law school to get a big law job. If you don't go to a Top 14 law school, unemployment among lawyers is rampant. We have a cousin who is a lawyer who went to a state school and has never been able to find a job as a lawyer. There is a dental hygienist at my dentist's office who went to law school and was never able to find a job as a lawyer.

My brother and I had an apartment together in the city when I was in school in the city and he was working at a big law firm. I would text him to make sure he was okay because he would disappear for days at a time because he was at work and sleeping 3-4 hours a night on the floor of his office. Those occasions were few and far between and he usually worked 9-9, but *they happened*.

I am not saying the gross is totally green in vet med either. Everyone always asked me in undergrad if I was interested in Vet Med because I was a Bio major who loved animals and I was like "F no" in nicer words. The grass isn't 100% green anywhere.
I know that everyone’s experience is different, but I would certainly question your statement about needing to go to a top school to get a big law job. I have a good friend who went to (I just checked the rankings) a state law school ranked in the bottom 30, and he is starting a job this fall with a base salary higher than I ever expect to make as a veterinarian. Obviously everyone’s experience varies, and he has worked his behind off to be in this position, but his opportunities have never been limited by the ranking of his school.

While I certainly agree that the grass isn’t all that green anywhere in the Med/Vet/Law worlds, I think it is easy for veterinarians to fantasize about the other two professions given the similar workload/schedules, yet the very drastic pay difference.
 
I think I've mentioned this before, but my "non-vet med" dream is to steal away to Rome, live in a flat near the ancient district, and give historical and archaeological tours to visitors. If vet world doesn't work out, I think I'll just do it.....

Though my dream falls apart when I realize the average tourist won't care, so I'd need some type of elaborate screening method ............

Anyway, if anyone ever wants a very knowledgable tour guide for ancient Rome, Ostia, Pompeii and/or Herculaneum, HIT ME UP. (Seriously, I've made Apple guides and google drive guides and tours for friends, I'm happy to share!)

I learned under one of the best ancient Roman historians of his time, Dr. Garrett Fagan. He was often featured on the history channel before it gave in to aliens. He was an amazing mentor and I miss him - he passed from pancreatic cancer in 2017.

His Lure of the Arena: Social Psychology and the Crowd at the Roman Games is even more timely now than it was when it was published.
 
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FWIW, my brother is a lawyer and it's a brutal existence. You have to go to a top 14 law school to get a big law job. If you don't go to a Top 14 law school, unemployment among lawyers is rampant. We have a cousin who is a lawyer who went to a state school and has never been able to find a job as a lawyer. There is a dental hygienist at my dentist's office who went to law school and was never able to find a job as a lawyer.

My brother and I had an apartment together in the city when I was in school in the city and he was working at a big law firm. I would text him to make sure he was okay because he would disappear for days at a time because he was at work and sleeping 3-4 hours a night on the floor of his office. Those occasions were few and far between and he usually worked 9-9, but *they happened*.

I am not saying the gross is totally green in vet med either. Everyone always asked me in undergrad if I was interested in Vet Med because I was a Bio major who loved animals and I was like "F no" in nicer words. The grass isn't 100% green anywhere.
This is the side of law that made my mentors (and me) wary. I also know that I'd have a lot of trouble with a lot of the standard expectations of the field and the daily challenges of working within US law particularly (I think the amount of injustice that is designed into our policing and judicial system would literally shut me down).
 
Everyone used to tell my parents I would make a great lawyer, which I think was a nice way of saying I was an argumentative little ****. 🤣 Considered it for a while, but decided I don't like the concept of defending a guilty person, which is a crucial part of the whole "due process" thing that I'm very passionate about.
my mom tells me every day "it's not too late to consider law school! if you dont like your masters, drop out, skip vet school and go into animal law!" again..she just likes to say i'm a brat lol
 
FWIW the medical writing and publication fields are even worse than vet med at the present time. AI is taking over, and people are losing their jobs left and right.

That said, I cannot see vet med being taken over by AI anytime soon (although I bet that’s the ultimate dream of some corporations. If someone were to ask me human med vs med writing/publications/research vs vet med as prospective career fields, I’d say either human or vet med. many of the other field prospects are just plain scary. At least we have a job in vet med at the present time 🤷‍♀️
 
That said, I cannot see vet med being taken over by AI anytime soon
There is a decent amount of AI in use now, and it's often working. We can choose to not trust it, and most of us won't for a looong time, but that doesn't change the fact that it's being used.

I was using a software program installed by our corp to quick-read my rads at one of my previous jobs, and it was right maaaaybe 90% of the time when compared to the radiologist report I'd get 1-3 days later (if we are assuming the radiologist is right 100% of the time). And that was with 2020-2022 AI, which is the equivalent of 100 year old technology with how quickly AI is evolving. The times I can recall it being 'wrong' were complicated by poor imaging technique, or things so grossly abnormal that even I didn't know exactly what I was looking at.

We have machines that can do CBCs, cytologies, fecals, blood smears, urinalysis with sediment, etc. Some offer at least some degree of interpretation. All that these machines need is a software upgrade to offer full interpretations and prescription recommendations. It seems it wouldn't be hard for someone with a tech brain to come up with a program that can read a patient's chart, know preexisting conditions/allergies/etc, and spit out an entire 30min office visit within 5 minutes of analyzing and interpreting samples. While also generating a medical record at the same time, setting the bill, and generating a follow-up call or email. The tech is absolutely there, it's just up to how well it can be applied to us and how soon. That's also just considering SA med...research, LA med, etc have even more applications to consider.

The only things I can't really see AI readily taking over at some point would be surgery (no one in vet med is going to pay for a surgery robot), physical exam/sample collection, and nursing care for more obvious reasons. The argument that AI cannot make fast decisions, understand nuances of medicine, whatever is not going to last much longer imo because the AI we have today learns and adapts. It will never be perfect, but neither are we.

 
At MVMA, IDEXX was showcasing a new machine they were working on that they’re trying to train to read FNAs. I had lots of suspicious questions about it, and they’re still in the phase of confirming everything with a pathologist, but it’s real and it’s coming.
 
At MVMA, IDEXX was showcasing a new machine they were working on that they’re trying to train to read FNAs. I had lots of suspicious questions about it, and they’re still in the phase of confirming everything with a pathologist, but it’s real and it’s coming.
Zoetis has also announced an AI cytology option too. My understanding is IDEXX’s is a whole new analysis system that is slide free while Zoetis’s uses their regular digital cytology system and uses AI on those normal slide images for an automated interpretation. So very different approaches. It’s definitely not only coming, but already here and a lot of clinical pathologists are worried about our job security if these take off. But an AI can’t integrate with history or deal with “weird” stuff very well (and I’m glad I do a lot of exotics cytology because so far the AIs are dog/cat only), and it takes years to build confidence among the public with new offerings, so hopefully it all works out and my field will pivot as needed without layoffs.
 
Zoetis has also announced an AI cytology option too. My understanding is IDEXX’s is a whole new analysis system that is slide free while Zoetis’s uses their regular digital cytology system and uses AI on those normal slide images for an automated interpretation. So very different approaches. It’s definitely not only coming, but already here and a lot of clinical pathologists are worried about our job security if these take off. But an AI can’t integrate with history or deal with “weird” stuff very well (and I’m glad I do a lot of exotics cytology because so far the AIs are dog/cat only), and it takes years to build confidence among the public with new offerings, so hopefully it all works out and my field will pivot as needed without layoffs.
All I can think of is the nasal clear cell, the acute myeloid sarcoma, and the multiple Richter’s syndromes we saw. Or the sarcomas that get missed because the cells are “weird” but aren’t necessarily cut and dry neoplastic. I feel like there’s no way to teach a machine those kinds of one in a million variations.
 
There is a decent amount of AI in use now, and it's often working. We can choose to not trust it, and most of us won't for a looong time, but that doesn't change the fact that it's being used.

I was using a software program installed by our corp to quick-read my rads at one of my previous jobs, and it was right maaaaybe 90% of the time when compared to the radiologist report I'd get 1-3 days later (if we are assuming the radiologist is right 100% of the time). And that was with 2020-2022 AI, which is the equivalent of 100 year old technology with how quickly AI is evolving. The times I can recall it being 'wrong' were complicated by poor imaging technique, or things so grossly abnormal that even I didn't know exactly what I was looking at.

We have machines that can do CBCs, cytologies, fecals, blood smears, urinalysis with sediment, etc. Some offer at least some degree of interpretation. All that these machines need is a software upgrade to offer full interpretations and prescription recommendations. It seems it wouldn't be hard for someone with a tech brain to come up with a program that can read a patient's chart, know preexisting conditions/allergies/etc, and spit out an entire 30min office visit within 5 minutes of analyzing and interpreting samples. While also generating a medical record at the same time, setting the bill, and generating a follow-up call or email. The tech is absolutely there, it's just up to how well it can be applied to us and how soon. That's also just considering SA med...research, LA med, etc have even more applications to consider.

The only things I can't really see AI readily taking over at some point would be surgery (no one in vet med is going to pay for a surgery robot), physical exam/sample collection, and nursing care for more obvious reasons. The argument that AI cannot make fast decisions, understand nuances of medicine, whatever is not going to last much longer imo because the AI we have today learns and adapts. It will never be perfect, but neither are we.

AI is being used in vet med. I meant that’s it’s not taking over anytime soon. Meaning that our jobs are still there.

We use the idexx sediview and I’ve used the automatic cytology review. That’s a small part of what we do on a daily basis and our jobs are still intact

My post was in regards to our editing team at a big name publisher. I used to work in academic and medical publishing edited and writing papers. During the last four years, 200 of the 300 people I worked with have lost their jobs because (they think) AI can actually do the job of an editor. On the surface it can. However, it’s still a long way away from really being able to edit a scientific paper to be ready for publication. First, the AI my previous company used made a lot of mistakes. Second, it still lacks the scientific and medical knowledge that a trained human would have. I’ve also (sadly) edited AI radiological science papers talking about the 80-90% correct rate that Jayne describes. Since the human radiologist world do not only want to be correct 80-90% of the time, they are creating further algorithms to allow AI to show lesions (like in certain slices of the mri or ct) that a Dr can return to. So AI is likely far from taking clinical jobs at this point.

When I was at Mayo as a PhD student, they were making a program that could take out patient data from their lifelong patient chart and it would put all that certain data into a useable data format where one could then analyze that data in any program they wanted (sas, excel, jmp, etc). So I was worried the people who would read charts and extract data and analyze charts would also lose their jobs (and sadly they did).

I’m not against AI. I just think we need to think ahead of what AI is going to do and clinical work seems much more AI proof than other career options. I’m also sad I lost my editing job but such is life I suppose. At least I can just return to the clinic full time and do relief work (instead of editing and doing part time clinical work).

My point is before you discredit the field (because of the stress and debt), think about what AI is doing to our workforce for other fields. At least we have a job in vet med. without vet med I’d be on unemployment or doing the gig economy thing 🤷‍♀️

Addendum: I’ve editing AI in human med papers. Trust me, it’s REALLY far from taking over any clinicians’ or pathologists’ jobs at this point, despite what anyone (or the media says). We are likely decades away from that so at least in the short term, our jobs will likely stay. Not so for us editors 😥

Note:edited to fix a tense that autocorrect (AI) messed up 😂
 
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I actually do love my job a lot but sometimes you just want to turn your brain off.
This is the one of many reasons I'm currently so enamored with buhurt. Really ****ty think days feel a lot better if I can just hit people with sticks at the end of it. 😂

I really like being a vet. I just wish we had any damn staff ugh.
 
We've lost 9/21 doctors in my three hospital ER group who will all be gone by August 🫠
ugh I’m sorry. My team went through this too. I think I was #2 or #3, and then a total of 10 or so were gone by the end of that year. It was so brutal on those that stayed that most of them were gone by the end of the next year. And we, like all clinics, were operating at 1/2-2/3 the vets we needed to avoid working 16 hour shifts before people left.
 
ugh I’m sorry. My team went through this too. I think I was #2 or #3, and then a total of 10 or so were gone by the end of that year. It was so brutal on those that stayed that most of them were gone by the end of the next year. And we, like all clinics, were operating at 1/2-2/3 the vets we needed to avoid working 16 hour shifts before people left.

We're throwing back pretty significantly. There's been significant drama over everything to the point where were saying, "Welp, here are my schedule preferences. We need a bonus for picking up shifts. And we all need raises."

We got the shift pick up bonus. I'm submitting my letter for a raise Wednesday or Thursday. The schedule situation very well could cause more to leave. And they're advertising 70-80/hr for new hires (I'm at 75 for reference) 🤣 They won't be able to hire anyone for that!
 
We're throwing back pretty significantly. There's been significant drama over everything to the point where were saying, "Welp, here are my schedule preferences. We need a bonus for picking up shifts. And we all need raises."

We got the shift pick up bonus. I'm submitting my letter for a raise Wednesday or Thursday. The schedule situation very well could cause more to leave. And they're advertising 70-80/hr for new hires (I'm at 75 for reference) 🤣 They won't be able to hire anyone for that!
Especially in Colorado????
 
I know you really liked it but damn.

Pretty sure Colorado COL is higher than Tampa/midwest by a significant amount and we got more. Straight salary, though

Liked it enough to commit to at least October (when my 401k becomes fully vested) and potentially at least till January. Part of it was our amazingly individualized schedule and such too. And the support through the entire baby drama of last year. We have virtually zero tech/assistant turnover until now since our techs are paid 30-40/hr and the assistants 20-25/hr.

There was a lot to live due to the commitment of our direct management. But now most of them have been fired (the inciting event tbh) or have left, it's up in the air. There's rumors that scheduling will be set to a rotational system and if we take time off, we are responsible for finding coverage and contacting relief 🙄 I know one doctor who will walk if that's the case.

I don't think I'd ever go back to straight salary. But when I've asked at casual job recruitment calls, most places aren't willing to put me on hourly.
 
Yeah, I am definitely in the maybe not dissuade from applying to vet school, but in the "are you absolutely really sure you want this?" It isn't the clients or the patients. It is the lack of staff and management still expecting you to do and see the same number of patients, thus increasing mistakes and decreasing quality of care for patients. It is the constant pressure from management to do more, see more, make more money. It is a HEAVILY money driven profession, that is all corporate cares about and they will talk to you about the revenue you are bringing in as well as your average revenue per visit. They literally expect you to make $x of dollars per every patient that comes in. And 90% of clinics are corporate owned anymore. Private practices while sometimes not as monetarily driven, they are still monetarily driven, after all, no money means no clinic. Management will also pressure you into doing things you aren't comfortable with, because, bottom line, it makes them more money. Add in the total disaster that VPAs will bring to the profession, if I knew 10 years ago what I know now, I would run as far away as possible.

I don't think human medicine is the answer though, it has its own issues. I would be a travel agent. Or open a bookstore. Or work in a bakery. I would just want to work in something where people are coming to you for happy things, fun or joy. No one comes to the vet because they are excited to be there and just really wanted to see you.
 
Yeah, I am definitely in the maybe not dissuade from applying to vet school, but in the "are you absolutely really sure you want this?" It isn't the clients or the patients. It is the lack of staff and management still expecting you to do and see the same number of patients, thus increasing mistakes and decreasing quality of care for patients. It is the constant pressure from management to do more, see more, make more money. It is a HEAVILY money driven profession, that is all corporate cares about and they will talk to you about the revenue you are bringing in as well as your average revenue per visit. They literally expect you to make $x of dollars per every patient that comes in. And 90% of clinics are corporate owned anymore. Private practices while sometimes not as monetarily driven, they are still monetarily driven, after all, no money means no clinic. Management will also pressure you into doing things you aren't comfortable with, because, bottom line, it makes them more money. Add in the total disaster that VPAs will bring to the profession, if I knew 10 years ago what I know now, I would run as far away as possible.

I don't think human medicine is the answer though, it has its own issues. I would be a travel agent. Or open a bookstore. Or work in a bakery. I would just want to work in something where people are coming to you for happy things, fun or joy. No one comes to the vet because they are excited to be there and just really wanted to see you.
You can still be a travel agent. I grew up in Florida and have looked into Florida travel planning as a side hustle. I’m working on being certified right now. My certification has been in the works ever since I got laid off from my editing company 😥.

I think we need to move away from being employees and become entrepreneurs honestly. The corporations don’t care about individual people and generally only care about $
 
I think we need to move away from being employees and become entrepreneurs honestly.

Agree, but don't want to be that person. I grew up in a family owned, animal based business and I know I never want to own my own clinic. I'm not one of those people who would be able to make it work with the family life I have. I have no issue with working private practice vs corporate, though the privately owned ERs here have **bad** reputations.
 
Agree, but don't want to be that person. I grew up in a family owned, animal based business and I know I never want to own my own clinic. I'm not one of those people who would be able to make it work with the family life I have. I have no issue with working private practice vs corporate, though the privately owned ERs here have **bad** reputations.
True. Same here with private owned urgent cares
 
though the privately owned ERs here have **bad** reputations.
Reputations are bad for medicine, staff treatment, all of the above?

Very few privately owned ERs/specialty clinics survive, it's a shame. I think people go into it wanting to have a unicorn ER and it just fails, because most vets are not cut out to be managers of that degree (or at least not without significant training). The management demands of an ER/specialty hospital are so unique, and the cost to keep the doors open are so high.

A ramble with no real contribution to this conversation: I think 3-5 ERs opened up in Tampa Bay from 2019-2022 to compete with BP and I think only 1 is still open (not including VEG in that)? A few vets I used to work with at the pearl have just opened a competing specialty/ER and already have plans to open a second location to directly compete with BP, so hopefully that does well. Many vets that went to this new place may or may not have personal beef with BP so it will be interesting. My current area has a few smaller ERs dotted around but when my own dog had a GDV scare a few weeks ago, the only clinic that didn't turn me away was Bluepearl. I literally called 4 locally owned ERs and none would see my dog, which is exactly why we saw so damn many cases day and night at Bluepearl. We never turned anyone away because if we did, there was literally no where else for these pets to go. I don't hate Bluepearl and I'm more comfortable going there because I understand the process, but it was disappointing to see that this area is in the exact same boat that Tampa was/is.

I think we need to move away from being employees and become entrepreneurs honestly. The corporations don’t care about individual people and generally only care about $
If I had $1 for every time I heard 'corps only care about money.' I mean, it's true, but it's because it's a for-profit business. A profit needs to be made. If you don't watch the bottom line, you go out of business. I'm not sticking up for corps necessarily, but private owners are also very capable of treating people poorly and practicing questionable medicine in the name of profits. I mean how many of us gave examples of questionable practices we've seen/had to do in the name of saving an owner money (in the rant thread a while ago, I think)? At least with a corporate clinic, you have a fighting chance that HR will help you when someone treats you terribly, and questionable medical practices don't really happen to that degree.
 
Reputations are bad for medicine, staff treatment, all of the above?

Very few privately owned ERs/specialty clinics survive, it's a shame. I think people go into it wanting to have a unicorn ER and it just fails, because most vets are not cut out to be managers of that degree (or at least not without significant training). The management demands of an ER/specialty hospital are so unique, and the cost to keep the doors open are so high.

A ramble with no real contribution to this conversation: I think 3-5 ERs opened up in Tampa Bay from 2019-2022 to compete with BP and I think only 1 is still open (not including VEG in that)? A few vets I used to work with at the pearl have just opened a competing specialty/ER and already have plans to open a second location to directly compete with BP, so hopefully that does well. Many vets that went to this new place may or may not have personal beef with BP so it will be interesting. My current area has a few smaller ERs dotted around but when my own dog had a GDV scare a few weeks ago, the only clinic that didn't turn me away was Bluepearl. I literally called 4 locally owned ERs and none would see my dog, which is exactly why we saw so damn many cases day and night at Bluepearl. We never turned anyone away because if we did, there was literally no where else for these pets to go. I don't hate Bluepearl and I'm more comfortable going there because I understand the process, but it was disappointing to see that this area is in the exact same boat that Tampa was/is.


If I had $1 for every time I heard 'corps only care about money.' I mean, it's true, but it's because it's a for-profit business. A profit needs to be made. If you don't watch the bottom line, you go out of business. I'm not sticking up for corps necessarily, but private owners are also very capable of treating people poorly and practicing questionable medicine in the name of profits. I mean how many of us gave examples of questionable practices we've seen/had to do in the name of saving an owner money (in the rant thread a while ago, I think)? At least with a corporate clinic, you have a fighting chance that HR will help you when someone treats you terribly, and questionable medical practices don't really happen to that degree.
My statement has to do with something that happened between me and a corporation. They didn’t care about me. Actually they tried to destroy me. The government is now involved.

Anyways…

At least when one becomes an entrepreneur, you are then more in control of your own destiny, even if you are just a relief (contractor) or have a small mobile practice.

I didn’t actually mean all corporations don’t care about individuals. Some still do, but most are moving away from individual loyalty and are only thinking about profit. Yes we need to be profitable to stay in business, but we also need to think about the individuals that are involved with that company and the customers of said business. Otherwise a downfall is inevitable

I never said to give services away for free.

I’m just saying that corporations are going to be their own downfall, eventually, unless they start caring about people.

Also, HR is there to protect the employer from lawsuits etc. They exist for that reason alone. If you have a grievance against something, HR is there to protect the employer not the employee. They don’t focus on ‘doing the right thing’. It’s just reality. If you have a grievance that will save them from a lawsuit, of course they will help you. If it’s another situation, well HR likely won’t help you as they exist to protect the employer. Sad reality that I learned the HARD way
 
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My statement has to do with something that happened between me and a corporation. They didn’t care about me. Actually they tried to destroy me. The government is now involved.

Anyways…

At least when one becomes an entrepreneur, you are then more in control of your own destiny, even if you are just a relief (contractor) or have a small mobile practice.

I didn’t actually mean all corporations don’t care about individuals. Some still do, but most are moving away from individual loyalty and are only thinking about profit. Yes we need to be profitable to stay in business, but we also need to think about the individuals that are involved with that company and the customers of said business. Otherwise a downfall is inevitable

I never said to give services away for free.

I’m just saying that corporations are going to be their own downfall, eventually, unless they start caring about people.
I think we are stuck with them until capitalism dies, if that ever happens :laugh: I get what you're saying, though, bigger companies lose the idea that they have individual people working for them.
 
I think we are stuck with them until capitalism dies, if that ever happens :laugh: I get what you're saying, though, bigger companies lose the idea that they have individual people working for them.
We don’t have a capitalist system though. We actually have a corporatist system because corporations can lobby our government and get a lot of legislation and other ‘benefits’ passed for their (the corporation’s) benefit. That is not the free market system that Milton Friedman and Thomas Sewel and other free market economists spoke about.

What you said about big corps is true though. I try not to get hung up on semantics, but capitalism does not equal corporatism.
 
We don’t have a capitalist system though. We actually have a corporatist system because corporations can lobby our government and get a lot of legislation and other ‘benefits’ passed for their (the corporation’s) benefit. That is not the free market system that Milton Friedman and Thomas Sewel and other free market economists spoke about.

What you said about big corps is true though. I try not to get hung up on semantics, but capitalism does not equal corporatism.
Nuance and semantics aside, capitalism is still a huge problem - without government regulation, the free market will always lead to worker exploitation. The free market turns lives, resources, and the earth into capital to be traded and creates scarcity intentionally producing absurd waste.
 
Nuance and semantics aside, capitalism is still a huge problem - without government regulation, the free market will always lead to worker exploitation. The free market turns lives, resources, and the earth into capital to be traded and creates scarcity intentionally producing absurd waste.
Read about the theories from some of the economists above. They explain why free market capitalism is one of the best ways to freedom annd economic stability. That’s not me saying it. It’s them saying that. That is why the early American experience did very well.

Worker exploitation sadly will happen with any system. In a free market however a worker is free to leave and start their own entrepreneurial journey. That means that IF a company wants to keep their workers, they better find ways to keep them or they will go elsewhere as explained by Sewel who was a democrat turned independent.

And again, we aren’t capitalistic.
 
Read about the theories from some of the economists above. They explain why free market capitalism is one of the best ways to freedom annd economic stability. That’s not me saying it. It’s them saying that. That is why the early American experience did very well.

Worker exploitation sadly will happen with any system. In a free market however a worker is free to leave and start their own entrepreneurial journey. That means that IF a company wants to keep their workers, they better find ways to keep them or they will go elsewhere as explained by Sewel who was a democrat turned independent.

And again, we aren’t capitalistic.
I actually was a humanities major, and took a full set of college-level economics alongside sociology, anthropology, etc. I respectfully disagree with your assessments due to my education and knowledge on the topic.

Also, the above consideration of the free market is oversimplistic, falling woefully short in its sociological assessment of the influence of the free market in human society and its applicability to anything but theory. In fact, the free market cannot exist as in theory because there are endless confounding variables that affect the integrity of its application at a societal level. Also, anthropological and sociological assessment of human behavior also show us that every general economic system has its theoretical limits, including the free market. Nothing survives contact with the enemy, so to speak, and humans have an incredible depth of ability for evil, which to be frank, the free market enables.

And personally, I think that saying we aren't capitalistic is getting so pedantic to the point of harm.

Finally, "the early American experience" was terrible AF for millions of people and relied on slavery so I'm a little salty hearing it heralded as "doing very well" and represented as a model for "one of the best ways to freedom and economic stability."
 
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I actually was a humanities major, and took a full set of college-level economics alongside sociology, anthropology, etc. I respectfully disagree with your assessments due to my education and knowledge on the topic.

Also, the above consideration of the free market is oversimplistic, falling woefully short in its sociological assessment of the influence of the free market in human society and its applicability to anything but theory. In fact, the free market cannot exist as in theory because there are endless confounding variables that affect the integrity of its application at a societal level. Also, anthropological and sociological assessment of human behavior also show us that every general economic system has its theoretical limits, including the free market. Nothing survives contact with the enemy, so to speak, and humans have an incredible depth of ability for evil, which to be frank, the free market enables.

And personally, I think that saying we aren't capitalistic is getting so pedantic to the point of harm.

Finally, "the early American experience" was terrible AF for millions of people and relied on slavery so I'm a little salty hearing it heralded as "doing very well" and represented as a model for "one of the best ways to freedom and economic stability."
I understand. My ancestors were indentured servants who fought the crown to win independence, so I don’t just take these ideas by thinking about rainbows and flowers (I’m not sugar coating them at all). My ancestors founded this country by first being indentured servants to the British crown so that they could just get here. It was a very very hard life and one ancestor lost three wives to illness. But many many people wanted to move to the United States in the 1800s. You should ask yourself why.

My ancestors were Yankees and build their own farms without one slave. Then they fought in the civil war to end slavery. I don’t take that lightly…
And my grandfather helped to liberate Dachau in the Army. I saw what he went thru and don’t take that atrocity lightly either
However, I encourage you to open your mind. I was also a non-science major (journalism) and took two years of Econ; eventually, I realized I was brainwashed in my undergrad studies.

I also respectfully disagree with you, and I know I’m very very much in the minority with my economic views within the veterinary world.

I encourage you to still read what those economists say and then post rebuttals to that because I really do want to continue to study both sides of the argument.

Going socialistic is also the worst idea. I think any social programs should really come from the 50 states themselves (not the feds). Churches should also help more with providing help to the needy

Respectfully, saying I have a simplistic view is slightly passive aggressively saying I’m not educated or smart enough on the matter. Yet you didn’t make any rebuttals to those economists’ ideas above. I’m saddened and hurt by your post, but that’s what happens when you think outside of popular views I suppose. I’m used to it. Veterinary medicine leans toward what the universities teach. (If this makes the mods here mad then so be it, but I will defend myself). All I want to do is present other economic ideas 🤷‍♀️

Nothing is ever simplistic in this crazy world

Anyways we are getting way way off topic here.
 
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Usually I don't police off topic conversations too much, but as this is veering pretty far off from the original intent of the thread and into a more spicy realm, I would remind everyone to treat each other with kindness and respect, and avoid derailing this thread into a debate about economic policy 🙂
 
Usually I don't police off topic conversations too much, but as this is veering pretty far off from the original intent of the thread and into a more spicy realm, I would remind everyone to treat each other with kindness and respect, and avoid derailing this thread into a debate about economic policy 🙂
You’re right, poor OP getting notifications with their thread properly taken over by me and my ramblings. I spent 5 years serving high-needs kids in Philadelphia, and I get a bit passionate, but I digress…. Sorry OP!
 

Actually I think discussing economics & its impact on vet med is probably a good topic to discuss so I made this space here. Capitalism certainly begets corporatism (not just a modern thing, Carnegie and Rockefeller were examples of recent trusts in the gilded age who impacted politics. Not a corporation per se but they controlled a lot of the economy & wealth) and in terms of vet med when you have people euthanizing healthy animals because they’re late on rent & can’t afford a 7,000-10,000 surprise operation on an otherwise healthy animal you just have to wonder. **** happens in peoples lives. Savings go to cars or human medical bills. So of course don’t let the animal suffer, but it just begs the moral question that if there was money that animal wouldn’t have to die and someone wouldn’t have to lose their pet.
And the early American experience was far from egalitarian and freedom loving.
 
staff treatment

This primarily. But a few of our techs have relieved there recently and say their in house techs are phenomenal and seem to be doing well. I have to stick around until October, but we'll see what happens. Might swing by in Oct with my resume and see what they say.

I think people go into it wanting to have a unicorn ER and it just fails, because most vets are not cut out to be managers of that degree (or at least not without significant training). The management demands of an ER/specialty hospital are so unique, and the cost to keep the doors open are so high.

This 1000%. I don't think the majority of people in general have the knowledge to run their own business. I think it's one of the hardest things to do.

I literally called 4 locally owned ERs and none would see my dog, which is exactly why we saw so damn many cases day and night at Bluepearl. We never turned anyone away because if we did, there was literally no where else for these pets to go.

We don't say no to anything, but we're honest about our wait times. If someone wants to wait 2 hours, they're welcome to. We triage no different based on the wait time.

I’m just saying that corporations are going to be their own downfall, eventually, unless they start caring about people.

I actually agree with this, particularly venture capital and private equity within vet med. The business model itself doesn't work, and so I feel like a lot of these businesses will close hospitals to do their whole consolidate and streamline scenario. I wouldn't be shocked if groups like NVA/ethos get sold off from their over-riding corps in the next 3-5 years.
 
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