male applicants for ob/gyn

[nepal]

I am sure that this topic has already been discussed on the forum, but wanted to hear some new thoughts regarding it. I am a 34 year old married male. We have a 2 year old.
I am currently completing the first year of my internal medicine residency-categorical program. I am currently interviewing for ob/gyn. I wanted to apply for ob/gyn last year but had some reservations about 1) being a male 2)liability of the field 3) challenging residency and 4) being older.
I have had some time to reflect and realized that my reservations were not that important if ob/gyn is was I really want to do. Internal medicine is something that I can live with. I am not crazy about it, but I believe that I am competent for my level of training and feel that my confidence continues to improve; however, I have concluded that if I am going to see patients 2 and 3 in the morning, it better be for something that I really love-ob/gyn is certainly one of those things.
At this point, I have two concerns. First, I am almost two years from being done with IM. Not sure if I am interested in pursuing a fellowship, but feel that I have to since being a primary care doc is my more and more drudgery these days.
The second issue is that my gender may have significant bearing on employment opportunities. Several individuals have said that there are more opportunities for females to join practices than males.
What do you think? Suggestions/advice?

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[iatrosB]

I'm not really sure why you haven't gotten any responses. My guess is that it has been talked about a lot. Do a search for "male" and then for "lifestyle" and the threads that come up should answer all your questions. Good luck.

 

[JulianCrane]

I'd be interesting in hearing people's thoughts too.

 

[tiredmom]

I guess I'll try to help with my opinions. I don't see being male as a drawback in ob/gyn... the younger generation of ob/gyns is predominantly female, so having a balance is nice (in my female opinion). There may be some areas of the country that aren't that well represented with female ob/gyns, so it may be harder going into those areas as a male, but I can't imagine it would be impossible.
Age and kid wise - its personal preference. You aren't too old by any means. I'll be turning 31 a couple of weeks into my intern year and have two school age kids. Your lifestyle as an ob/gyn depends so much on what kind of practice you are in and what environment.
Liability - yup, it's there. It's better in some states than in others. It seems to be improving somewhat in Texas since the tort reform was passed 3 years ago. ACOG's website has more specific info on different states and their levels of crisis.
Residency difficulty - I'm an MS4, so I'm not necessarily the best person to answer this. I firmly believe that it's not near as bad if you love what you are doing. The hours seem tough - every program I've interviewed at averages in the upper 60's/70's per week.
Good luck to you, I hope this helps.