Pursuing JD after being accepted to med school

[LeBron James]

---

Members do not see this ad.

So I've already been accepted to med school and am quite comfortable with where I'm going and the career path I'm getting into. I've always been interested in law though and was wondering if it was feasible to pursue a degree in law as well while going through medical school, or if there were joint programs like the MD/PhD that's out there. Since i'm already accepted, is it too late for me to try and set up a program where I go into law? I was hoping people with experience could weigh in.

 

[TheWeeIceMan]

From what I hear, you'll just end up having to choose to either practice law or medicine, so it seems kind of pointless. I'm sure there are a few positions that use both degrees, but they are probably few and far between.

I would think you would have had to apply MD/JD from the beginning, but if your school has a joint program, you could see what they say. I don't think that there are many of these joint degrees out there though.

 

[Vermicious Knid]

How do you plan on balancing med school, law school, and playing in the NBA?

 

[LeBron James]

How do you plan on balancing med school, law school, and playing in the NBA?

I got these cool sidekicks named DWade and Chris Bosh that help me out hahaha

From what I hear, you'll just end up having to choose to either practice law or medicine, so it seems kind of pointless. I'm sure there are a few positions that use both degrees, but they are probably few and far between.

I would think you would have had to apply MD/JD from the beginning, but if your school has a joint program, you could see what they say. I don't think that there are many of these joint degrees out there though.

Hmm, it would make sense to practice one or the other. That would just be pointless then to do both if I can't end up doing both.

 

[Dwindlin]

There is an EM doc here who has his JD and practices med-mal defense, and I'll try to dig up the article but there was a school dean here in Ohio who was an MD/JD and she completed her JD during residency (Neurology).

 

[michaelrack]

So I've already been accepted to med school and am quite comfortable with where I'm going and the career path I'm getting into. I've always been interested in law though and was wondering if it was feasible to pursue a degree in law as well while going through medical school, or if there were joint programs like the MD/PhD that's out there. Since i'm already accepted, is it too late for me to try and set up a program where I go into law? I was hoping people with experience could weigh in.

no experience. doesn't seem like a financially practical combo (you likely won't earn more $ than being a doc alone). Have heard of a few MD/JD's who do activities like malpractice, health care law (stark, hospital-physician joint ventures, medicare-fraud cases, physician contracts, etc), and forensic psychiatry.

 

[sonofva]

the people i know who have a medical degree and a JD went the combined route (MD or DO/JD)...to do the two whole degrees separately is too emotionally/financially/mentally taxing...

i think it takes them about 5 years total. they both plan on becoming leaders in the "politics of medicine."

edit: the head of surgery at my school also has his MD/JD...he is a certified bad a**. he is dual borded in gen surg and optho also, and worked as an army surgeon at a forward surgical station in nam. so if you can pull that off, be my guest.

 

[Medstart108]

So I've already been accepted to med school and am quite comfortable with where I'm going and the career path I'm getting into. I've always been interested in law though and was wondering if it was feasible to pursue a degree in law as well while going through medical school, or if there were joint programs like the MD/PhD that's out there. Since i'm already accepted, is it too late for me to try and set up a program where I go into law? I was hoping people with experience could weigh in.

U do what u gotta do son. You probably are just gonna lose 3 years of income and pay 3 years of tuition for no good reason, but if you want that you do what you want.

 

[LeBron James]

the people i know who have a medical degree and a JD went the combined route (MD or DO/JD)...to do the two whole degrees separately is too emotionally/financially/mentally taxing...

i think it takes them about 5 years total. they both plan on becoming leaders in the "politics of medicine."

edit: the head of surgery at my school also has his MD/JD...he is a certified bad a**. he is dual borded in gen surg and optho also, and worked as an army surgeon at a forward surgical station in nam. so if you can pull that off, be my guest.

Yeah, I was wondering if it was feasible to do it not MD/JD combined, but the idea of paying extra tuition and more years of schooling instead of earning is just really overwhelming. I am definitely going to try and talk to school counselors about it to see if there is a realistic option, but if i have to do the traditional 3 year education, then I'll hold off on that until some other time I suppose.

 

[Suspencer83]

I know of a psychiatrist who did his JD before deciding he wanted to apply to medical school, and while he did do Legal Psychiatric Consultation for a while, he later just professionally abandoned the whole legal aspect of his work and totally focused on the psychiatry.
So, essentially, I personally believe that eventually you'll favor one degree over the other and possibly end up letting go of the usage of the other degree entirely.

Ask yourself, do you want to be Ted or Dr. Cox? 😀

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Law2Doc]

Speaking as someone with both degrees, there really isn't much value in having both. To practice medmal you are much better off skipping the 4 years of med school plus residency, and just more experience practicing law. There are combined programs out there, but they are ill conceived, and their graduates inevitably have to pick one field or the other. They don't get paid more. There aren't jobs out there actually seeking this combo, so you always have to sell potential employers as to why they would want someone with both degrees. The only way I can justify anyone getting both degrees is career changers who decide to do something different after already going down one or the other path. Then sure, it's a nice set of experiences you have in your back pocket. For everyone else it's probably a waste of time/money.

 

[freakingoutabit]

I have a law degree and am now applying to med school. I would absolutely not pursue a JD unless you're really want to be a lawyer. The job market for lawyers is atrocious, and while having both degrees would give you a leg up in health law and med mal, you have much better odds of finding a job with decent pay in medicine than in law right now (and for the foreseeable future). Do a google search for "legal job market" to see what I'm talking about. Salaries have tanked, and most new grads are taking jobs that would have been laughable 10 years ago. Taking out an extra $100-200 thousand just for the possibility of finding a job that would use both doesn't make much sense to me. Also, keep in mind that law students take only 1 or 2 (or 3 at the very most) classes that pertain to healthcare in any way. Are you sure you want to take Torts, Constitutional Law, Property Law, Corporate Law, Criminal Law, etc?

JD/MD programs do exist, but since your school doesn't have one in place, and since you haven't applied to your university's law school (or taken the LSAT, I'm assuming), that's probably not an option for you.

If you're interested in law and want to somehow incorporate it into your education, you could do joint research over the summer or even audit a health law class at your local law school if you can fit it into your schedule. You could also look into doing a 1 year certificate program in health law, though I'm not sure that those programs have much worth (aside from pursuing an interest).

Sorry to be a Negative Nancy. I just would hate to see someone pour money into a degree that currently has so little value if they aren't absolutely passionate about the field.