By Doug Brunk, San Diego Bureau
At age 51, Marguerite P. Barnett, M.D., considers herself “a bit young to retire,” but the thought crosses her mind.
“I'm in a medical malpractice state and sometimes I think strongly about [retiring] because of stressors,” said Dr. Barnett, a board-certified plastic surgeon and general surgeon who practices in Sarasota, Fla. “I always thought I'd be carried out in a pine box rather than retire. When you're younger, you think you never will retire and you forget how physical infirmities can kind of slow you down, especially in a high-stress job like surgery, where you need to be in top physical form.”
Five years ago, she reluctantly started using a microscope for microsurgery because of changes to her eyesight. She still doesn't require eyeglasses, “but this has been the first time I've had to face my possible limitations. It caused me to think, 'maybe I would get to that point where I would be unable to physically do what I do.' I've seen some surgeons who've had bad tremors or bad vision, or an accident where they had neurological damage and were forced to retire.”
She was quick to add that even for physicians whose careers are not cut short by an injury or a decline in physical functioning, retirement can be devastating because many lack outside interests in which to take pleasure during their golden years.
“A good 90% of the doctors I know are really at a loss for what to do,” Dr. Barnett said. “They get tired so they want to quit, but they have no idea how to fill time afterward.”
Lazar J. Greenfield, M.D., professor of surgery and chair emeritus at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, advises physicians to “cultivate other things that interest them and to become involved in something that will challenge them in retirement. The usual frustration for someone who has been very goal oriented is not having anything that falls in the category of worthwhile activity. I think that's what needs to be cultivated.”
After retiring in 1998 from an accomplished career as a vascular and transplant surgeon at the Medical College of Virginia, Richmond, at age 71, H.M. Lee, M.D., took the law school admissions' test and applied to a local law school to “learn something new and to prevent Alzheimer's,” he quipped. He didn't really plan to go back to school. “Also, I don't play golf.”
He remembers feeling stumped when a representative from the law school called to congratulate him on being accepted. “Being a surgeon all my life, you hate to be retreating from it,” Dr. Lee said. “I consulted with my wife. She said, 'Why not? Try it.'”
School officials told him he could take as long as he wanted to complete the degree, but the Korean-born Dr. Lee chose the fast track, earning his JD in just 3 years.
“It was very good to be with young people,” he recalled. “I learned a great deal about the history of America. I'd learned about the rights of the individual, which is the essence of democracy, but coming from [Korea], I had no idea what that meant. Now I understand what it means—respect for the individual and, at the same time, not neglecting the society.”
He accepted his role as the oldest student in his class. “One day my youngest classmate brought in an older couple and said, 'Dr. Lee, I would like you to meet my grandparents.' They were, in fact, younger than I was!”
Today he uses his legal skills once a week as a volunteer consultant for a local medical malpractice firm. He devotes another day each week to attending meetings and grand rounds at the medical college. He spends the rest of his time with his wife, a pediatrician who left clinical practice more than 30 years ago to raise their son and daughter.
“I owe my wife gratitude, which I cannot express enough,” he said. “From now on, I'm going to hold my wife's hand. That's what I'm doing.”
His school days may not be over, though. He's thinking about pursuing a master's degree in history. In retirement, “there are no limits,” Dr. Lee emphasized. “Try anything you want. That's what I like to say.”
When Dr. Greenfield retired as chair of the department of surgery at the University of Michigan in 2002, he spent the following year as interim executive vice president for health affairs at the university. He then did a sabbatical at the Food and Drug Administration and remains a consultant on medical devices.