This Week
PIC OF THE WEEK
AUSTRALIA Rachael Speechley ( right ) from the Red Cross Blood Service bandages Santa after he donated blood in Rockhampton last week . As the holiday period approaches , the service is asking for people to factor a blood donation into their plans , revealing they keep a secret list of ‘ nice ’ life-savers . Locals named Michelle , Peter , Jennifer , David , Amanda , Michael , Nicole , John , Sarah and Mark are most likely to give blood in the area . “ No matter what your name is , we would love to add you to our life-savers list ,” a spokesman said . Blood cannot be stockpiled so must be donated in the days immediately before and after public holidays .
Photo : News Corp
What do we know about doctors ’ wives ?
QUOTES OF THE WEEK
“ I love moulding malleable minds . I try to impart my values — holistic management of the entire patient .”
Dr Francis Antonio , a GP in Shoalhaven , NSW , on winning South Eastern
NSW Supervisor of the Year .
Journal Talk
Michael Woodhead
SNAPSHOT
I FIRST came across the phrase “ doctors ’ wives ” in 2004 , when it was used disparagingly by columnist Malcolm Farr to describe women “ from comfortable families created by high-income husbands ”, who were ‘ guilty ’ of expressing concern about the Iraq war .
Others have pointed to earlier use of the term in the 1994 Cold Chisel song H-Hour Hotel ( in which doctors ’ wives apparently gather in high class bars with “ trendy cokers ”) and the 1971 film Doctors ’ Wives , (“ a suburban sex farce ”, says IMDB ). There was even a 1930 novel of the same name , in which a young wife becomes indignant at taking second place to her husband ’ s career and “ forms a league of doctors ’ wives who attempt to raise their status ”.
With the gender shift in medicine , the term now seems insultingly sexist . But despite almost 100 years of doctors ’ wives featuring in the popular media , there has been little attention paid to medical spouses in the medical literature .
CANCER CRYSTAL BALL About 138,000 Australians will be diagnosed with cancer in 2018 , according to trend data from the new National Cancer Control Indicators website .
Prediction data shows in 2018 there will be :
18235 CASES OF BREAST CANCER
17003 CASES OF COLORECTAL CANCER
14320 CASES OF MELANOMA
12741 CASES OF LUNG CANCER
7729 CASES OF PROSTATE CANCER
However , that ’ s now changed with an article in Annals of Internal Medicine , which profiles the financial and work status of 49,000 physicians and their spouses . It found that 17 % of male doctors were married to a female doctor , and 31 % of female doctors had a male doctor spouse .
The survey reveals huge gender income gaps for male and female medical spouses . Male doctors , regardless of their spouse ’ s profession , had an average annual income of $ 234,000 . Female doctors married to male doctors had lower incomes ($ 131,000 ) and worked fewer hours . For female non-medical spouses of male doctors , the average income was $ 27,200 , and almost half of them did not work outside the home . In contrast , nonmedical male spouses of female doctors earned an average of $ 100,000 , and most had full-time work outside the home .
The researchers said the survey data confirmed previous reports suggesting that female partners of male doctors were likely
Source : Australian Government . Cancer Incidence 1982-2018 . National Cancer Control Indicators , Canberra , 2017 . to be on lower incomes and were foregoing professional careers to focus on household responsibilities such as child rearing . And while this was less apparent for female doctors married to male doctors , there was still a significant income and household responsibility gap .
“ Our results may not be specific to physicians and may reflect traditional gender roles more broadly ,” they added . Another way of looking at it is that “ female doctors can afford to work a bit less following marriage ”, according to Dr Richard Lehman , writing in the BMJ . He also notes that contrary to the Mills & Boon stereotype , only 8 % of male doctors marry nurses .
Whichever way you look at it , there ’ s obviously still a long way to go before female partners of male doctors achieve equality in income and careers . Perhaps we should take another look at the 1930 novel and its league of Doctor ’ s Wives . Annals of Internal Medicine 2017 ; online .
54 %
OF ALL CANCER DIAGNOSES WILL BE IN MEN
“ He is almost friendless . He has the charisma of a speculum .”
Anonymous Liberal Party colleague of health minister Greg Hunt , commenting in the Herald Sun on Mr Hunt ’ s apparent bid for the deputy leadership of the party .
“ I ’ m living the double life .”
Dr Diaa Samuel , a Canadian-based ENT surgeon who flies to
Geraldton , WA , to work for a week each month .
“ Some of their practices are stopping people from seeking mental health plans from their GP .”
Lucy Brogden , chair of the National Mental Health Commission , criticises the policies of the life insurance industry during a Senate inquiry .
“ We initially decided not to honour the tattoo .”
Dr Gregory Holt , a Florida emergency physician , says a man ’ s ‘ Do Not Resuscitate ’ tattoo caused more confusion than clarity .
10 | Australian Doctor | 15 December 2017 www . australiandoctor . com . au