tie my hands

After years of being a student, an intern, a resident and a fellow, I am poised to become a real, grownup doctor. This coming July, I will be unleashed on the population with my skills, knowledge and sanitized hands. The question is, "which population"?

I have, at this moment, 3 options.

1. Buy out the Return of Service obligation - this will cost around 360 thousand dollars, up front, in cash, 30 days from graduation.

Pros: Goodbye Ontario, flexibility to work in the GTA if I so choose, flexibility to take on short term contracts instead of committing to 5 years in a single under-serviced location.

Cons: Holy jebus the debt. My daughter will have to wear bread bags on her feet instead of shoes. I will have to do a side business doing illicit organ farming.

2. Sign a contract with a nearby hospital (peripheral to GTA) and start working.

Pros: I have offers from several locals, including one where several of my friends are on staff. They assure me that I am "tough enough" to handle the patients and the flow. They are also financially solvent after only 2 years of grownup work.

Cons: FIVE FRICKING YEARS?!? I know, I know, medicine is all about delayed gratification, but I have delayed and delayed and...I would like my kid to know what my home province looks like. I would like to take a few months to travel with my family before we're all stuck in school holiday scheduling. I would like to have a choice to try something else if my first job isn't what I want.

3. Run run away... I only have to deal with the ROS if I choose to practice medicine. What if I finish the program and then run away and become a goat farmer on Pender Island? Free free free!!! Never to be held accountable for deaths and disability! Never to be spat or bled or shat upon (well, by a human)! Never to have to smile while someone insults me!

Believe me, I'm leaning towards three.