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Irving A. Bunkin, MD

JAMA. 1983;250(6):757-758.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

ONE DAY while driving to the Albuquerque Airport, my companion, a fellow surgeon, blurted out, "I'm retiring next year. Did you know that 95% of 'board certified' surgeons in the United States have retired from the operating room by the time they are 65?" I never bothered to verify that statistic. I was 60 and still "flying." A newcomer to Santa Fe, I was certain that my cerebral synapses were carbon free and that I was as technically dextrous as ever. I was relaxed, well informed, full of vigor. That was when I began to take an occasional look toward the dreaded horizon. Why had I not given retirement serious consideration before?

Other than incapacitating illness, what are the circumstances that can bring the aging surgeon's career to a halt? Are there bylaws in hospital surgical departments fixing a retirement date regardless of the physician's health and technical and diagnostic . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

Footnotes
Reprint requests to PO Box 2281, Santa Fe, NM 87501 (Dr Bunkin).

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