“Surgical assistant here. I’ve seen anesthesiologists take pictures of patients under anesthesia and show them around.”

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"I reviewed a video of the procedure on my cellphone quickly and proceeded to complete it, terrified I was going to harm my patient. Fortunately, it all went well, but afterward I submitted my resignation with two weeks' notice and switched to working in hospice. I never went back to working in a hospital ER or ICU again. I warn people never to use that hospital for their care, that it isn't safe to go there. Profit always seems to win over safe patient care."

"Then, we got into a length of stay crisis because we were discharging too quickly (the rules at the time said an LTACH [long-term acute care hospital] had to have an average length of stay of 25 days). When this crisis was identified, people were kept longer than necessary. It was awful. I had a CEO breathing down my neck constantly. I sure hope they have reformed things since then."

"There's a large discrepancy in the public's expectation of how accurate we are and the reality. I think in 100 years, we will look back on the 'outdated' way we currently practice medicine, even in our best institutions. To give an example, the best treatment we have figured out for resistant depression is shocking our patients; it works well, and it's one of the best we have."

"I'm finally at a level of respect in my profession, critical care, where I can mostly afford to practice as I think best, but it's taken me years to get there, as I looked the other way and let people have their way that shouldn't be allowed. This reality exists for many professions, but in medicine, it threatens lives and isn't just petty jealousy. There is no meritocracy. You just have to learn to play the game."

Note: Some submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity.