Isn’t it interesting that you get judged when you leave medicine, but medicine doesn’t get judged because you left it?
– I decided to utter this powerful quote on social media, embarking on an exploration of the stigma, the system, and the physicians, like me, who are breaking free.
When a physician decides to leave clinical practice—whether temporarily, permanently, or to pivot into an adjacent role—the response is rarely neutral. There are whispers. Raised eyebrows. Even outright speculation about the doctor’s mental health, competence, or personal resilience. But what’s rarely examined is the structure that may have pushed them out in the first place.
“This is very true,” says Dr. Candice Williams, a board-certified anesthesiologist. “No one ever questions the system, only the individual. They make up conspiracy theories about the physician, their competence, unhappiness, mental state… everything except maybe the system is really broken.”
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For a profession rooted in evidence and diagnosis, the healthcare system seems remarkably incurious when it comes to its own dysfunction. Why are so many highly trained professionals walking away from a career they once dreamed about?
Don’t believe me? Take a look at the numbers!
A study published in JAMA Network Open found that approximately one-third of academic physicians reported moderate or greater intention to leave their current institution within the next two years. This study highlighted that burnout, lack of professional fulfillment, and other personal and organizational factors were associated with this intention to leave.
“That is a great point. Talk about victim blaming,” adds Dr. Janice Makela, a physician specializing in hospice and palliative care. “The system is broken and then breaks us, and then blames us for being too weak when we leave.”
What’s more, those who choose to leave—or even diversify—often find themselves subject to quiet judgment from peers and outsiders alike. It’s as if the only legitimate form of medicine is the one practiced under fluorescent lights and within overburdened hospital systems.
For a profession rooted in evidence and diagnosis, the healthcare system seems remarkably incurious when it comes to its own dysfunction.
But there’s another story happening behind the scenes. Many physicians who leave are simply seeking healthier ways to exist, to heal themselves while still contributing meaningfully to the world.
“I feel most people want to know how to get out,” says Dr. Karla Loken, OB-GYN. “Ironically, the same kids at 21 who were praying to get accepted [to med school].”
It’s a jarring contrast: the dream of white coats and lives saved versus the reality of administrative bloat, moral injury, and burnout. Even the AMA now recognizes the deep-rooted problem that this is posing in our profession. In a study conducted by the AMA between 2021 and 2022, when asked about the likelihood of leaving their current organization within two years, 40% of physicians said they had moderate interest in leaving, that they were likely to do so, or that they would definitely do so.
Yet the calling to be a doctor doesn’t end with a resignation letter. For many, it transforms.
As Anton Mitin, a medical student at Moscow State University, reminds us: “A doctor is always a doctor. It’s for life, even if you leave the practice.” Mitin draws on the legacy of physician-writers like Chekhov and Bulgakov—doctors who continued healing in different ways. “Even though [Bulgakov] was now a writer, he didn’t stop being a doctor.” Anton, we have a new STUDENT section of SoMeDocs and I’d love to invite you in and get involved. We need more people just like you in our field, equipped with the storytelling that helps us to understand why “different” matters.
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Still, for some, the real pressure comes not from walking away from medicine—but from the culture within it.
“People don’t leave jobs, they leave the boss,” says Dr. Herbert Bravo, a co-founder in the physician-entrepreneur space. “If patients and suits treated physicians with kindness and helped us help them—maybe we would all have a longer career.”
Not every departure is an abandonment. Sometimes it’s a necessary act of self-preservation. Sometimes it’s a rebellion against a system that no longer serves. And sometimes, it’s simply the next chapter in a longer, more dynamic story.
One that medicine—as a whole—would do well to listen to.
For some, the real pressure comes not from walking away from medicine—but from the culture within it.
