Beyond Burnout: Docs Decry ‘Moral Injury’ From Financial Pressures of Health Care

Treating a patient in a few minutes is impossible, but that is what doctors are being asked to do and it is leaving them feeling broken.upixa/Shutterstock

Dr. Keith Corl was working in a Las Vegas emergency room when a patient arrived with chest pain. The patient, wearing his street clothes, had a two-minute exam in the triage area with a doctor, who ordered an X-ray and several other tests. But later, in the treatment area, when Corl met the man and lifted his shirt, it was clear the patient had shingles. Corl didn’t need any tests to diagnose the viral infection that causes a rash and searing pain.