Los Angeles Is A Terrible Place To Start A Medical Practice

People hear all the time the horrors of commuting in LA. But unless you actually live here, you don't really understand the tediousness and frustration of driving in stop and go traffic for miles at a times. I recently left work at the hospital a little after 5:00 PM. I knew the commute would be a long one but on this particular day I was even more exasperated than usual. As you can see by my odometer, after driving for over half an hour, I had covered a distance of only three miles. Only twenty more miles to get home.

Why don't I live closer to my workplace? Because a doctor's income is barely sufficient to purchase a house big enough to raise a young family on the Westside of LA. Almost all our staff who have small children live just as far away from the hospital as me in order to have access to good public schools and park space. We are experiencing an exodus of young anesthesiologists in our staff who either want to move away to afford a better lifestyle or their spouses refuse to consider the sacrifices they would need to make in order to live here. So unless ninety degree temperatures in the middle of February is your first priority in finding a place to work, LA is a terrible city for doctors to practice, especially if you're just starting out your career.