Oncologist salary

So my dad has end stage cancer and recently diagnosed vascular dementia. Everyone tried to pretend like it was side effects of the chemo-brain for so long, but now we know because he had another MRI of his brain. He is, in my and most everyone's opinion, well past the point he should have started hospice but he is resistant to the idea of "giving up." He is incapable of walking ten steps without falling but refuses to use a wheelchair, barely uses a walker, will not change his behavior at all and as such he has fallen a lot lately, lost so much weight he is near starving, and constantly dehydrated. Many ER trips. The fire department knows our family because of the amount of 911 calls.
We live in an affluent area and have never been destitute, but a string of very poor financial decisions coupled with a decade of cancer treatments and my mom's early retirement to care for my dad have eaten my parents' money. They refinanced the house, they took out crazy loans, they dipped into almost all of their retirement and now we are in real danger of losing the house. I work full time with a moderate salary but I barely make enough to pay their mortgage, let alone all the bills. I contribute rent every month and buy groceries, drive, have spent countless hours and my own money retrofitting the house to be safer. But it's not enough.
We are in a precarious situation trying to both get my dad to agree to hospice or even a limited private in home caregiver, and also be able to afford it or have it all approved via Medicare (difficult if you don't agree to hospice). He still wants treatment even if though there is nothing to be done anymore. The oncologist told us to look for a clinical trial for drugs that aren't tested in humans yet. And even if we do get in, they give 30% the placebo!
He's always been a difficult man and now he's a difficult person to care for. This surprises no one. But I love him, he's still my dad. I don't want him to suffer. And he is suffering, needlessly in my opinion, because he won't agree to hospice. He says he wants to die every day. But he won't even sign a DNR. He is incredibly sick. It's taking a monumental toll on my mother and I. I am about to take leave from work even though I am the only source of income besides their meager SS because my mom has thrown her back out trying to keep him from falling.
I don't know what to do. We can't carry on like this but he won't consider anything else.
Update 5/21/23:
It's been a tough couple days. At the primary doc visit on Friday my mom and I talked to her about our concerns. He was disgruntled the whole time and yelled at the admin who checked us in, then immediately fell asleep on the exam table. But it actually allowed us to chat with the doctor, who agreed it was probably (definitely) time for hospice. Whoever in the comments said my mom has POA you're right, so thank you for the reminder. They have a will and we found the documents granting her the ability to make medical decisions if he's incapacitated.
My sister came to the house yesterday and we all talked to him and told him we thought hospice was the best option and we hoped he'd agree, that the goal was to make him more comfortable and enjoy life more, etc. He didn't like hearing it at all, which was hard. Because he doesn't remember where he's at in his treatment and it always comes as a surprise that he's not on chemo anymore/current hormone treatments have stopped working. But he agreed in the moment. Of course the problem is he doesn't remember conversations. At my sister's request and his agreement, I took notes of our talk for him to read later when he doesn't recall.
Our next step is (I think), getting him to agree to hospice care with the doctor. (Does he sign something? Does my mom sign?) Our primary is also contacting the oncologist to tell him what's happening/get his take on things. At this point any more treatment, whether my dad wants to or not, I think is out of the question. His condition has worsened for the past few days and now he cannot walk at all, or sit up without being pulled up, and he is 90% refusing to eat. We can barely keep him hydrated. At least this means he will use the urinal jug without putting up much of a fight because he knows he's too weak to make it to the bathroom.
As all this goes on, I wonder if he will make it to hospice care. Even still, no doctor will give us any timeline at all. In my unmedical opinion, I don't think he can carry on in this state for even a couple of weeks.
Thank you everyone for your input. This is so tremendously difficult to navigate.

Hi folks, if you've been in the threads on the main /cancer sub you may have seen the short version of my story before. It tends to be part of context-setting for providing views and advice. For the record, here's all the gory details of my story. This will be a very long read, I'm not leaving anything out.
I'd been having abnormal stool movements intermittently for years in my 40s and, being a fairly average Australian male, ignoring it. Sometimes explosive, often unformed, sometimes with a bit of blood, very often difficult to pass, spending way too long on the toilet and copping the usual "I don't know why you men spend so long in there?" questions from my wife. I would just put it down to having splurged on some poor food choices or an over-indulgent party or some such. But, as I approached my 50th birthday, my wife suggested I get checked out, so I saw my GP (General Practitioner) and got a referral for an ultrasound and CT scan.
This was 2020, I was in full time work at the time, and had already decided to take a personal leave day on my 50th birthday as a special treat, and so when it came to scheduling the scans, I already had a day off to fit them in, straight after breakfast time. COVID had hit a month or two before-hand, and we were all working from home anyway, so the major difference was that I simply wasn't looking at the computer or answering the phone for the day. Off I went, had a jolly time with the staff, and headed home to start my day of festivities. Right before lunchtime my GP called me and asked me to come straight in for a consultation about the scan results. I thought, gee, that was quick. Can't be good. A couple of minutes later he called again and asked if I was married - yes, I am - and said I should bring her too. Shit! That can't be good.
So we went in straight after lunch, and the scans had revealed a cancer tumour in the sigmoid region of my colon, which was blocking the passage of most waste, as well as multiple metastases on my liver, up to 2-3cm in diameter. The Dr described it as a "Stage IV" colo-rectal cancer diagnosis. Being completely unfamiliar with the terminology, I had to ask "how many stages are there?", and even with that information, my next question was "So, is this the good end of the scale, or the bad end?" It was the bad end.
The rest of my 50th birthday was pretty numbing, and although attempts were made to be celebratory, all the air had gone out of it. I don't think my wife has ever quite forgiven me for scheduling those scans on that day. (It's now kind of a joke, but the fact is we still haven't properly celebrated any of my birthdays since, it's under such a shadow. I keep threatening to celebrate my 50th birthday one day, at least until we get it right. :-))
I got a referral for a colonoscopy two days after that consultation, and they couldn't get the device past the tumor, but they also didn't find any other polyps to remove. Those results were enough for a referral to a specialist surgeon, and I was booked in for surgery within two weeks. The last time I had been admitted to a hospital for anything was when I was hit in the eye with a hockey ball at age 17, requiring stitches and observation for concusssion, so the whole hospital environment and process was very unfamiliar to me.
The surgery was completely successful, removing a section of colon, about one third of the volume of my bowel, and not requiring any stoma or ostomy. I was up and about again within days, and scheduled to commence chemotherapy to address the metastases to begin about six weeks after the surgery, just enough time to recover sufficient wellbeing to face the rigours of chemo. I had a port installed in my right upper chest to take the chemo two days before the first cycle, one of the most peculiar experiences of my life, as it was done under local anaesthetic while they installed the device under my skin, then threaded the line under it, (like putting butter under the skin of a chicken for roasting!) up to my jugular and then down to my aorta.
In the meantime I had arranged to take extended sick leave from work. I was working in a small quasi-government agency with all the same sorts of benefits, and had a very good reserve of sick leave, long service leave and annual leave, so there was no problem retaining my normal full-time salary for what looked like being an extended absence.
My first chemo course was "FOLFOX6" with Cetuximab. Genetic screening had determined I was compatible with additional drugs such as Cetuximab, which complement the treatment. FOLFOX also includes oxaliplatin, a known side-effect of which is the onset of neuropathy (numbness) in the extremities, and severe reactions in the mouth and throat to exposure to cold food and drink. My course was 12 cycles at fortnightly intervals, taking me from July to December 2020. Luckily I didn't really experience the nausea and diahrrea often associated with chemo. The drugs for side effects included a low-level antibiotic and a nausea suppressant that's basically weak speed, all of which conspired to wreck my Olympic-standard sleep performance for the first few days of each cycle. Neuropathy did start to set in, and I took to wearing light cycling gloves most of the time (it was winter in Australia) and drinking luke-warm water.
I was very upbeat and open about the experience, I would post a pic of my saline IV bag on chemo days to let people know what I was up to, and from time to time the full finished tree - roughly six to seven bags, including the saline flush, all of which took between 4 and 5 hours to infuse, depending on how zealous the oncology nurses were about the length of flushes between drugs. I developed a great relationship with the nurses - their depth of experience and knowledge is unmatched, and they are a terrific source of advice when trying different approaches to coping with side-effects. From them I learned the maxim "if you've seen one person with a particular cancer, you've seen one person with a particular cancer". Everyone's response to specific treatments is slightly different, and while there are some generally common reactions, there are myriad variations on what works to address less common reactions. These guys have seen almost everything, and we solved many little problems together just by taking the time to mention every little thing that was different or unusual.
By the time I got to cycle 12 I was severely fatigued, but we had brought my cancer markers in my blood down from a starting score of around 2,500 (I kid you not) to under the general population top range of 5.7. This was an excellent result. I got a referral to another surgeon to excise the metastases from my liver.
That operation was performed in early February 2021, with my surgeon observing one of Australia's best liver transplant surgeons leading, in Sydney (not my home town). I have, for a very long time, had an excellent level of private health insurance. It's not absolutely necessary in Australia, but it meant that I was able to quickly access top level care, with a single hospital admission charge of around $500 capped at once per year. So, for 24 admissions for chemo in 2020 I paid $500 once. (24 admissions because each cycle involve two admissions, once for initial infusions and I had a take-home pump of flourouracil, which needed disconnection two days later, so another admission for that ten-minute visit.) And so, apart from specialist fees, which are reduced by the Medicare (univeral health care) scheduled benefit for each consultation, I only paid $500 for the liver surgery and a 10 day stay in hospital recovering.
I was seven hours on the table, requiring significant re-routing of bilial and blood connections, and they removed 75% of the organ, near the limit of what can be removed. Recovery took a couple of days in ICU, rounding out at 10 days in hospital, during COVID, so only minimal visits were allowed, but I did have a distant view of Sydney airport and access to Flight Radar to keep me intermittently amused; and the bizarre experience of the Australian Open Tennis tournament on television with no actual spectators, but spectator sound effects being piped into the courts to "normalise" things for the players. I then had to go home and slowly pick myself up again, regain good mobility and fitness, and so on.
I had been doing my job part-time up to the surgery and was off full-time again for about two months in recovery. We then put a "return-to-work" plan in place, which would see me gradually increase my hours from 2 hours a day up to the normal 7 and a half, over about six months, while drawing a partial invalidity pension to cover the difference between what was being worked and what was not covered by any kind of leave. Work was being very cooperative, but it turned out I was misled about what the pension was doing - it was only supposed to pay a proportion of the difference, and my workplace didn't understand that, and continued paying me my full salary. It wasn't until nearly a year later that they realised the mistake and wanted to claw back many thousands of overpaid dollars. We resolved that one by one, massive playing of what we call in my family "the cancer card". I don't play it often, but it makes people cave in your favour when played well. I did it here, with full email records, and convinced the head of agency to exercise a rarely used power to grant a form of "miscellaneous leave" which completely covered the shortfall in hours worked and wiped the debt.
Back to cancer: I did a "mop-up" course of six cycles of FOLFIRI (with Cetuximab), similar to the FOLFOX I'd had previously, but swapping out oxciliplatin for irinotecan, and avoiding exacerbating the neuropathy, which was still with me but slowly fading. (It did disappear completely by early 2022.) The scan and blood test at the end of that course was clear. Hallelujah! Things were looking good. This was about mid-2021. My oncologist was happy, my surgeon was happy, I was happy. It looked like I'd beaten the odds which, though my oncologist had never put a number on it, had never been anywhere near on my side. But then I hit my second three-month blood test and scan, and I had new lesions on my regrown liver and raised CEA count in the 90s. My oncologist looked grim and I was advised that I was basically now living with a "chronic" case of colo-rectal cancer metastases, which would require regular scans and chemo either for the rest of my life (which could be short or long, there are examples of both), or until they found a cure. Just. Fuck.
So, while we started another six-cycle course of FOLFIRI, ending December 2021, my wife and I had a long chat about the years ahead and decided that it was unsustainable to keep taking leave from work for treatment, and I would apply to receive my superannuation pension early through a retirement on invalidity. I would effectively be more than halving my income, but I wouldn't have to worry about accruing leave or deal with any of my work stuff anymore, leaving me clear to concentrate on being healthy. It's indexed quarterly and, should I die, 66% of my pension is paid to my wife until she dies. We did the sums and worked out that by downsizing our living arrangements and making a few prudent decisions we could still live a very comfortable life, and future-proof my wife against my probable demise, should it occur in the next few years. Our two eldest children had moved out during COVID, so downsizing made sense. I applied for the retirement in February 2022, while still gradually increasing my working from home hours at work, and started all the planning required to change my life.
Another scan in March showed advance in the lesions again, so back to another course of 7 cycles of FOLFIRI, ending mid-year. I had expected to be retired by this point, and I had gone through independent medical assessment confirming that, yes, with this diagnosis I should expect to be dead in 2 years (yay!), but a couple of problems had arisen. Our usual HR team of three was down to one, and that one being the least senior. They had no idea what they were doing with the retirement. Having originally planned a separation from work on 30 June, it became clear that wasn't happening, and I left on a long-planned overseas holiday in early July, set up to be able to sign off on whatever was required while overseas. But the call never came. On return it transpired that the last HR person had left, the team had been refilled with all new staff, and none of them knew that this process was supposed to be in train. Cue my righteous fury. My old boss at work also ran interference and got the whole thing back on track, and they got me separated from work in early September 2022, the only dark spot being that the emotional intelligence of the new HR team was so atrophied that they didn't think it necessary to inform me of that until a week after the fact. Cue more righteous fury. A workplace that I had loved for nearly 9 years was turning into a source of trauma and sadness for me. Meanwhile, sporadic and unpredictable amounts of settlement payments were coming through as income, and HR were completely unable to explain exactly what each payment was for. It was very frustrating. A farewell event was arranged, off-site (because I was that shitty with them by then), but as the date in December 2022 approached, and things were still not settled or explained, I laid down an ultimatum - I would attend my own farewell only if these things were adequately explained and finalised. They failed. So I didn't attend my own farewell function which, I believe, was cancelled a day ahead. That made me very sad, and I haven't had anything to do with my workplace ever since.
Back to cancer: on arrival back from overseas, once again, a scan and blood test showed advance in the lesions, so back to another 6-cycle course of FOLFIRI. This was chemo course number four for me, and I was an old hand at it by now. I did notice that side-effects were becoming more pronounced: where before I was never nauseous, now I did get some light nausea on the first and second days, and the level of my fatigue was increasing and longer-lasting. This course ended in December 2022, coinciding with the sale and purchase of property while we downsized our lives. It was pretty busy, but we had lots of help from our village, and settled in quickly. Just to make things amazingly complex, we also went on a two-week holiday with our family and three close friends to Disneyland, California, over Christmas, to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary. It was a well needed break.
This just about brings me up to date. I'm now retired, writing music from home for local theatre and radio programs; my eldest daughter gets married next week; I'm on cycle four of my fifth chemo course (FOLFIRI again), and watching the CEA fall into the safe zone; and communicating with all you lovely people.
I'm not scared of the future. It will be what it will be. One day I'll most likely have to face the certainty of things going downhill quickly, but I am encouraged by news this week of the development of mRNA vaccines in the next 5-10 years, which offer hope of an actual cure. I just have to stay alive that long. So far, so good.

44 and given some of the worst news of my life. Invasive Ductile Carcinoma, also one lymph node tested positive. ER+, PR+, HER is still waiting on results. I just got thrown on to the speed train to treatment. Team sprung into action and have MRI slated for Monday, oncologist also next week as they seem to be pushing for chemo first. Also going Monday to get blood drawn for genetics testing. I asked about depression and anxiety and my OBGYN actually wrote an RX same day for some meds so I can get going with that. I have no real clue what I am doing. A couple of other life issues is my son (12) has severe autism and my husband just got a new job out of state. My job is awesome and will guarantee salary and position for a year while I’m doing treatment. Just trying to muddle through these first few weeks/months of not really knowing what’s going on. Advice, happy stories and/or shocking truths about what to expect needed.

I'm a 5th-year math PhD student, and I just signed an offer for a junior quant researcher role at a (solid, but not elite-elite) hedge fund. I just toured the office, and I'm pretty excited to start this summer. But I've also been lurking on some online quant and general finance forums, and it's honestly making me a little bit anxious.
Is it just me, or do these communities seem kind of... mean? Or maybe "harsh" is a more descriptive word? I have plenty of problems with academia (I am choosing to leave it, after all!), but one thing I realize I've taken for granted over the past 4.5 years is that most people around me, from fellow grad students to professors, are genuinely good, caring people. Some are a little socially awkward, but if I'm ever stressed, having a rough time emotionally, or just want to talk through something, they're always around to listen and be non-judgmental. Moreover, forums like math stackexchange, mathoverflow, and math are always kind, sensitive, and understanding.
Meanwhile, on wallstreetoasis, econjobrumors, and (to a much, much lesser degree) quant, I have seen all of the following just in the past couple months:

• People posting saying they're stressed by the number of hours they have to work, and everyone jumping on them to laugh and say clearly they aren't cut out for the industry.
  
• People trashing all quant firms except for like Jane Street, HRT, Citadel, and PDT as "low-tier", saying people should feel bad if they didn't get offers at any of those. (Do people do this in other industries? I've never heard anyone describe e.g. lyft as a "low-tier" tech company because it's less "elite" than google...)
  
• Talking about wanting to get into quant to "get girls" using frankly incel-y language.
  
• Trashing firms for "diversity-hiring" and claiming that the women and minority hires are noticeably dumber. Anyone who tries to call out racism and sexism is aggressively downvoted and ridiculed. (That thread was for a long-only fund not a quant fund, but still)
  
• A complete lack of awareness about what's a lot of money (e.g. listing salaries maxing out at 600k ish as a "downside")
  
• Obsessing over where various IMO and putnam top scorers end up, and attacking them for "wasting their talents". Math is famous for having a "cult of genius" but I've never experienced anything like what you see on econjobrumors.
  
• Excitement and glee over a negative news story (such as political unrest somewhere) because of how it might affect the markets, without any acknowledgment that it affects real people. (Do oncologist forums act this way when there's a major chemical spill?)
  

So I guess my question is:
How common actually are these "harsh" attitudes in the quant world? Is it just a function of online anonymity (keeping in mind that many of the kind people on math academic forums are also anonymous)? It's pretty important to my choice of career that I like my colleagues, but I never worried about it too much with quant until recently, because I figured they were mostly ex math and physics phd students so I'd fit right in. But different environments can change people, and now I'm scared I'm in for a rude awakening this summer after 5 years of hanging out with grad students. Am I going to dread my coffee-machine conversations? Or worse yet, lose my own sensitivity and kindness?
Edit: I think everyone has given me very good responses to what I wrote, but I haven't really to the question I specifically had in mind (which I should have been much more direct about asking). Namely, for people who transitioned from academia into quant research, did you notice a major "culture shock" along the lines of what I've described above?

Hi everybody,
I started university in 2020 on a physics degree with no exact career path in mind. During my second year I did a “Medical Physics” module and became quite interested in the subject.
The prospect of a career in medical physics interested me and hit all my strengths. I was looking at ways to get into this and what the field involves. My main interest was radiographic physics and dealing with patients.
I did some research and stumbled across the ‘STP’ which is a 3 year program that the UK NHS provides. The program is very competitive and offers salary while learning to become a radiographer.
I am now intrigued by the idea of being a consultant, and creating treatment plans for patients as opposed to operating the machines themselves.
My question is will I be able to do this after completing a 3 year STP or will I need to do another course (med school or something else)?
I am from the UK, but anything in the US or other places in Europe that offer anything similar to the STP that the NHS offers would also be great.
Overall I am looking for guidance in where I go from here to become a radiation oncologist or maybe something similar.
Thanks in advance

First off, I'd like to apologize if ever this is a taboo question to ask or if this is the wrong subreddit.
I have scoured this subreddit and other platforms regarding the field, but most I see is what a medical physicist does, their salary, educational requirements, certifications, and the like. I know there are hospital politics. The attendings are higher up the food chain than the residents, and at the very bottom are the interns. And then you have other non-doctor healthcare workers like nurses and medical technologists.
I was wondering, where do the physicists place? Are they well-respected? Do obnoxious and pretentious doctors scream at them like they do to nurses? Do they have the authority to challenge a radiotherapy plan?
I am asking because I saw a post some time ago where the physicist didn't get a say on what equipment to use with the oncologist mostly calling the shots, despite being less qualified to do so.
I am very interested in pursuing a career in medical physics, however I am also considering academia in pure physics. I am pretty familiar with the politics and power dynamics in academia, so I would like to compare it with that of healthcare.

Hi everyone, I've recently stumbled upon Dr. K's videos on YouTube and thought it might be useful to get the community's perspective on my personal situation.
I am a 29-year-old female who has never dated or been in a romantic relationship. I can honestly say that this is not a source of shame for me, and I don't have any issues with self-esteem. I am currently in my 4th year of medical residency on track to become an oncologist, work that I love and find very fulfilling (and has excellent salary and job security). I am naturally thin and would say I'm average to somewhat above average in looks. I'm fairly introverted and used to be somewhat socially awkward, but throughout my 20s have developed my confidence and social skills to the point that I can hold a pleasant conversation with just about anyone, even if I don't particularly enjoy it. I don't have a lot of friends, but the friendships I do keep both IRL and online are deep and fulfilling. I have the kind of Asian parents that found the perfect balance between encouraging me to overachieve just enough to succeed in life and more pragmatically taking time to actually enjoy life. I have a sister who is almost my polar opposite in personality and talents (very extroverted and socially capable), and we have a very healthy relationship where we rely on each other's talents for advice and to become more well-rounded individuals.
Not that there isn't any stress in my life (being a medical resident in the middle of a global pandemic isn't exactly a relaxing lifestyle), but there's objectively nothing I would change about my current situation and its trajectory except that ideally, I would like to be in a relationship, get married, and have children, and the way that things are going, that's not going to happen.
When it comes to the whole 'working on yourself and being okay with being alone' thing, I may be a victim of my own success. I really enjoy my independence and when I see friends and family have even minor relationship troubles, I think to myself that it would annoy me enough to break up if it were me. I've had exactly three guys ask me out in this lifetime, and none in the last five years. I only rarely find a guy I'm attracted to, and the few times it has happened, he was already in a committed relationship or it would have been inappropriate due to our working relationship (one of my senior residents in medical school and residency). I don't exactly go anywhere conducive to meeting potential dating partners, basically spending all my time either at the hospital or at home. I think I have also cultivated an unconscious air of unapproachability that is honestly helpful in the workplace (it's depressing how much sexism is still present in the medical profession, and it helps me avoid being mansplained to) but also scares people away at work from talking to me about more personal topics. Over the years, I've become less and less willing to go through the effort of going to social gatherings because I'm pretty sure my ideal partner is someone who's also hiding at home most of the time. I've only made one halfhearted attempt into the world of online dating, but the information in those profiles is so shallow and irrelevant to the factors that predict a successful relationship that it also felt like a huge waste of time.
I'm not miserable, but I get lonely sometimes. I want to experience the passion and contentment of a loving relationship, but I'm doing nothing towards that goal. I also know I have a fairly idealized and unrealistic of who my ideal partner would be because I've spent too long reading romance novels and imagining him rather than talking to real people.
I've worked on myself and I'm okay with being alone and romance hasn't just come into my life like people say when they're trying to encourage you. I've pretty much accepted the fact that I'm going to spend the rest of my life alone, to the point that next year, I'm planning on going to a fertility clinic to get pregnant by artificial insemination because I still want a family. Like I said, I'm not miserable and I honestly like and respect myself and the life I've built, which I think is already way happier than most people are.
I jokingly refer to my "type" as a unicorn because I'm not sure it exists in the real world (and also the virgin joke). If anyone knows where they hang out, I'd love to know, haha. Otherwise, I think my life is just going to continue on its course of not-miserableness as I predict.

Just my creds first: radiation oncologist, NOT a diagnostic radiologist but interpret my own CTs, MRIs, U/S, etc for each patient.
If that ultrasound is real, from what I can see looks pretty normal. Although just one image doesn’t tell you the whole story obviously. Can’t see the actual organs. But skeleton looks fine as does the brain and amount of fluid around it.
I don’t know what the hell she is thinking with the lack of prenatal care. For her to proclaim herself as an advocate for disabled people being parents but to not seek care by this point? Absurd.
And the whole shit about her not getting in. If she was in my waiting room I wouldn’t give a flying fuck about insurance I would get her back to be seen immediately. I frequently get called from other oncologists about rare patients or ones that have traveled very far to see if I can fit them in. I ALWAYS do. And so do all the other physicians in my hospital. Fun fact most physicians are employed by hospitals these days, especially specialists. We get paid a salary, maybe with RVU bonuses and don’t give a shit about insurance. If my patients are uninsured sometimes I will keep them in the hospital longer just to have their radiation covered by the hospital under indigent care. My point of all this is that there’s no way they turned her away in her condition. It would be UNETHICAL. This is on HER. Not her insurance or the doctors office or whatever the hell excuse she can find.
Okay that’s it.

Senior resident salaries in Karnataka medical colleges are at an all time low. (These are in hand after tax and with all allowances)
In Bangalore - 75k to 88k Bijapur - 68k to 74k Near to Bangalore - 70k to 80k And these college don’t provide any career growth either..
You might say that you can always earn outside practising in clinic or nursing home. But we are having Surgical oncologist and GI surgeon in tier 3 towns too now! The competition is way too much!

Hi! I am in an absolutely horrible state right now.
I graduated college into the pandemic (class of '20!) and got a job a few months later working as a tech coordinator. I loved my job, always got excellent feedback and it helped fuel my passion for IT project management!
After my contract was up (a short 6 months) I needed to take 8 months away from working for medical reasons. My first job back seemed like a possible dream job and I would be back on the it project management path. When I interviewed, I made it well known that (a) I was freshly in remission and (b) only had 6 months of PM experience. I got the job and things were going great...then employee reviews came up at my 4 month mark. It wasn't good. My manager pointed out several issues I was still having (knowing what needs to go into updates, asking the right questions etc) and I was given a 3/5 rating and denied anything but a minor cost of living increase to my salary.
This should have been the first red flag.
After this, my workload was doubled. I was put in charge of 6 projects: 2 small, 2 medium, 2 large, all run by contractors and all were constantly in a downward spiral. I went from being given updates by the contractors once a week and walking through all i needed to share with stakeholders to needing to sit in on every single call regarding "my" projects and take incredibly detailed notes and if i missed ANY detail then i was chastised for not paying attention.(before, my boss used to say "I mostly do other work during the project calls because it's just super techy and over my head") I needed to know every inch of these projects, I needed to know what the contractor was doing or working on at any given minute, know what the blockers are, the risks, possible future issues, everything! All while not even being afforded a JR PM title (sorry! I can only be a 'specialist '). Before it got too intense, my boss canceled our weekly one on ones claiming "we can talk at any time, no need to take up this space on the calendar" I was effectively thrown to the wolves after that and recieved a write up at the 6 month mark. My boss said I was still making mistakes, still not performing as expected. I was an idiot and egar to please so I promised I would work harder and improve! I did for a time but the burnout started to set in as I realized my projects were going to fail no matter how detailed my notes or how well I knew the ins and outs. I was given a sinking ship and a bucket with a hole then chastised when I didn't bail the right way. I managed to make it to the 13 month mark before my boss had sat me down for a second write up. I told them I was feeling dejected and hopeless. My projects were all failures or on indefinite hold, the contractor just kept missing deadlines or delivering poor quality code, stakeholders were angry and impatient and I have experienced very few wins since joining the company (none were celebrated). My boss showed signs of understanding and even agreed that project burnout is a real problem! ....then said maybe working with contractors just wasn't my thing. They said I wasn't proactive enough and reminded me I was still making similar mistakes to when I first started so maybe I would do better responding to requests rather then leading projects. I was stunned and I finally realized how horrible of a manager this person was.
So, now it's Friday night. I'm still a nervous wreck from this hell week and a fresh batch of criticisms (problems I've had with technical difficulties during meetings, missing one file upload to internal server, asking my boss the wrong question...) and that unsigned write up sitting in my email. I just made up my mind that I will request as many days as I can from my oncologist for fmla to relieve the extreme amount of stress I'm under and find a new job. I'll be damned if my already affected health falls any further for a company that doesn't give two shits about me!
TLDR; I was hired to assist a PM and hopefully learn the ropes for myself. I was then thrown into a proper PM role with little experience, no title change, no pay increase, and given all the worst projects then treated like shit by my company for not adapting fast enough and getting burned out. Now I'm taking FMLA and looking for a new job before the stress literally kills me.

​
I love my wife. She's a nice person, smart, caring, cute, good values, and we've been together for 15 years.
​
Over time, something that was relatively minor has grown, and now that we have three kids and we're in our late thirties, it's become a more serious issue for me.
​
I do a very large share of the house work in my home, ending up feeling like both the dad and mom of it.
​
This means I work full time -- we both do. I do the majority of dropoffs and about half of pickups. I keep track of all our finances, both long term investments and weekly / monthly budgets. I cook most of the meals. I keep track of the medical stuff. I do about two-thirds of my daughter's monthly visit to the oncologist (long unrelated story). I help my kids with homework. I fix the car and maintain it. I move it during street cleaning day (twice a week in NYC). I plan the vacations. I take them to over half the park / outside activities. I wash the clothes, and she puts them away. On weekends, I usually wake up at 630 and do some work while giving the kids breakfast or talking with them, while she rests.
​
I also make about 3X the salary. Not that it fundamentally matters, but it also makes me feel I bring home the money and do my traditional man of the house role.
​
My wife also does some things, it's not zero at all. And there are things she does more than me, like sweeping well or some of the emotional work with one of our kids that needs more of it. Furthermore, and more importantly, I feel pretty confident she's trying her best. I think she goes through a lot of challenges herself, sometimes it just happens her body tires more (some bodies are like that), and she's doing a good job at her work.
​
But I think on balance it's pretty uneven and it has been for a long time.
​
I am very stuck. I don't want to not do the things I do -- they need to be done and I wouldn't want messy finances etc. But, I am also burned out and increasingly quite resentful at doing all the work.
​
I have no idea what to do, but advice would be welcome.

Hey everyone,
I am looking for some job advice. I am a new grad in Chicagoland. I was offered a position at a correctional facility with pretty good money, but I applied to some positions in a hospital network as well. I was just offered a position in Oncology at a great hospital network working with an awesome oncologist, but the pay sucks. The offer was initially $13,000 less than what the correctional facility offered, but they gave me $2,000 more with negotiation. They said they are currently undergoing salary reviews, but it is unclear when that will be completed.
It would be great to work at the hospital, but I am unsure if it would be worth giving up $11,000.
Any words of wisdom?

My wife (38) is going through treatment for stage 4 breast cancer. We have United Healthcare (UHC) coverage for the whole family through my job. I have recently received an offer with better salary and benefits, but I am worried about the consequences of changing insurance companies. The new job offers medical benefits through Anthem Blue Cross.
Throughout her treatment journey, UHC have denied multiple PET scan requests and more recently started denying Neulasta. In addition, the plan's deductible and out-of-pocket maximum are quite high (even their low deductible plan, which we have enrolled, has a very high deductible). We are not happy with UHC, but also aware that other insurers would not be much better (and possibly could be worse).
I have been trying, with little success, to get information about how Anthem compares to UHC when it comes to cancer care. I have contacted my wife's oncologist and their billing department to learn about their experience with Anthem, but they were not able to say much. Calling Anthem, unsurprisingly, led me nowhere.
Has anyone had experience with Anthem Blue Cross? I would like to know if they are known for denying treatments, scans etc. potentially leading to delays in treatment. Thank you in advance.

13 minutes. 3418 words.

interview with acting Supreme Judicial Council chief Gagik Jhangiryan

Get the context about the conflict between the former and current SJC presidents in June 20 news digest.
Reporter: Vardazaryan released a 15-minute tape. Is that how long your conversation lasted?
Jhangiryan: The event lasted over 2 hours so he cherrypicked the published parts. Vardazaryan wanted me to get fired, too. He has asked the SJC to launch an ethics case against me. The SJC panel asked him to share the unedited tape for examination, but he has refused to provide it.
Reporter: Why did he refuse?
Jhangiryan: Revelation of certain parts of that conversation would place him in a very unfavorable situation. The dinner took place almost 1.5 years ago but I remember the topics that were discussed. Certain things are absolutely not good for him.
Reporter: Example?
Jhangiryan: I will not publicly make any accusations at this time. Whatever was released is already being investigated by authorities. We will discuss it publicly afterward. I'm confident that if he publishes the full tape, he will find himself in a dire situation.
Reporter: Critics say the conversation goes against the spirit of efforts to reform the branch, therefore you should resign.
Jhangiryan: I've submitted a resignation 3 times in the past: in 1997 as the first deputy justice minister, in 2000 as the military prosecutor while overseeing the investigation of the October 27 terrorist attack, and in 2008 when I joined the opposition movement [against Kocharyan and Serj], realizing that I would be fired the following day. I was elected as a member of this SJC after the November 2020 attack against the state buildings and parliament president (Mirzoyan), and the subsequent arrests of suspects.
You also remember Vardazaryan's message to the judges at the time, after which all the riot suspects were released from jail. Moreover, after Vardazaryan's call, many judges even ruled that there was no probable cause against the suspects. It's no coincidence that only a few people have so far been sentenced, because the entire judicial process was broken.
Reporter: This was all organized by Vardazaryan?
Jhangiryan: I did not say that. I'm just explaining what the situation was in the judiciary when I came to SJC. You also remember at the time how low the public trust was towards the judiciary. The entire system was submerged into politics under Vardazaryan's presidency. He never publicly spoke against these events. I've dedicated all my life to the law. Armenia's first effort to reform the judiciary was drafted by me in 1994-1995. As a military prosecutor, I was able to ensure that only certain judges that I knew we could trust would hear cases relating to soldiers. I know that sounds wrong today, but at the time it was necessary so we could at least have impartial trials when it came to our soldiers. After the 1994's reform efforts, the second came in 2008 when I was in jail. It was published in 2012 with the help of the U.S. State Department and the U.S. Embassy. I know the problems in the judiciary from the inside. So when I was offered to join SJC in 2020, I saw it as an opportunity to separate politics and the judiciary.
Reporter: What about your conversation with Vardazaryan?
Jhangiryan: My goal was to advise Vardazaryan to voluntarily resign from the president's position so the SCJ can elect a replacement. This was necessary because Vardazaryan had politicized the branch. I was there to negotiate.
Reporter: Whose idea was it?
Jhangiryan: Mine. Even though he used to be my student and I gave him the legal license, our relations were already strained prior to these events. He was publicly claiming I had no right [due to age] to [be in SJC]. I tried to never reply to his claims in a confrontational way. The recorded conversation took place during a dinner organized by a common friend. We had to resolve the conflict. My goal was for Vardazaryan to voluntarily resign so the judiciary could exit politics. I've negotiated with many murderers and crime suspects during my career. The way you do it is by introducing emotional elements. For example, you can hear me berate the title of SJC president: Why do you even need to cling to this crappy position?
Reporter: You are heard saying that you are forced to convince him to resign. Forced by the government?
Jhangiryan: No. I carry on my shoulder a debt to do this, to clean the system.
Reporter: In the tape you say you have the power to open and close criminal cases.
Jhangiryan: How else do you think I could convince Vardazaryan to voluntarily leave? If he thought that after leaving the system he would be subject to criminal investigations, do you think he would voluntarily leave [and give up immunity]? This is a psychological tactic.
Reporter: Կու՞տ եք տվել։
Jhangiryan: Այո․ I can't even know how many cases there are against him. I do not have the power to launch or suspend criminal cases against him. Notice in the tape that he is surprised and asks wheater I could truly control the general prosecutor to be able to give him such guarantees. That's when I jokingly respond "Not only that. I can control presidents, too." That was a joke. The goal was to make him believe there would be no criminal cases against him after his resignation.
Reporter: Vardazaryan talks about deadline guarantees that no criminal cases would be filed against him if he resigned by then.
Jhangiryan: I told Vardazaryan that I'm aware of his claim about being advised to resign, but I didn't go there to "force" him. I couldn't force him to resign also because he was my "superior". He was the president at the time, while I was an SJC member. SJC is a complex structure. Vardazaryan had to leave because of November 2020 events and politicization, but the only way to achieve his removal was for three SJC members to launch an ethics case against him for his actions, but the deadline to launch that process had already expired. I was there to convince him to leave voluntarily. Let him publish the entire conversation. 10-20 minutes into our conversation I knew he was recording me because of the way he was speaking. You can hear me mention [jokingly] that we are being recorded. His goal was for me to state on whose behalf I was speaking to him. He was expecting me to give some high-ranking public official's name. But as I told him, I was speaking on behalf of myself and I wanted him to speak on behalf of himself.
Reporter: Did Vardazaryan send you some letter before the SJC made the decision to terminate his duties [last week]?
Jhangiryan: Yes. After the SJC members launched an ethics case against Vardazaryan [unrelated to these latest events], one of the SJC members informed me that Vardazaryan wanted to give me a personal letter. I asked the member to bring the letter but I refused to accept it. I asked the member to take the letter to the SJC meeting and open it in front of everyone. Vardazaryan learned about this and asked the SJC member to send the letter back. I assume in that letter Vardazaryan was threatening me to publish the audio tape if the SJC terminated his duties. [Context: Vardazaryan made some statements about the Constitutional Court before these events. Several SJC judges found his statements unethical and launched an ethics case against him. Jhangiryan is suggesting that Vardazaryan attempted to use the audiotape as blackmail in an attempt to convince SJC not to terminate his duties.]
Jhangiryan continues: But I knew there was nothing illegal in our conversation so the blackmail didn't deter me from proceeding with his termination process.
Reporter: You express hatred towards Kocharyan and ARF in the audiotape. Shouldn't you be impartial? Shouldn't the branch be impartial?
Jhangiryan: The branch must be impartial. It was a private friendly conversation and I, as someone who was directly persecuted and sentenced under the former administration, do you think I would say something nice about them in private? I don't care if they return, I have great relations with some of the former administration members. I just don't want the old values to return.
Reporter: Even if there is nothing illegal in what you said during that dinner, what about the ethical aspect?
Jhangiryan: Vardazaryan has asked the SJC members to launch an ethics case against me. The SJC has asked him to send the unedited tape. In any case, the statements I made in that tape are not ethically "punishable offense" because they were made in private. You can say a few things to your wife in privacy, the SJC cannot take action against it if it's not a public statement.
Reporter: Do you want Vardazaryan to release the full conversation?
Jhangiryan: I urge him to give the full tape to SJC and law enforcement, but I have major doubts he will.
video

anti-corruption: army official is charged with embezzling ֏2.5m worth of vehicle fuel

ACC reports: The 2016-present commander of a military unit abused his powers in 2021-2022 to embezzle fuel coupons belonging to the base. He has confessed and repaid the stolen amount. //
article

anti-corruption: authorities charge 3 cops with fabricating multiple citations against the same driver

ACC reports: From 2020 to 2021, three road police officers repeatedly wrote fake citations worth $300 against the same innocent driver in Mikhailovka (Lori), with the intention of boosting their performance rating. The three cops are charged with crimes. The case is in court. //
article

anti-corruption: 28 people are charged with buying a driver's license

ACC reports: 28 people paid bribes to a road police official in exchange for skipping the hands-on exam.
We learned that a Spitak resident took ֏3m from several residents in 2020-2021, half of which was transferred to a ranking road police official in Yerevan. The latter gave a driver's license to the residents without them having to prove their driving skills.
All 28 residents have confessed. The criminal case has reached the court. //
article

anti-corruption: authorities arrest a forestry official and several others after uncovering large-scale illegal logging

ACC reports: Instances of illegal logging were discovered in ArmForest's Vanadzor branch. The head of the local forestry branch instructed his subordinate to grant several residents unimpeded access to forests for illegal logging. The residents gave a bribe for each cubic meter of wood.
90 trees were cut: beech, maple, pine, etc. The financial damages amounted to ֏6m.
The forester and 3 accomplices have been arrested and charged with crimes. //
article

several municipalities will be required to publish certain information on their website after a court ruling

Freedom of Information Center of Armenia had filed a lawsuit against several municipalities for not publishing some information. The court sided with the municipalities in 2018, but it was successfully appealed this year.
Ashtarak, Armavir, Gavar, Hrazdan, Kapan, Yeghegnadzor, and Ijevan will be required to publish information about public services, budget, staff, nature protection, etc.
article

update: American cancer research firm NetcrackeBostonGene will launch a research & development center with thousands of employees in Armenia

The company representatives met the government on Wednesday.
BostonGene recently opened an office in Yerevan. Their main activity is to develop a system that provides oncologists with data for diagnosis and personalized treatment of cancer patients. The company is considering the possibility of creating a research center of Netcracker Technology in Armenia.
On Friday the Healthcare Ministry hosted Michael Feinberg, the co-founder of NetcrackeBostonGene. They discussed the possible opening of an R&D center with thousands of employees. At the moment the companies employ 360 people in Armenia.
article

update: classrooms won't have more than 25 students starting 2026

Education Ministry: Amid the ongoing efforts to hire more teachers and build new schools, we have drafted an amendment to limit the number of students in elementary and middle classes to 25, and in higher classes to 20, to improve the quality of education.
Currently, the maximum is 35 but it's often higher.
The law will go into effect in 2026 when the new infrastructure is ready.
Different classes can join and take arts and gym courses together, but each class will have its separate STEM and other courses. Teachers will receive a bonus the size of 50%-75% of the minimum wage for the merged classes.
article

Economics University rector to students: self-educate

Rector Galoyan: ASUE has always been the second university in the country in terms of applicants and admissions. Half of the top-10 most in-demand majors were offered by us.
The interest in ASUE has gradually increased, especially in the last three years. Last year we reformed and modernized the Bachelor's programs with the help of the Central Bank, the national center for professional education quality assurance, and our experts.
We now have a training and certification process for the staff. It's mandatory every 3 years.
For a long time, the Finance and Management courses were the most popular in our university, but in recent years we've seen more interest in marketing and STEM.
continue

some dipshit attempted to smuggle marijuana from U.S. to Armenia via FedEx

Armenian customs agents found 1.3 kilograms of weed in a box. They were placed inside metal containers.
video

update: electoral code will be reformed; only IDs will be accepted

Read details about reforms in Thursday digest. One of the changes is about making ID cards the only document valid at voting stations.
Informed Citizens NGO: This will address some of the problems. Eventually, we have to move from visual-based identification to one that is chip-based.
Today, you can vote with a copy of a passport. This is risky. A person can vote on behalf of someone else. Visual identification is often inaccurate.
The ID card solves this problem because they read the microchip, along with the fingerprint unique to that person.
We are not ready yet to make ID cards the only voting document because over half of our citizens don't have one yet. This is a long-term goal.
The state should encourage citizens to obtain an ID card. For example, salary and pension could require an ID card. //
article

Armenia, Greece, and Cyprus signed a memorandum to cooperate on diaspora issues

They will exchange experience, organize joint culture and education events, and promote youth programs.
article

Armenian Assembly of America welcomes the nomination of Kristina Kvein for the next U.S. ambassador to Armenia

The Assembly thanks to the departing ambassador Tracy for her continuous attention to Syunik province, and calls for more USAID assistance to Syunik and Artsakh.
article

the White House will again waive Section 907 to provide military aid to Azerbaijan

ANCA: The decision again emboldens President Aliyev to continue his illegal imprisonment of Armenian POWs, deadly attacks against Artsakh, and ongoing occupation of sovereign Armenian territory. We will continue to work with US Senate and House leaders to zero-out US military aid to Azerbaijan and restrict presidential waiver authority of Section 907.
article

CIS republics will form a joint humanitarian demining unit

Russia's Shoygu announced the decision that was reached during a recent CIS meeting. He praised the "multilateral ties" between the republics.
article

Lavrov visited Azerbaijan to discuss the unblocking of regional routes and border demarcation

Lavrov: There is progress in the unblocking of communication links. We are discussing with the Armenian side to choose the most convenient automobile route. Russia will assist with this process. Hopefully we will see the results soon.
Lavrov: Russia is ready to provide consultation to the AM-AZ border demarcation commissions. We have specific suggestions. Let's discuss them.
Bayramov: We recently signed a contract to purchase 20,000 tons of railways from Russia for the construction of the Horadiz-Aghbend railway. One-third of the contract is complete.
article article

Turkey arrests arson suspect on the 4th day of raging fires in Marmaris forests

Scenes of burning woodland near the Aegean coastal resort of Marmaris sparked fears of a repeat of last year's fires.
They arrested a suspect who confessed to burning the forest out of frustration due to family issues.
article article

IMAGE: Yerevan installs a net to catch garbage flowing through Hrazdan river

It's part of efforts to keep the Yerevanyan Lake clean from your diapers.
article

French singer Zaz is in Armenia

She will give a concert tomorrow in Hrazdan stadium, as part of the HAYA music festival.
Zaz: I've always valued the advice given by Aznavour, but I never followed his advice to learn English. I'm touched to be in Aznavour's homeland. The people are warm and full of love here. not on roads, lady... not on roads //
The Saturday concert will launch with a performance by Armenia's Eurovision representative Roza Linn and young musician Parg.
Zaz became famous after her 2010 song Je veux.
article

international basketball tournament "SADA Cup" launched in Yerevan

The Armenian team scored a 94-59 victory in the first game against Team USA. You can watch it here.
Rex Kalamian, coach: We did a really great job in this game. I'm happy with the result because we played like a big team. Andre Spight Mkrtchyan was unbeatable.
article

Iraqi airlines FlyBaghdad launches Baghdad-Yerevan direct flights

Every Thursday.
article

Belgian resident wins Tokyo district mayor elections

A Japanese woman, who has been residing in Belgium for a decade, traveled to Japan back and forth to run a campaign. The progressive challenger defeated the incumbent conservative mayor with just 200 votes. She will be the mayor of Suginami, Tokyo.

Her win came as a huge shock, and despite her opposition taking constant jabs at her residency, her progressive agenda stressing less privatization and more citizen participation made an impression on voters.

article article article

Armenia wants to learn from South Korea

IRS bosses from around the world met in Brussels during an international conference. Armenian and South Korean officials met to discuss cooperation.
Armenia will send agents to study Korea's experience with customs risk management and electronic services.
article

5 injured from an explosion at an auto repair shop in Yerevan

The accident resulted in the driver and 4 mechanics being hospitalized with serious burns. They are in critical condition. One patient has burns on 65% of the body.
video, article, article, article,

the Holy Mt. Ararat waged an all-out assault on Yerevan on Thursday

Meteorologists have learned details about yesterday's "bad weather".
▶︎ The thunderstorm clouds were formed on the sloped of Mt. Ararat before traveling towards Yerevan.
▶︎ The satellite and radars show that it was 16km tall with -60C temperatures at the top. The cloud contained a tornado that ripped away trees and condo roofs in several districts.
▶︎ A month's worth of rain fell in just 20 minutes.
▶︎ This intensity is quite rare for Yerevan at this time of the year - happens once a decade. Expect heavy rains in many parts of Armenia for the next 5 days. The cold stream coming from the Black Sea will keep the temperatures low until July.
▶︎ Big tree gone. image
▶︎ Aztecs have predicted this.
article

today in history

-1312: Mursili 2 launches a campaign against the Kingdom of Hayasa-Azzi (Hittite: Ḫaiaša, Armenian: Հայասա)
+109: Roman emperor Trajan inaugurates an aqueduct that channels water from Lake Bracciano, 40 kilometers of Rome.
1571: Spanish navigator Miguel Legazpi founds Manila, the capital of the Philippines.
1812: Napoleon's La Big Mac Armée crosses the Neman river, beginning the invasion of Russia.
1934: The capital of Ukraine is moved from Kharkiv to Kyiv.
1935: Yerevan Puppet Theater opens its doors.
1939: Siam is renamed Thailand.
2006: Armenia wins chess Olympiad.
2013: Ex-PM of Italy Silvio Berlusconi is sentenced to 7 years in prison after being found guilty of engaging in sex with an underage prostitute and abuse of power. He will successfully appeal the verdict later.
2021: A condominium collapses in Surfside, Florida, killing 98 residents. A tourist videotaped the water damage in the garage minutes before the collapse.
article article

top-10 bestseller children's books in May

5) Փիսիկի գանգատը, Tumanyan
4) Ով է ապրում տնակում, Vladimir Suteev
3) Շաղգամը, by Atabek Khnkoyan
2) Колобок
1) Շունն ու կատուն, by Tumanyan
article

in case you missed

Yesterday's news in English, русский (by Impossible-Ad-). Archive by Armeniapedia. Donate to Armenia & Artsakh here
The accused are innocent unless proven guilty in a court of law, even if they "appear" guilty.

Specialist Doctors in Chateauroux, Charleville-Mézières, Vichy, Moselle, or Pontarlier, France
Specialties: Urologist, Geriatrician, Cardiologist, Pediatrician, Oncologist, Generalist, Anesthetist, Pneumologist, Ophthalmologist, Rheumatologist, Hematologist, Psychiatrist, Orthopedic surgeon, Hepato-Gastroenterologist, Neurologist, Endocrinologist, Gastroenterologist, Dermatologist, ENT, Obstetrics-Gynecology, Infectious Diseases, Internal Medicine, Emergency Medicine, ATI, Visceral Surgery, Radiology Salary net / month: 4.000-5.000 €

Okay, please hear me out. I've posted before about my job, the "promotion", etc. Most of Reddit agreed that I wasn't TA then, but I'm not so sure about now. I'm a bit lost, so I come to you all for help and guidance (shows what kind of support system I have, huh) - Okay onto the story.
So, I accepted the promotion that I questioned so long ago. About a month later, I went to the doctor and was explaining how I was always so tired, etc. He went back and checked my iron, RBC, WBC for the past couple of years and decided to send me to a Hematologist, Oncologist. I went and had extensive blood work done. Come to find out, I have aCML and am a level 3 anemic. This is relevant, I promise.
I was scheduled blood transfusions/IV iron infusions and would have to go back and have my levels tested afterwards. On March 28th, I went for a transfusion and went to work the next day and told my boss that I'd have to leave at 4 one day to go get my levels rechecked. He lost his mind. He was yelling and telling me that they needed me there until 5pm every day. He got out the handbook and was pointing to it, stating that I had signed it that I would be at work from 8am-5pm every day, except holidays and approved PTO. I calmly (at this point) reminded him that I come in at 6:30-7am every morning and am there until around 7pm every night and then I go home and work and work all weekend as well (I'm on salary). It's the only way I can keep up with the work and not fall behind and I'm still always behind on something. He insisted that didn't matter because "You signed the handbook for 8am-5pm". He repeated this, no matter how many times I pointed out the hours I worked. So, I put my hands in my lap, looked at him straight in the eye and said "8am-5pm Monday-Friday correct" - He said YES! you signed! I said Mon-Fri 8am-5pm? You're sure? He said YES!! You work 8am-5pm Monday -Friday. I nodded and said okay.
Here's where things have went off of the rail. Since that talk, I've done exactly that. Monday-Friday 8am-5pm. Things are falling behind. Things aren't being done. I don't answer my phone anymore after 5pm nor on the weekends. I don't answer emails. I don't answer Skype messages. Everything waits until MY Monday morning (Our HQ is in China and I report to the Director in China). So that means, an entire day to them, things go unanswered. Now, they are trying to write me up and put me on a PIP because things aren't getting done. I've tried to explain to them, why, but they don't care. AITA for just following the handbook?

[First] [Previous] [Next]
[A/N: This chapter beta-read by Lady Columbine of Mystal.]
Bruce
Afterward, they lay side by side in the warm darkness. Selina was curled up to him—dare he say it—like a big cat, her head pillowed on his chest.
“Mmm,” she murmured. “That was very nice.”
His hand cupped the back of her neck and gently massaged, eliciting a purring sound from her. He decided not to wonder whether she was putting it on deliberately or if it was just a thing she did.
“You know,” he ventured after a few moments, “you don’t have to leave Gotham if you don’t want to.”
“What?” From the sound of her voice, she was drifting away into a doze. He felt an obscure pride that she was comfortable enough in his presence to go to sleep.
“You don’t have to leave,” he repeated. “You can stay right here. With me.” It was a long time since he’d felt this much connection with someone. It was too early to call it love, but the writing was definitely on the wall.
He felt the sudden tension under his hand as she came all the way awake again. Barely visible in the light coming in through the slits of the windows, she raised her head to look at him. “You want me to stay here in Gotham? With you?”
The first hints crossed his mind that he was screwing this up. “I … well, yes. If you wanted to. It’s up to you.”
Gracefully, she raised herself on one elbow and looked down at him. “And what would I do, Mr. Bruce Wayne? Would you keep your circus in Gotham to perform every other night? Or would you make sure I got work some other way, just so I didn’t get bored? Or would I simply be your kept girlfriend?”
Her tone wasn’t angry yet, but neither was it accepting. He scrambled for what he hoped was an acceptable answer. “You know I was already offering you a position on the security staff. That’s not a freebie; that’s something you earned in spades. It’s still open, if you want it.”
“Mmm.” She sighed softly in the darkness. “God damn it, I’m actually tempted. But I’d have to leave the circus. Leave all my friends. Leave what I love doing most, to be with you.”
He was losing her, he could tell. Some men would’ve resorted to outrageous promises they never intended to keep, or were simply unable to fulfill. He wasn’t about to do that with her. She’d seen too much of the seamy side of life, had too many people break too many promises to her. “Alright.”
“Alright what?” He didn’t blame her for the suspicious tone. Someone with his resources, and zero integrity, could go very far indeed to get what they wanted, no matter how many dreams they trampled in the process. She’d seen enough to hope he was different, but not enough to prove it beyond a doubt.
“I’ll say no more about it.” He was surrendering, giving up his position. It wasn’t something he did often, but he couldn’t see another option. Not where Selina’s happiness was concerned. “We’ll keep going the way we are. I’ll stay in Gotham, you stay with the circus, and we’ll see each other when you come back to town … if that’s okay with you?”
“You mean it?” He couldn’t see her green eyes in the dimness, but somehow he could feel the intensity in her stare. “Just … leave things as they are?”
“I can’t see another way out of this that doesn’t rip away this life you’ve built and force you into my idea of a life for you,” he confessed. “If you can, I’m open to ideas.”
She sighed, unhappily. “Me neither. But … you’re just giving me up? Walking away?”
“Stumbling away, cradling my somewhat-fractured heart,” he said with a chuckle to ensure she knew he was joking (for the most part). “I’d really like to see how we go together, but Gotham needs me and the circus needs you. We’ll see each other again. It’s not a perfect solution, but what in life is?”
“Well, true.” She laid her head on his chest again. “You are a strange and aggravating man, Bruce Wayne. I was ready to hate you if you insisted on dragging me back to the city I managed to escape from, but now I can’t. I mean, you could have, but you didn’t.”
“What’s the point in being rich if all I do is make people miserable?” He shook his head in the darkness. “I read a comic book once where someone said, ‘with great power comes great responsibility’. Money grants power, but nobody ever talks about the responsibility that comes with it.” He slid his hand over her shoulders and down her back to her waist. “If I’m making you unhappy, then I’m doing it wrong.”
She roused then, getting up on all fours and climbing on top of him. Her lips descended upon his, hard and demanding and intoxicating. He felt her body moving against his as he responded to the kiss.
“You’re not doing it wrong,” she growled as their lips separated, and then there was no more time for words.
*****
Alfred heard the caravan door click open in the quiet of the night. He switched off the reading light and carefully placed the bookmark in his copy of Don Quixote, then climbed out of the car. Master Bruce emerged from the caravan, his clothing less disarranged than might otherwise be expected. His employer paused to exchange a kiss with the robed woman inside, then descended the stairs. A few cats followed him out, twining around his legs, then returned to the caravan.
Opening the rear door, Alfred waited impassively. Master Bruce’s walk was neither the proud strut he’d seen from some after a successful conquest, nor a defeated shuffle. He walked with his head up, his expression pensive. When he reached the car, he gave Alfred a grateful nod and smile, and slid into the back seat. As Alfred closed the car door, he happened to glance back at the caravan, and caught the robed figure waving once before she closed her own door.
Once more in the front seat, Alfred started the car. “Home, sir?”
“Home, Alfred. And thank you.”
What Master Bruce was thankful for, Alfred was unsure, but there was only one answer he could give. “You are very welcome, sir.”
*****
The Next Morning
Wayne Tower
Another day, another villain.
Bruce Wayne sat at his desk, wearing a new iteration of his protective armour. He was sweating inside it, due to the built-in warming elements, but that was something he could ignore. The door to his office clicked, allowing entry to the man who had been escorted there by his similarly garbed security team.
“Come in, Dr. Fries,” he invited cordially. “I would offer you a cold drink, but I suspect nothing would be cold enough for you.”
The blue-skinned man, garbed in esoteric armour with a glass dome over his head, ventured into the office. He glanced at the thermostat, which was set as low as Bruce could make it go, then looked over at Bruce himself. “Not exactly a suit and tie, Mr. Wayne,” he observed.
“A basic precaution, Dr. Fries,” Bruce replied. “After all, you have a reputation for rendering those who anger you into ice-blocks. I would prefer to be able to get all the way through my presentation for you.”
“Presentation.” Fries strode forward, sneering down at Bruce. “What could you possibly have for me that I might want or need?”
“Money.” Bruce said the word bluntly. “I have paid quite a bit to cultivate underworld contacts, and they tell me that you are seeking large amounts of money. I am willing to contribute to your bank account, if you will agree to work for me.”
Behind his goggles, Victor Fries blinked. “Work for you? What would you pay me to do?”
“You are perhaps the world’s greatest expert on heat-exchange systems,” Bruce explained. “I would like to employ you to study the entire planet, to determine whether climate change is driving us toward an ice age or a desert planet, the exact reasons why, and to formulate a solution to reverse it.”
For a moment, Fries stopped in his tracks, his mouth dropping open slightly. Then he recovered, shaking his head slightly. “I must say, Mr. Wayne, you think large-scale. But I must decline.”
Bruce tilted his head. “May I ask why? We haven’t even discussed a salary yet.”
“It’s very simple.” Fries’ lips thinned. “Such an undertaking would draw upon all my time, leaving me no chance to perform the work which I most wish to complete.”
“Which is?” Bruce spread his hands, inviting a reply. “Perhaps we can come to a compromise.”
“My wife, Nora, is deathly ill,” Fries explained sharply. “Are you perhaps a brain surgeon, or an oncologist? She has a number of tumours in her brain that will destroy her personality within weeks and kill her within months if she is not treated effectively.”
Bruce blinked. He knew a little about treating cancer from his general reading, but he was no expert. “Have you tried …”
“Radiation and chemotherapy?” Fries shook his head bitterly. “They have both proven to be both ineffectual and terribly debilitating. There is not a surgeon in the world who will attempt to operate. It was my hasty work to cryo-freeze her that left me in this sorry state. She is in stasis right at this moment, but that cannot last forever. And so, I am reduced to gathering funds to research other means of curing her cancer. Your climate-change research is laudable, but right now I do not care.”
Bruce thought rapidly. There was a solution here, if he could just bring it into focus. Some advice Alfred had given him long ago came back to him.
If you do not know how to do something, Master Bruce, find someone who does and pay them what they ask.
Victor Fries had turned and was walking to the door when Bruce spoke again. “Wait.”
“What for? You cannot help me, any more than I am willing to put aside my work to help you.” Fries put his hand on the door handle.
“What if I could?” Bruce watched as Fries paused. “If I could arrange matters to save Nora’s life, remove the cancer from her brain, would you help me?”
Slowly, Victor Fries turned to look at him. “This had better not be a mere hypothetical, Mr. Wayne. Because if it is, I will not rest until I have frozen this entire building into a single block of ice, with you entombed in the centre.”
Bruce put his hands on the desk and stood up. “Not a hypothetical. I have a plan in mind.”
“And what would that be, Mr. Wayne?” Victor Fries’ voice was as hard-edged as the ice his weaponry created. “I can guarantee you, any surgeon you might call upon, I’ve already tried.”
So Bruce told him.
*****
Over the Atlantic Ocean, Off the Eastern Seaboard
“So, are you sure you don’t know what Mr. Wayne wants with us?”
Clark shook his head. This was the fifth time Pamela Isley had asked the same question. “I still don’t know, Miss Isley. All he said was for me to fly you back here, and he’d tell us what he needed once we got there.”
She shook her head. “For a guy who can listen in on a mosquito’s heartbeat at fifty miles, you’re not all that great at finding out other people’s secrets, are you?”
“Well, I could,” he admitted. “But that doesn’t mean I’m going to. My folks raised me to be ethical and honest with my powers, so that’s what I’m going to do.”
“So, you’ve never snuck a peek at me or the Wonder chick with your X-ray vision?” she asked archly, raising an eyebrow at him. “Not even once?”
He shook his head firmly. “Not even once. Pa always said that to give into temptation was a slippery slope. The next time is always easier, and before I knew it, I would be justifying anything I wanted to do.”
“Hmph.” Her tone was dismissive. “Oscar Wilde once said that the best way to deal with temptation was to give in to it.”
“Oscar Wilde couldn’t bend steel in his bare hands or freeze a lake with a single breath,” he countered. “When giving in to temptation has no real effect in the grand scheme of things, that’s one thing. But if it has the potential to change everything, it’s far better to not give in.”
“Ahh, but you were tempted, right?” She smirked as his cheeks reddened slightly. “Go on, admit it. You wanted to look.”
“Whether I did or not, I didn’t act on it.” He knew he was being evasive, but part of him said that even admitting to temptation opened the door another fraction. “Now, can we please drop the subject?”
She snorted. “You’re no fun.”
“I’m not here to be fun, Miss Isley. I’m here to help change the world for the better.”
“And what’s with the ‘Miss Isley’ bit, anyway? Everyone else calls me Pam, or Ivy.”
Up ahead, his telescopic vision spotted Wayne Tower. Oh, thank God. “Mr. Wayne calls you Miss Isley, so that’s what I’m calling you.”
“Damn,” she muttered. “You are such a boy scout.”
Even though he knew she hadn’t intended it as a compliment, he grinned. “Thank you.”
*****
Wayne Tower
“Okay, we’re here,” announced Ivy, striding in from the balcony entrance. Superman followed behind, apparently willing to let her take the lead. “What’s up, boss-man? There’s some greenery back in Africa that needs my close and personal attention.”
Bruce stood up from behind his desk. “It’s good to see you both. I have a somewhat unique assignment for you both. From what I know of your abilities, it shouldn’t take more than a few hours, and then you can head back at your leisure. How’s it going over there, anyway?”
“Good,” Superman said promptly. “Really good. Between Flash planting a million seeds at once and Miss Isley encouraging them to grow, we’re already cutting down on erosion and adding much-needed ground cover.”
“Excellent.” Bruce clapped his hands together. “So, your new assignment. There’s a lady by the name of Nora Fries. She has a rare, treatment-resistant form of brain cancer that’s going to kill her in less than a year. Her husband, Victor Fries—”
“That’s not Mr. Freeze, is it?” Superman frowned. “I’m pretty sure I’ve heard that name.”
“The same,” Bruce confirmed. “But he’s agreed to go straight and use his powers to help save the world alongside the rest of you … if we can save Nora’s life.”
“And you want me to go through her brain with my X-ray vision, heat vision and microscopic vision, and burn out the cancer cells, right?” Superman shook his head. “I could do it, but even the tiny amount of heat it takes to pop a cancer cell will radiate some to the next cell over. If there’s too many tumours, I could literally cook her brain inside her skull.”
“And that’s where Miss Isley comes in,” Bruce said. Turning to the red-headed woman, he continued. “There’s nobody who knows plants better than you. Would you be able to infiltrate Mrs. Fries’ brain with plant tendrils without damaging it, and use them to introduce a cooling, insulative material between the cancer cells and regular brain cells?”
Ivy blinked. “So, when Supes there is barbecuing the cancer cells, the normal ones are fine? Uh …” She concentrated, thinking hard. “You know, I think I can manage that. What do you say, big blue? Save the wife, save the world?”
Superman nodded, looking much happier. “Yes, I think we can do it.”
*****
“What’s happening?” murmured Victor Fries. “They’re not doing anything!”
“They’re saving Nora’s life,” Bruce said, keeping his voice quiet as well. He knew Superman could hear the both of them, but he was doing whatever he could not to distract the man. “See the screen? See the red in his eyes? He’s killing the cancer cells, burning them to a crisp. Miss Isley is insulating your wife’s brain from the heat, and circulating a cooling fluid through the plant tendrils to get rid of the worst of it. It’s working.”
Fries looked at the holographic screen, which portrayed an image of Nora’s brain. Of the multiple red splotches that had decorated it at the beginning of the operation, there were very few left. As they watched, one of them gradually began to break down by sections, Superman becoming smoother and smoother with his work as he got the hang of it.
“And she’ll really be okay?” Victor Fries didn’t seem to be able to believe it.
“All the life-signs monitors say so,” Bruce assured him. “Brain function is normal, no swelling detected. Superman’s been cauterising the blood vessels feeding the tumours so even if there’s a cell or two left behind …”
“There won’t be,” Superman muttered into his throat mic, his voice audible over the speakers.
Bruce blinked. “And there you have it, from the man himself.”
Fries let out a long sigh. “You’ll forgive me my nerves. This is a dream come true.”
*****
Bruce stood discreetly by as Victor leaned over his wife. Superman and Ivy had finished up their work and departed in the general direction of northern Africa, about half an hour ago. All the scans he could take showed her as being clear of the cancerous growths. Now, she was being woken up, the anaesthetic being flushed from her system.
Her eyes fluttered open, and Fries caught his breath. “N-Nora?” he asked. “How do you feel?”
She reached up toward him, and he took hold of her hand. “Like I’ve been asleep,” she murmured. “Dreaming. Are you really here?”
“I’m here,” he assured her fervently. “The nightmare is over.”
As they embraced, Bruce had to turn away. Victor Fries would never have skin to skin contact with his wife again, but she was alive and that was all he’d wanted.
He thought of Selina, and how she’d be leaving Gotham again soon, going on the way that she’d chosen for herself. There was a distinct parallel there, he thought.
It’s not what you do for yourself that should make you happy, he decided. It’s what you do for others.
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This is your 12-minute Friday digest in 3176 words.

interview with Armenia's new national basketball coach Rex Kalamian

Kalamian has decades of experience in the American NBA. He has agreed to coach the Armenian team.
Reporter: How did the cooperation with the Armenian federation begin?
Kalamian: I began speaking with them a few years ago but my schedule was busy. This summer was the perfect time to get involved and come to Yerevan to coach our team and help grow the program.
Reporter: Why did you agree to coach the Armenian team?
Kalamian: I have an immense amount of pride to represent Armenia. My grandmother grew up here.
Reporter: What did you know about the Armenian team before?
Kalamian: Still learning about the players and their games. They are talented. I'll help them grow and develop.
Reporter: What's your goal?
Kalamian: Develop and sustain a basketball program for boys and girls of Armenia, at all levels. The men's team should eventually qualify for Euro Basket.
Reporter: Basketball began developing in Armenia not long ago. How difficult will it be for you?
Kalamian: I have >25 years of NBA experience. I understand that patience will be needed.
Reporter: The team will participate in the European Championship for Small Countries this year. We have already won it once. What's your plan?
Kalamian: To win and bring attention to Armenia. We'll work very hard. We need to get the best players.
https://armenpress.am/eng/news/1074707.html

remote meeting was held between Pashinyan, Macron, Charles Michel, and Aliyev

Parties exchanged views on the solution of humanitarian problems, the unblocking of roads under the sovereignty and jurisdiction of the two countries, the reduction of tensions on the border, demarcation, Red Cross access to Karabakh, etc.
https://armenpress.am/eng/news/1074783.html

Russia has no comments yet about reports of construction of a new road between Armenia and Artsakh

On Tuesday the media reported that Artsakh is studying the lands ahead of the road construction, while Azerbaijan is building a bridge near Lachin, to be used by the alternative road.
The media asked the Russian MFA to comment whether the Azeri reports about a bridge are accurate and whether it's the Russian side that's building the bridge. Spokeswoman Zakharova has no information at this time.
https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1074781.html

Turkish parliament ratified a defense agreement with Azerbaijan signed by Erdogan and Aliyev last year

Azerbaijan had ratified it earlier. Turkey and Azerbaijan will continue to aid each other in the event of external threat or aggression, besides the economic cooperation. Turkey rushed to calm Russia by stating "this isn't mean to be against any third state".
Not everything is going smoothly between the Brotherly Nations, though. A few days earlier, an opposition Turkish MP accused Erdogan and Aliyev of corruption in the TANAP gas pipe deal, prompting Aliyev's office to demand an apology and remind about the "brotherly relations" between the states.
The Turkish MP had complained that Azerbaijan is ripping them off with high prices. Why pay so much for gas if we're still freezing at home, he said, adding that Ankara suffered $5 billion losses after the gas contract was amended a while ago.
The Turkish MP also complained that Baku sabotaged the Nabucco pipeline deal in favor of giving its state oil agency SOCAR an unprecedentedly good deal in another project. The MP said it's no coincidence that during the $6-7 billion TANAP pipeline auction, an Azeri oligarch closed to Erdogan won lucrative contracts.
https://factor.am/471759.html www.civilnet.am/news/649020/անկարան-պնդում-է-թե-ադրբեջանի-հետ-ռազմական-գործակցությունը-երրորդ-երկրի-դեմ-չէ․-թուրքիան-այս-շաբաթ/

BP ignored $1.7 billion corruption schemes in Azeri gas project: OCCRP

Report: Azeri state oil company SOCAR owns a company called Bos Shelf. The latter was hired by British BP to build stuff.
Back in 2013, hundreds of Bos Shelf employees organized a rally to demand higher wages. Parent company SOCAR had agreed to investigate.
However, four years later, the workers still accused the company of embezzling their salaries and called for Aliyev to intervene. They accused the director of nepotism and embezzling millions every month.
Hundreds of millions were stolen from Shah Deniz 2 project in 2014-2015.
BP was warned about the corruption in their contractor Bos Shelf, but didn't take action. In public, BP praised the Shah Deniz 2 program, calling it a success. In private, though, BP's communication records show that they had suspicions around the abnormally high price tag and unjustified expenses. //
Full: https://jam-news.net/ru/обнаружены-факты-коррупции-на-17-миллиа/ https://factor.am/472187.html

how bad was inflation in Turkey?

Bad enough for Erdogan to fire the chief of the national statistics after it reported inflation not seen in 2 decades.

Turkey’s annual inflation came in at nearly 49% on Thursday, hitting a nearly 20-year high and further eroding people’s ability to buy even basic things like food.

Meanwhile, the Inflation Research Group, consisting of Turkish academics and economists, reported a 115% inflation in January, much higher than the official.
https://factor.am/472128.html https://apnews.com/article/business-middle-east-turkey-prices-recep-tayyip-erdogan-8a968577831aa31c3a6845010d576c17

an attempt was made to topple the Ataturk statue in northern Turkey

Two people attempted to topple the statue by tying it to a vehicle with a rope. The attempt failed after witnesses allegedly intervened. Two suspects were later arrested. A vigil was held by Ataturk supporters near the statue.
In another instance, the Justice Monument standing in front of a courthouse was attacked at a different location.
https://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/locals-hold-vigil-following-attack-on-ataturk-statue-171275

VIDEO: Turkish firm cuts off power to Syrians after protests against price hike

Residents of Afrin held protests against an electricity price hike, in a northern Syrian city controlled by Turkey and forces allied to it.
The Turkish company AK Energy has a monopoly. They haven't delivered electricity since Sunday to punish the protesters, complained the locals.
https://youtu.be/18t2rvaC_mk https://npasyria.com/en/71861/

anti-corruption: daughter-in-law of ex-Culture Minister placed on the wanted list

Investigative Committee earlier: Hasmik Poghosyan was the Culture Minister in 2006. She was also vice-president of a cultural organization. She illegally gave a Yerevan-owned property to the organization. Her accomplice was the organization's president Armen Smbatyan, [who would later become Ambassador to Israel].
The embezzled ֏201M property was deposited as an investment in an LLC established by the organization. The LLC then made a $550,000 transfer to a British Virgin Islands offshore firm belonging to the Minister's family. //
Investigative Committee today: Poghosyan's daughter-in-law Francesca Cutrupi (Կուտրուպի) was also an accomplice. She was the director of a British Virgin Islands firm that helped with the illegal scheme. A warrant for her arrest was issued. //
https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1074739.html https://youtu.be/K5mFaTx5ZlI?t=20 https://www.reddit.com/armenia/comments/rmemnm/dec222021_yerevan_council_fires_mayor_marutyan/

anti-corruption: ex-mayor of Vanadzor is facing more charges

Investigative Committee: The 2016-2021 mayor Mamikon Aslanyan wanted to convert a piece of land from residential to commercial. The government blocked the process and asked him to correct some errors. Aslanyan committed forgery to illegally continue the process, causing damage to the community.
We also found that from 2019-2021, for personal gain, Aslanyan forged documents to allow the sale of public park areas, the sale of which is prohibited under law. We will seek to extend his pretrial arrest. //
https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1074756.html https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1070870.html

Constitutional reform Council held the first session

Pashinyan recently signed a decree to officially form a Council, consisting of experts, officials, and NGOs, to discuss improvements in the Constitution, the latest version of which was adopted under Serj administration amid complaints of flaws.

... the Council will discuss the possibility of switching to a semi-presidential system: Pashinyan aide

We can't confidently say right now whether it'll happen or not. Besides the Council, there will be an expert commission that will do the main work. The Council will give its advice. //

... the Constitution will be audited to uncover the flaws: Justice Minister

This process will be done transparently. Everyone was invited but the two parliamentary opposition parties refused to participate despite our efforts. We appreciate the presence of non-parliamentary opposition parties. This should be done transparently to leave no room for claims about "closed-door decisions". //

... the constitution should ensure a balance of power: Justice Minister

We need a better balance of power between branches to address the "super-premier system". Today, the president doesn't have significant levers. Yes, balancing would mean taking away powers from us, but we're willing to do that. Armen Sarkissian made a rushed decision by resigning. This is why the Council is here today, to address the issues mentioned by him.

... I have concerns about how some of the text is written in our constitution: Justice Minister

We should review the court system and possible court mergers. The much spoken about "judicial vetting" should be discussed. {Sidenote: read November 11 report for context. They held a meeting to discuss how deep the vetting can go under the current constitution.}
Many problems used to be resolved via internal political processes instead of the constitution, so those who rewrote the constitution didn't find it necessary to consider all the possible scenarios in case of crisis.

... there are many reasons why we should amend the Constitution: LHK leader Marukyan

We should unite around this process. Last time, in 2014-2015, our party was unable to lobby for a Constitution that would give us a real parliamentary system with checks and balances. It was adopted with a fake referendum and established a fake parliamentary system.
We need a Constitution that clearly defines who the guarantor of territorial integrity is. The current one doesn't define it, while the previous one did. //

... Yeghishe Kirakosyan elected as deputy head of Council

Kirakosyan represents Armenia in ECHR. He was also one of the lawyers who successfully sued Azerbaijan in the World Court.
His candidacy was supported by Helsinki Vanadzor NGO and the ruling QP party.
Full: https://youtu.be/6WTU9FGfIt4 https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1074755.html https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1074757.html https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1074760.html https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1074766.html https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1074771.html https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1074778.html https://youtu.be/269G6pmwSY8 https://youtu.be/nCZqMYLrUcQ

apartment burglary statistics in Yerevan

Burglaries/Cases Solved
2020: 588/22.5%
2021: 585/23.4%
Prosecutors said the usual targets are houses on the 1st or 2nd floors that do not have metal guards on windows, dim corridors without CCTV, apartment complex buildings that do not require entry passcode.
https://factor.am/472025.html

new residential district is being built in Artsakh's Krasni village

There will be four apartment complex clusters with backyards, connected to the main road. They will house IDPs from the Askeran region. The construction began in late 2021.
https://youtu.be/0fiywQ3KDns https://factor.am/472153.html

PHOTO: Artsakh resident found a 12th-century cross-stone in forests not far from Stepanakert

https://www.facebook.com/artsakh.monuments/posts/267905328813410

Red Book of Armenia app

Nature Ministry and German GIZ created a new app to help you learn about the endangered animals and vegetation in Armenia with interactive maps.
iOS
Google
https://www.armtimes.com/hy/article/230615

90% of lung cancer in Armenia is a result of smoking: oncologist

February 4 is the World Cancer Day. Every 58th Armenian is diagnosed with cancer.
Director of Oncology Center: Global cancer cases are rising because people live longer. Each year we hold a forum with field experts. This year it's in Sochi, Russia. 200 Armenian oncologists will participate.
Today, radiation and surgical treatments are completely free in Armenia, while chemotherapy has co-pay. We have progressed in this area.

... Lung cancer is the most common in Armenia

8-9 out of 10 lung cancer cases are a result of smoking. We raise awareness in education institutes. There are social media campaigns and informational videos. I welcome the new law that bans smoking in catering facilities starting mid-March.
Our mobile mammography station began operating last year. It'll be used in Lori, Tavush, and Syunik. The public awareness campaign encourages women aged 50-60 to get tested for free.

... Get tested once a year, especially if you're above 40

Do it 4 times a year if you've had cancer before. Early detection almost always leads to successful treatment. Most importantly, adopt a healthy lifestyle.
With the help of the Healthcare Ministry, we created a system to electronically gather cancer info for more accurate statistics.

... Cancer cases are rising in Armenia partly because more people began seeking care

Dr. Badeyan, Oncology Center: We treated 15,000 patients at the National Oncology Center last year. There were 6,000 surgeries.
A few years ago only 1/10th of provincial patients were willing to travel and seek care in Yerevan. The rest would delay the treatment. If 3-4 years ago the Center had 550 beds, today it's 800.
Cancer surgeries and radiation treatment are free now. Chemotherapy is partly subsidized. This is a very important change because the patient isn't focused on raising money anymore.
Preventative care is crucial. A lot has changed throughout the years. I remember the early stages of my medical career. Every day we would receive patients who completely neglected their health. This has become rare, thanks to awareness campaigns and quality service. //
Cancer stats: https://hetq.am/hy/article/140781
https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1074723.html https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1074744.html

better medical equipment means more patients seeking care

The latest example is the Martuni Medical Center. Their revenues from state-subsidized and out-of-pocket patients have doubled last year, "not because people have gotten sicker."
Director: Last year the revenues doubled to ֏306m because of technical modernization, new services, and staff retraining. We introduced new services such as echocardiography, gastroscopy, etc., while the lab received modern equipment.
Our residents seek care locally instead of having to travel to Yerevan. A new facility is under construction. Healthcare Ministry gave us an oxygen station that's enough for the whole province. //
https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1074725.html

COVID stats

8.8k tested. 4.2k infected. 2.5k healed. 10 deaths. 27.6k active.

108 schools switch to distance learning amid high infection rates

Every school monitors COVID infections and decides whether to hold classes in-person, fully remotely, or partially remotely. If 10% of staff and students are infected, all classes are held remotely.
Around half of the troubled 108 schools want to hold all classes remotely for now. It usually lasts from several days to two weeks.
https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1074712.html https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1074721.html

Armenia and UK will sign a comprehensive cooperation agreement soon: UK ambassador

Ambassador: We're currently engaging with the Armenian government to finalize the UK-AM CEPA agreement. We're also working on improving human rights in the military, preventing domestic abuse, and children's rights. //
https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1074753.html https://factor.am/472035.html

government is looking for companies interested in large-scale business with the Chinese market

Economy Ministry is creating a database of Armenian companies interested in cooperation with the Chinese market. The companies should be capable of ensuring large industrial volumes in the areas of industry, agriculture, food.
https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1074749.html

Armenian comedian could soon replace a famous Russian comedy show host, at least temporarily

КВН (KVN) is a legendary Russian comedy show that is, or at least was, very popular in ex-USSR republics. Many famous comedians launched their careers in KVN.
Its long-time host Maslyakov (1986-present) is sick with Covid and is looking for a substitute. There are reports that he might retire.
Armenian-Russian comedian Mikael Galustyan is one of the candidates. His fellow Comedy Club comics are also named as contenders.
https://www.armtimes.com/hy/article/230581

Armenia's Olympics flagbearers were Mikael Mikaelyan and Tina Garabedian

The skier and figure skater were chosen to hold the flag. The opening ceremony was held in Beijing. Armenia has 6 athletes, 4 of whom are skiers.
Here is the schedule: https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1074775.html
Open ceremony photos: https://factor.am/472045.html
https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1074732.html https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1074772.html

Pashinyan wants to install Armenian flags on more state buildings; ARF wants to go one step further

There aren't enough Armenian flags, complained the government recently. A bill will require the flag to be raised on education buildings (preschool to university), science facilities, sports-cultural venues, and other buildings that are co-founded by the federal or local authorities.
ARF MP Aghvan Vardanyan: The law should also regulate the installation of state symbols on buildings adjacent to public places, during these three holidays: Independence Day, Republic Day, and Constitution Day.
The most popular state symbol is the flag. We can find the national flag at any corner in the U.S., Greece, Turkey, and Georgia. It promotes respect, especially among the youth.
We should also fix the current flag law that envisages liability for violating the law but doesn't specify what the penalty is. [that's the best type of law, why fix it?] //
https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1074713.html

opposition parties won't nominate a candidate for president

HD and PU alliances have an insufficient number of MPs and wouldn't be able to elect their candidate as president. They decided not to nominate anyone and not to participate in the process. "We won't legitimize this process."
That leaves the ruling QP party, which has enough MPs to elect the High-Tech & Industry Minister Vahagn Khachaturyan as president during the second round of the vote, likely to be held next month.
https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1074719.html

a network of TUMO centers will open in Germany

TUMO and the KfW Development Bank signed an agreement to open TUMO centers and boxes in Germany.
Germany: Opening TUMO Berlin was a significant first step and provides an excellent resource for teens in Berlin. Signing today’s agreement is a major evolution because it provides a framework to scale the success in Berlin across Germany.
TUMO: Our German partners are pioneering with us the concept of TUMO as a national initiative, with all the benefits of increased efficiency, reduced cost, and more widely distributed positive impact on the next generation of innovators. //
The story dates back to 2018 when Angela Merkel visited Yerevan's TUMO center. TUMO Berlin was launched in January 2020.

programming, music, robotics, animation, 3D modeling, filmmaking, game development, graphic design, drawing, and photography.

https://massispost.com/2022/02/a-network-of-tumo-centers-and-boxes-to-open-in-germany/

Yerevan State College of Culture & Arts renamed after Charles Aznavour

In 2018 the college asked Aznavour Foundation and his family to approve the renaming. The process concluded and the state has approved the change.
Education Ministry also signed an agreement with Aznavour Foundation to modernize the college.
Kristina Aznavour: Charles Aznavour's life and career inspired many young people around the world. His path was full of challenges which he was able to overcome through his diligence. We are hopeful that many future world-renowned artists will embark on their careers at the college. //
https://armenpress.am/eng/news/1074715.html

Armenia's national postal operator has launched the first of the HayPost Med network of pharmacies

HayPost has also launched the medication delivery service. Residents of all provinces can dial a number to order medication and receive them in the nearest HayPost branch or at their home within 1-2 working days.
Director: HayPost isn’t just a postal operator; it's a developing ecosystem. The second pharmacy will open on Kievyan St. (the first is on Baghramyan St.).
HayPost Med pharmacy will also offer baby formula, women's hygiene items, active supplements, medical equipment, etc. //
http://arka.am/en/news/business/haypost_launches_first_of_its_pharmacies_and_delivery_of_medicines_/

top-10 bestseller Armenian literature books in January

5) Հուշացած ակնթարթներ, by Գոհար Նավասարդյան
4) Վերջին անգամ ենք ապրում, by Աշոտ Աղաբաբյան
3) Ինձ պիոններ չնվիրես, by Գոհար Նավասարդյան
2) Դուռը, by Վանո Սիրադեղյան
1) Կախվածություն, by Սյունե Սևադա
https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1074705.html

today in history

1861: six U.S. states join to form the Confederate States of America. Jefferson Davis is elected as president. Followed by a massive kerfuffle...
1948: Sri Lanka declares independence from Boris Johnson after Covid party scandal
1976: earthquake kills 23,000 in Guatemala
1992: Hugo Chavez organizes a coup again Nikol Pashinyan
2004: Zuck Mockerberg launches Facebook to steal your Social Security Number
https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1074693.html

more

Yesterday's news in English and русский (by Impossible-Ad-).
News archive: http://www.armeniapedia.org/wiki/Daily_Anti-Corruption_Reports Donations: soldiers' families, humanitarian aid, US tax-deductible donation.
The accused are innocent unless proven guilty in the court of law, even if they "appear" guilty.

I have been getting a higher than normal volume of messages which means its probably contract time so I'm reposting this for those in the job hunt. Best of luck.
Since July/August are the time that many senior residents will begin the job search (hint, July/August is the time you should start your job search senior residents) I thought I would try my hand at making a succinct stupidly, unnecessarily long and comprehensive guide to things you should know about the process of negotiating a contract. My background for writing this is a graduated surgical fellow going into a sole practice in a multi-group cancer clinic, so I had quite a bit of learning to do. I will hit everything I can think of, I will freely admit that this is an n = 1 experience, and I strongly encourage other attendings, senior residents, new grads, etc. to contribute. Particularly people who are going through or have just gone through the process.
Let's get to it then.
Things you have to do and know before you even start:

• You need a point of reference for how much get paid. You can find an informal reference here: https://www.reddit.com/Residency/comments/mmu9uhow_much_does_specialtyfellowship_make_afte?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3 But you need a FORMAL reference. You really must obtain the following documents so that, if necessary, you can physically show them to a potential employer during contract negotiations and not get fleeced.
  
  • If you are applying to an academic job the document you need is called the AAMC faculty salary report. It can be purchased by individuals at great personal expense ($1,150 lol). That said, many (all?) academic departments will have an institutional copy. Your department chair is the most likely person to ask to get this information and unless you're applying to a job and staying on as faculty, they will usually give it to you without issue. This will list total compensation based on academic rank. We'll talk about those terms in a bit. Other ways to get this information are to ask co-residents. If that fails, come ask in Reddit. SOMEONE has it and will share it, but employers often have little incentive to share it as it gives you more power to negotiate. I do not believe the AAMC salary report sorts by region, the version I have for my subspecialty does not, but I never got the official version because I didn't need it (non-academic job).
  • If you are applying to a non-academic job which includes private practice, hospital employed non-academic, multi-specialty groups, etc. - essentially, anything that is not teaching faculty, you need MGMA data. We call it MGMA data, but in reality, most employers and even most applicants actually use blended MGMA data. MGMA is one company that collects physician salary data. The two other big ones are AMGA and SCA. MGMA tends to be the highest average numbers but not always. The blended MGMA data averages all three into a single set of data and that will be what you and a potential employer will use as a benchmark. There are two sets of MGMA data - academic and non-academic. Academic MGMA data IS DIFFERENT from the AAMC faculty salary report but it generally describes the same job setting (total compensation however tends to be higher in the MGMA version). This data is primarily used for people who will be productivity/RVU based rather than research/teaching based in a university style setting. You may need both the academic MGMA data as well as the AAMC faculty salary report in your negotiations, and you may also need the non-academic data. It will be between you and a potential employer to argue and justify how you should be classified and reimbursed and why. Knowledge is power here though and the more you have the better off you will be. If you are in private practice, pure productivity, or a non-teaching role you should be using non-academic MGMA data.
    • MGMA data is sorted by region and specialty including subspecialty. It can also be reported nationally.
    • The '50th percentile' numbers that everyone throws around are for 2+ years of experience after graduation. They are NOT for a new grad. Some MGMA reports will actually list starting salary separately for a new grad under a starting compensation section and, yes, this is almost always lower. When a job is advertising "pays 90th percentile MGMA" that means it might pay 90th percentile MGMA if you have experience, but as a new grad it might pay 90th percentile for new grads which could in fact be closer to 50th percentile for 2+ years of experience which is the number you'll see on the MGMA report. This is why you will see a (potentially very large) discrepancy.
    • MGMA data typically will list total compensation, average RVUs, and the conversion factor from RVU to total compensation (how much an RVU is worth) for your specialty
    • MGMA data may, or may not, also list typical signing bonus amount, relocation amount, CME allowance, vacation weeks, and additional call (voluntary call beyond what is stipulated in your contract) by a daily and/or hourly rate. It may also list medical directorship type compensation stipends.
• The definition of Total Compensation:
  
  • First thing to know is that this definition CAN AND DOES vary between potential employers. Simply ask them what total compensation includes when they calculate it and they will tell you; it isn't a secret, it just isn't completely standard across institutions or employers.
  • Total compensation is not your salary. Total compensation IS NOT your salary. Total compensation is your salary *and* can also include some of the following things:
    • Vacation time factored in (included)
    • Signing bonus (almost always included)
    • Student loan reimbursement (almost always included)
    • CME money, professional stipend (+/- being included)
    • Guaranteed yearly bonus, quality bonus, or whatever they want to call it (included)
    • Retirement Match (+/- being included)
    • Medical Directorship Stipend (included if applicable)
  • Things that are NOT included in total compensation (usually):
    • Additional/Voluntary Call
    • RVU productivity bonus
  • Things that are variable, but tend not to be calculated in total comp
    • Malpractice coverage
    • Disability Insurance
    • Life Insurance
    • Health Insurance
    • Equipment Costs
• Definition of Academic Rank:
  
  • Academic Rank is what dictates a large portion of what level your total compensation will be paid at in an academic setting. Ranks are typically: Instructor, Assistant Professor, Associate Professor, Professor, Chief, and Chair.
  • Be sure to ask and understand what your promotion criteria is in an academic position. Is it based on research and number of publications? Is it based on time? It it based on evaluations from faculty? From students/residents/learners? Productivity? All of the above? This should be clearly spelled out and written down for you in any potential contract. If it is not, that is sort of a red flag and you should ask to have it clarified.
  • Understand the criteria for achieving the beginning academic ranks. In particular, what do you need to do to be hired as an assistant professor or an associate professor rather than an instructor. For a lot of places assistant professor requires only that you are boarded. For others there can be additional requirements including time, experience, research publications. Varies by institution.
• You should know the following things about yourself before starting the job search:
  
  • What geographic location are you willing to practice in? If anywhere, great. If its very specific, understand that you will lose a great deal of your negotiating power (sometimes you will have zero negotiating power and only one or two options).
  • Do you want to be self employed, employed, or you don't care?
  • Do you want or need to work towards PSLF? If so, you need to be employed at a non-profit institution. You must be very clear here that you are actually employed by the non-profit. It is not enough to be employed by a private practice who contracts and works out of a non-profit hospital, that will not qualify. Most academic settings and government hospitals are non-profits. Most private practice settings and large corporate conglomerates are not. But there are some exceptions to both.
  • Are you willing to take call? How much? How often? If you are a super specialist, are you willing to take call for whatever you general boarded specialty is? (For example, I am an HPB/surgical oncologist but many job postings require their surgeons to take general surgery call, +/- trauma call).
    • Question for the employer: If you are taking some form of general call, what is the scope of their emergencies and what can you transfer?
  • Do you want to and/or are you willing to supervise/teach? This includes medical students, midlevel students, residents, fellows, and midlevels. For some specialties, you may want or need a midlevel or residency to support you. You should put some thought into this up front (but be aware that you will likely have very limited control to negotiate for this as a new grad).
  • What do you want the scope of your practice to be? What are things you absolutely will not do? What are your red lines?
• Things a potential employer WILL CHECK about you:
  
  • They will read your CV
  • They will call some, if not all, of your references
  • They will likely call your program director or at least send a generic form about disciplinary/professional/any other work issues to your residency and fellowship (if applicable)
  • If they know anyone from where you're coming from, they'll probably call them
  • You will get a criminal background check
  • They will inquire into your malpractice history
  • They will inquire into any licensure or board issues
  • If you have a red flag in any of these things it does not mean they are not interested or won't hire you. This is just a heads up that they are going to check all of these things. Be honest and consider being up front about whatever skeletons you might have. At minimum be prepared to discuss any issues a check into any of these things might discover and be prepared to explain yourself and what/if any remediation and solutions you have employed to deal with these issues.
  • Be aware they can ask for additional references. One job asked me to provide contact information for some of my co-residents to ask what I was like to work with
• The Generic Interview Process:
  
  • 1st Communication is typically a phone call; they will explain the practice and describe the position, ask some general questions about you, and allow you to ask general questions about the job. This is a high level, broad overview. This can often be with a recruiter first, and then will be repeated with whoever is ultimately in charge of the final decision to hire for the position.
  • 2nd Communication can be a more in depth telephone interview, virtual interview, or in person interview. This is the time where you will discuss details of the job, they will ask more in depth questions about you, your experience, your life/personality, etc. This is when you will ask about job hours, office/hospital commitments, call, salary, benefits, etc. Be aware that some places won't talk about salary until the end. This can be a little weird but it does frequently happen where they want to get through the entire interview process and decide to offer you the position and then they will make you a salary offer (usually via a letter of intent, or LOI) and that's when you start negotiating the salary/benefits etc. Three of five places I interviewed with where I made it to an LOI hadn't actually calculated a salary yet and I had to wait a week while legal/HR did that and then they got back to me. I've no idea if this is normal but it is definitely a thing.
  • 3rd Communication can be an additional in person interview if you're considering accepting the job where they may have a realtor show you around the place, could be contract negotiations prior to signing an LOI, after signing an LOI but before signing a contract, etc, or might be where they actually offer you a job.
• How to Find Job Postings:
  
  • Professional Society Job Boards
  • Journal Classified Ads
  • You cold call and/or send letters/emails to program directors, hospital recruiters, etc. (particularly useful if you are region locked)
  • Virtual job fairs
  • GlassdooIndeed/Practicelink
  • National/regional meetings
  • Headhunters/Recruiters
  • Personal Contacts/Word of Mouth/Your program director, fellowship director, or chairman

Compensation Models:
There are multiple compensation models that exist depending on your practice setting. Your ultimate contract may be one of these or a hybrid of any/all of these. You need to very clearly understand the differences between them, and you need to understand how they will change over time. Meaning that when your first contract runs out (typically 2-3 years) what can you expect contract re-negotiations to be like in the future?

• Fully Salaried: Pretty self descriptive here. You get paid a flat salary where all of your benefits are clearly defined and whether you show up and see one patient or show up and see fifty, you'll be getting paid the same. This model works well in academic positions where there is a significant research component, in some procedural specialties where you may have particularly long, extremely complex, very complicated procedures that mean you see less patients overall and do less procedures but may be working the same time as other docs in your field, for some cognitive specialties that require hours at a time dedicated to a single patient, or if you simply don't want variability in your pay. If you are fully salaried you should either have in a contract when/how/how much your salary will increase, or have language talking about how your salary will be determined in the future at the time of contract renegotiation. This is an employed only model of compensation.
• Base Salary + Productivity (Hereafter called RVU) Bonus: This compensation model means that you will receive a base salary every year regardless of how many patients or procedures you do. In addition, for each patient/RVU you see over the base salary you will be paid typically a set rate per RVU determined by an RVU conversion factor. The RVU bonus does not kick in until you have seen enough RVUs to meet your base salary (meaning if they did the reverse conversion of your salary into a number of RVUs, you have to do that much work before the bonus starts). The RVU bonus typically will kick in at 50th percentile RVUs on MGMA data, but not always and can be variable. In this compensation model you need to understand how they came up with the base salary, you need to know the RVU conversion, you need to know how many RVUs a typical doctor of your specialty will expect to do in a year, how many you can be anticipated to do in a year, how they chose the RVU conversion number, and when the RVU conversion number starts.
• Full Productivity/RVU: As it says, you will be paid based on the work you do. This compensation model is straightforward and is referred to as "eat what you kill" colloquially. Some contracts will start with a guarantee for anywhere from 1 to 3 years and then convert to an RVU only model.
  
  • One huge important caveat of a full RVU model of compensation with no guarantee or base salary is that you need to understand if you are paid based on RVUs BILLED or RVUs COLLECTED!!! I cannot emphasize this enough. RVUs billed means that you are typically employed and you are going to be paid by the employer, the practice, your partners, whatever based on the day you do the work. However in private practice sometimes you can be paid on RVUs collected which means that you won't get paid until the money actually materializes from the patient or insurer and this can be months later. Months. You may go a fair stretch of time with no income. You just need to be aware of this.
• Salary Floors: Sometimes contracts will stipulate that you need to do X number of RVUs or else. The or else can be variable but can be a reduction in your salary, termination, who knows. I personally didn't receive a contract like that but one of my friends did. The floor is typically VERY low and easy to meet, like 10th percentile RVUs, but this can be an issue if you're starting a service line or practice from scratch.
  
• Salary Ceilings: Apparently this is actually pretty common until you become a partner in private practice, and can also be common in bigger system/employed positions. Your RVU bonus can have a cap (sometimes at 75th percentile, sometimes 90th percentile, or sometimes some other arbitrary number) where even if you saw 10,000 more patients, you won't make anymore money. Some non-profits (or even for profits) will attempt to tell you or write into your contract that you cannot be paid more than the 75th percentile OR 90th percentile because of fair market value and their tax exempt status. This is not true. The actual truth is that if you're being paid above the 75th percentile (usually closer to the 90th) you need to be able to justify that additional income by proving you are actually doing that amount of work. If you can't do this then yes, you can actually put them at risk of losing their tax exempt status. However, this is a relatively simple audit process of your productivity that you can request the organization do when it is time for your contract renegotiation. Again, a contract lawyer can sort this out for you - this is where it is well worth the money required to pay a contract lawyer.
  
• Non-RVU Based Work:
  
  • I wanted to put a quick section in on this that you need to understand what your non-RVU obligations are and how you're going to get paid for them. This is way more applicable to academic jobs but is certainly not exclusive to them. To describe this work employers often use the term FTE or FTE Equivalent. FTE stands for Full Time Employee which is a little weird and misleading because they describe MAs and nurses by FTEs, doctors by FTEs, and even chairman/CEOs by FTEs. For your purposes as an attending a 1.0 FTE typically means the hours that an average physician in your specialty would make doing a regular week of clinical work. This matters because your salary will often be a 1.0 FTE, but your actual job duties might not be 1.0 FTE worth of clinical work. Why is this important? Because you may have protected time for your non-clinical obligations and it is typically measured in FTEs. Say you have a 40/60 split on research and clinical work in an academic job. In that case your job will be 0.4 FTE research and 0.6 FTE clinical. For a typical job that works five days a week, 40 hours a week, this means you will spend two days doing research and three days doing clinical work. Another example of this is the trauma/critical care surgeon. They are often broken up into doing a week of ICU, a week of trauma, a week of acute care surgery, and a week of administrative/personal time. Their contract might read as 0.25 FTE critical care, 0.25 FTE acute care, 0.25 FTE trauma, 0.25 research/admin and instead of describing how that time is allocated weekly it is allocated monthly.
  • What things might make up non-RVU work?
    • Admin Time like being a chairman or program director (not sure on chairman, but PD is minimum 0.5 FTE), associate program director (0.1 FTE)
    • Research time, anywhere from 0.1-0.8 FTE depending on the job
    • Education time
    • Other
  • Lastly I want to point out that this is important to understand not just for your initial contract but for as you grow in your job. Using me as another example, I'm working as a clinical HPB surgeon that is salaried. However, if I choose to be an associate program director or a medical director down the road I should get paid for that. When we decide how much I should get paid for that, those roles typically may be a 0.05 or 0.1 FTE. So we take my fully salaried position, multiply it by 0.1, and we should add that amount to my salary to account for my additional duties. It is quite frankly more complicated than that (particularly at a non-profit) because in some places on paper you can't work more than 1 FTE. Your employer will say things about non-profit, fair market value, etc. If you make it this far just get a contract lawyer and they'll sort all that shit out for you - this is mostly just to understand that if you take on additional duties (teaching, admin, directorship, whatever) you can use the FTE system to get a rough idea of how much you can ask to be paid for that extra work.
• Non FTE/Clinical/RVU Stipends
  
  • Sometimes instead of going into your salary you get paid via stipend which is one method that we use to pay physicians that gets around the FTE cap I literally just described in one paragraph above. These stipends are usually in your contract but are separate from your salary for... the above reasons. You can get a stipend for admin work, research, teaching, on-call, for owning parts of the practice/being a partner (facility fee type things), consulting work etc. You may or may not have to quantify and justify the time you spend on this. For example, if you're a medical student preceptor, rather than paying you based on how much time you spend each week in the FTE model, they simply pay you a stipend per student, or per week, or per month and you are expected to educate the student and meet the expectations of the additional job duty.

Interviewing:
This is the only section I'm not going to go into heavy detail into, I just wanted to put a short segment here because chronologically this is where the interviewing piece will fall in your process. If you haven't figured out how to interview by now after medical school, residency, fellowship... I can't help you friend. Wear a nice suit and drink your coffee that morning. Smile a lot. Be excited and actually try to get to know the people you're interviewing with because they will likely be your partners and you genuinely want to know if you'll enjoy working alongside them. Good luck.
Contract Lawyer:
I'm putting this here because the advice I was given, and the advice I now give, is that THIS IS THE MOMENT you want to get your contract lawyer. Not when you actually have a contract, but right when/shortly before/shortly after you get a term sheet or letter of intent. If you choose to use a contract lawyer, he/she should be knowledgeable (or at least have some idea) about your specialty, have their own version of MGMA/AAMC data to reference, and can offer you advice on things you are going to want to ask about/discuss in a future contract prior to the contract. This is extremely valuable because its easier to ask for things and set expectations (for both you and your employer) up front, and during the LOI negotiation time, then when you get to the actual contract. For example if you sign an LOI saying your salary is 300k and then you get to the contract (which is often done by the legal department and not the people who control the purse strings) and say you want 400k, its going to cause issues and tension which is the last thing you want in your first job contract process. Let's address some specific things in addition:

• Do I really need a contract lawyer?
  
  • Look, its up to you. Its your money. The answer is yes 99% of the time. Even if you're staying on wherever you did residency/fellowship, the answer is probably still yes. Your employers are not your friends. They are your bosses. They do not win by giving you extra money or extra perks. No matter how nice they seem or how much they seem to care, their priority is not your well being, it is theirs. Your well being may strongly factor into their offer to you, but it is not and will never be the first priority. If you're really lucky though you're applying to a place where its their second priority.
• Will a contract lawyer save me/make me money?
  
  • This is a less straightforward answer. In 80% of the cases the answer is probably yes. For most people the return on investment of a contract lawyer is in orders of magnitude. Using myself as an example, I got offered my dream job at a salary that I felt was EXTREMELY competitive and I would have taken it with zero negotiation. My contract lawyer who cost me a flat $750 told me to ask for 50k, 100k, and 150k more on years 1, 2, and 3 of my salaried job. He said ask in very plain language, do not embellish why you want or need more money or why you deserve it, just plainly state you would like the salary to be X/Y/Z and see what happens. My job came back and offered me 10% more across all three years, at which point my contract lawyer told me "I've worked with your institution before and they always can be negotiated up at least 10%. I thought we would actually get more but this is still really good and in 3 years we can do better." Holy shit was he right because I would have taken their first offer and 10% was a lot of money compared to the $750 he cost me because this is now the floor for my salary at this place for the rest of my life. Over a 10 or 20 year career this will be like an extra million dollars or something silly.
  • In 20% of cases the answer will be no. Some places simply will not negotiate, or you have much less bargaining power (region locked), or they offer all docs a set dollar amount (academic places/large corporations) that don't have variability, or they're just not going to negotiate because they don't have to.
• Are there reasons to have a contract lawyer review my contract even if they don't help me get a better salary?
  
  • YES. Your contract lawyer will be able to translate your eventual contracts language around malpractice insurance, vacation, credentialing, HR policies, etc. into language that you can understand. They will alert you to red flags and recommend you ask for changes. They will review the exit clauses - what happens if you quit or the company tries to fire you which are not important until they're wildly important. I hope you find your dream job but everyone who quits their dream job (or gets fired from it) is because sometimes you wake up and you should be prepared for that eventuality even if you don't think it will ever happen.
• Is there a chance my contract lawyer reviews my contract and I learn absolutely nothing and gain nothing?
  
  • YES. The only thing you may gain from this process is that he/she regurgitates information you already know because you, too, can read the written english language and already understand what's in the contract. Is it still worth it in this case? I can't answer that for you but my honest opinion is yes. You should want the peace of mind that you completely understand your contract, including any possible pitfalls, before you agree and sign it. Even if you just spent a thousand dollars for that advice and it changed nothing.
• Can you recommend a contract lawyer?
  
  • I used Viktor Cotton (https://www.lawandmed.com/about-us/) and found him extremely knowledgeable and well priced at a flat rate per contract review as well as having experience in essentially all regions of the country (he knew my hospital system in the Midwest and had done several contracts with them before). There is a Redditor here married to a contract lawyer that would be another great resource. Also you can ask your program and attendings. They will know someone.
• How much should a contract lawyer cost?
  
  • I don't know for sure (being honest) but I believe its between $500-1500. The guy I used was $750 per contract but he would discuss letters of intent and job offers for free to help me compare. He would review more than one contract but it would be an additional $750 for each one if that were required.

The Term Sheet/Letter of Intent:
Some places sent me a term sheet up front at the time of interview or shortly thereafter, others gave me a verbal job offer followed by a letter of intent. Either way pretty much every place will give you some form of a 1-2 page document that is like the future TLDR of your contract. It will generally contain the following elements though some of them omitted parts (like retirement and malpractice which were provided in separate documentation for me upfront prior to the contract):

• Term of Employment/Agreement (Usually 2-3 years)
• FTE (Usually 1.0, which is between 32-40 hours of patient contact / week)
• Total Compensation
• Annual Base Salary
• Productivity Incentive/Bonus
• Quality/ProvideRando Incentive Bonus
• Signing Bonus
• Relocation Assistance
• Professional Fees/Dues
• CME Allowance
• Paid Time Off
• Call Requirements and Call Bonus for Additional Call
• Health/Vision/Dental
• Retirement
• Non-Compete
• Malpractice

What do you need to know about the LOI? You need to know that you want to have agreement on these top line items BEFORE you sign it, and before you move on to the contract phase. Again, a contract lawyer can be helpful here. You generally say something like "This LOI is very reasonable and I believe we will be able to get a signed contract without issue. After reviewing, I would like the salary to be 400k instead of 300k and would like the vacation time to be 8 weeks instead of 6 weeks. I have no requests for changes on any of the other terms." And then your potential employer will say "Well, I need to talk to so and so and we will consider, I'm not sure we can meet all of your requests but we will look at these items." And a day or two later you'll get a new LOI where the numbers probably went up some, not as much as you asked for, then you sign it and you're off to the races on your contract. This is the part where you agree on the total compensation and salary. If you do nothing else, you really should have this ironed out at this point.
Keep in mind that the people who make and write your contract may have had nothing at all to do with the LOI. This was the case for me at the job I ended up taking. My contract was a standard contract for my specialty where the LOI had deviated on the salary and the vacation time. It wasn't a big deal at all, I just wrote to the lawyer people who were writing my contract and sent them a copy of my signed LOI which showed I had additional vacation time and dollars allocated to me.
SEE PART TWO HERE: https://www.reddit.com/Residency/comments/ojk1fcontract_negotiations_a_guide_part_2/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3

Decided to dig deeper after seeing a post about tech and finance being better career paths than medicine. In terms of lifetime career earnings, I feel medicine strikes a great balance between high wages and interpersonal impact. Though the grass may be greener during medical school, we'll catch up eventually. (Although this doesn't account for stock options and bonuses that certain professions may have)

Career	First Year's Earnings	Total Lifetime Earnings
Fortune 500 CEO	$1,000,000	$41,748,000
NBA Player	$5,200,000	$24,960,000
Cosmetic Surgeon (Beverly Hills)	$408,000	$17,033,184
Urologist	$396,233	$16,541,935
Brain Surgeon	$393,000	$16,406,964
MLB Player	$3,730,000	$15,720,000
Radiologist	$375,000	$15,655,500
Pro Golfer	$322,491	$13,463,354
Hedge Fund Manager	$312,330	$13,039,000
Anesthesiologist	$300,000	$12,524,400
Cardiologist	$300,000	$12,524,400
NASCAR Racecar Driver	$500,000	$12,500,000
Ophthalmologist	$263,322	$10,993,166
Pathologist	$258,000	$10,770,984
Dermatologist	$306,210	$10,695,000
HMO Executive	$250,000	$10,437,000
Oncologist	$237,803	$9,927,800
Neurologist	$230,000	$9,602,040
Concierge Doctor	$225,000	$9,393,300
Nephrologist	$224,827	$9,386,078
Oral Surgeon	$220,000	$9,184,560
Supreme Court Justice	$213,900	$8,930,000
Sports Physician	$203,300	$8,487,000
Orthodontist	$200,000	$8,349,600
Screenwriter	$200,000	$8,349,600
Proctologist	$245,620	$8,036,000
Immunologist	$225,540	$7,877,000
Geriatrician	$183,523	$7,661,718
Surgeon, General to Specific	$233,150	$7,628,000
Endocrinologist	$179,291	$7,485,040
Obstetrician	$187,200	$6,538,000
Law Professor	$152,900	$6,383,000
NHL Player	$1,150,000	$6,325,000
Intellectual Property Lawyer	$150,362	$6,277,313
Psychiatrist	$178,950	$6,250,000
Pharmaceutical Scientist	$149,400	$6,237,000
General Practitioner	$176,530	$6,168,000
Lawyer for a Tobacco Company	$156,150	$6,158,000
Tennis Player	$400,000	$6,000,000
Pediatrician	$157,610	$5,858,000
Rabbi	$140,000	$5,844,720
Dentist	$149,310	$5,550,000
Production Designer	$130,000	$5,427,240
Air Traffic Controller	$122,530	$5,115,000
Marketing Manager	$119,480	$4,988,000
Film Score Composer	$119,000	$4,968,012
Pharmacist	$116,670	$4,871,000
Podiatrist	$116,440	$4,861,000
Mutual Fund Manager	$115,200	$4,809,000
Commercial Airline Pilot	$115,000	$4,801,020
Trial Lawyer	$114,300	$4,772,000
Entertainment Lawyer	$113,530	$4,740,000
Lawyer, General	$113,530	$4,740,000
Oceanographer	$108,420	$4,526,318
Corporate Social Responsibility Manager	$108,000	$4,508,784
Physicist	$106,840	$4,460,000
Astrophysicist	$106,360	$4,440,317
Astronomer	$106,000	$4,425,288
Nuclear Engineer	$104,270	$4,353,000
Aerospace Engineer	$103,720	$4,330,000
Judge	$102,980	$4,299,000
Computer Scientist	$102,190	$4,266,000
IT Manager	$102,000	$4,258,000
Political Scientist	$102,000	$4,258,000
Web Product Manager	$100,000	$4,175,000
Cryptographer	$100,000	$4,174,800
Mathematician	$100,000	$4,174,800
Investment Banker	$99,940	$4,172,000
HR Director	$99,720	$4,163,000
Corporate Lawyer	$98,290	$4,103,000
Seismologist	$98,130	$4,097,000
Optometrist	$97,820	$4,084,000
Justice of the Peace	$97,000	$4,049,556
Geologist	$96,000	$4,008,000
Sports Agent	$100,000	$4,000,000
Federal Prosecutor	$95,000	$3,966,060
Chemical Engineer	$94,350	$3,939,000
Robotics Engineer	$94,310	$3,937,254
Shipwright	$94,040	$3,925,982
Actuary	$93,680	$3,911,000
Flight Instructor	$93,340	$3,897,000
NIH Scientist	$93,300	$3,895,000
Midwife	$93,000	$3,882,564
Meteorologist	$92,920	$3,879,000
Economist	$91,860	$3,835,000
IRS Special Agent	$91,507	$3,820,234
Solar Energy Engineer	$90,580	$3,781,534
Submarine Commander	$90,000	$3,757,320
Oil Rig Worker	$90,000	$3,757,000
Electrical Engineer	$89,630	$3,741,873
Medical Writer	$88,000	$3,674,000
Foreign Service Officer	$88,000	$3,673,824
School Principal	$88,000	$3,673,824
Aviation Safety Inspector	$87,000	$3,632,076
Geothermal Engineer	$87,000	$3,632,076
Holistic Medicine Practitioner	$86,729	$3,620,762
FDA Scientist	$86,040	$3,592,000
Acupuncturist	$85,740	$3,579,474
Materials Engineer	$85,000	$3,548,580
Veterinarian	$84,460	$3,526,000
Art Director	$80,880	$3,377,000
Database Administrator	$80,280	$3,351,529
Celebrity Personal Assistant	$80,000	$3,339,840
Real Estate Developer	$80,000	$3,339,840
Vice Principal	$80,000	$3,339,840
Physical Therapist	$79,860	$3,334,000
Cancer Biologist	$79,840	$3,333,160
Civil Engineer	$79,340	$3,312,000
Fuel Cell Engineer	$79,230	$3,307,694
Sportscaster	$79,050	$3,300,179
Baseball Manager	$825,000	$3,300,000
Political Campaign Manager	$80,000	$3,300,000
Toxicologist	$79,000	$3,298,092
Fighter Pilot	$87,350	$3,297,000
Military Battlefield Surgeon	$87,350	$3,297,000
Elevator Install/Repair	$78,620	$3,282,228
Management Consultant	$78,600	$3,281,000
Criminal Justice Lawyer	$78,500	$3,277,000
IOS/Android Developer	$78,000	$3,256,344
International Sales	$77,490	$3,235,000
Defense Engineer	$77,120	$3,220,000
Financial Analyst	$76,950	$3,212,000
Arbitrator	$76,840	$3,207,916
Customs and Immigration Inspector	$76,730	$3,203,324
Stem Cell Biologist	$76,000	$3,172,848
TV Writer	$76,000	$3,172,848
Credit Analyst	$75,970	$3,171,596
Network Administrator	$75,790	$3,164,081
Boxer	$75,760	$3,162,828
Statistician	$75,560	$3,154,000
Limnologist	$75,530	$3,153,000
Microbiologist	$75,230	$3,140,702
Biological Scientist	$75,160	$3,138,000
Coast Guard	$75,000	$3,131,100
Cosmetic Surgeon (Charitable)	$75,000	$3,131,100
Polygraph Examiner	$75,000	$3,131,100
Roller Coaster Designer	$75,000	$3,131,100
Surgical Assistant	$75,000	$3,131,100
Talent Manager	$75,000	$3,131,000
Geneticist	$74,504	$3,110,393
Entrepreneur - Small Business	$74,460	$3,108,000
Criminal Investigator	$74,300	$3,102,000
Coder	$74,280	$3,101,000
Computer Programmer	$74,280	$3,101,000
Orthoptist	$73,400	$3,064,303
Farrier	$73,108	$3,052,113
Architect	$73,090	$3,051,000
Epidemiologist	$73,000	$3,047,604
Occupational Therapist	$73,000	$3,047,604
Logistician	$72,780	$3,038,419
Educational Psychologist	$72,710	$3,035,497
Ship Captain	$72,000	$3,005,856
Union Head	$300,000	$3,000,000
Chemist	$71,770	$2,996,000
StockbrokeFinancial Services Sales Agent	$71,720	$2,994,000
Film Director	$71,350	$2,979,000
Film Producer	$71,350	$2,979,000
TV Commercial Director	$71,350	$2,979,000
Band Manager	$71,340	$2,978,000
Railroad Safety Inspector	$70,820	$2,956,593
Beekeeper	$70,110	$2,927,000
Crop Farmer	$70,110	$2,927,000
Linguist	$70,000	$2,922,360
Rugby Player	$70,000	$2,922,360
Pharmaceutical Rep	$70,000	$2,922,000
Audiologist	$69,720	$2,911,000
Astronaut	$82,700	$2,902,000
Stunt Performer	$70,000	$2,900,000
Psychologist	$69,280	$2,892,000
Tank Commander	$76,320	$2,880,000
Art Therapist	$68,900	$2,876,437
Child Psychologist	$68,000	$2,838,864
Niche Food Entrepreneur	$68,000	$2,838,864
Personal Financial AdvisoPrivate Wealth Manager	$67,520	$2,819,000
Energy Auditor	$67,280	$2,808,805
Occupational Health and Safety Specialist	$66,790	$2,788,349
Postsecondary Teacher - History Professor	$66,790	$2,788,000
FBI Agent	$106,310	$2,776,000
Mechanical Engineer	$66,437	$2,773,612
Fast Food Franchise Owner	$66,000	$2,755,368
Ultrasound Technician	$65,840	$2,748,688
Technical Writer	$65,500	$2,734,000
Nurse	$65,470	$2,733,000
Urban Planner	$65,230	$2,723,000
Air Marshal	$65,000	$2,713,620
Coroner	$65,000	$2,713,620
Loan Officer	$65,000	$2,713,620
Speech Therapist	$65,000	$2,713,620
Studio Musician	$65,000	$2,713,620
Equal Rights Opportunity Officer	$64,950	$2,711,533
NFL Player	$770,000	$2,695,000
Talent Agent	$64,490	$2,692,000
Toy Designer	$64,180	$2,679,000
Environmental Scientist	$63,570	$2,654,000
Accountant, Certified and Public	$63,550	$2,653,000
Herpetologist	$63,000	$2,630,124
Fashion Designer	$62,860	$2,624,000
Web Designer	$62,500	$2,609,000
Botanist	$62,400	$2,605,000
Video Game Designer	$62,310	$2,601,000
Entrepreneur - Silicon Valley	$65,000	$2,600,000
B&B Owner	$60,000	$2,600,000
Literary Agent	$60,000	$2,600,000
Home Care Nurse	$62,090	$2,592,133
Dean of Students	$62,000	$2,588,376
Life Coach	$62,000	$2,588,376
Energy Broker	$61,960	$2,586,706
Delta Force	$68,300	$2,577,000
Navy Seal	$68,300	$2,577,000
Local Politician	$61,706	$2,576,102
Computer Animator	$61,370	$2,562,000
Conservationist	$61,100	$2,551,000
High School College Counselor	$60,560	$2,528,000
Recycling Plant Manager	$60,366	$2,520,160
Market Research Analyst	$60,000	$2,517,000
EPA Scientist	$95,190	$2,509,000
Biosystems Engineer	$60,000	$2,504,880
Chiropractor	$60,000	$2,504,880
Film Distribution Agent	$60,000	$2,504,880
Paleontologist	$60,000	$2,504,880
Insurance Claims Adjuster	$59,850	$2,499,000
IRS Auditor	$59,310	$2,476,000
Restaurant Critic	$59,290	$2,475,000
Cytogenetic Technologist	$59,000	$2,463,132
Fashion Photographer	$59,000	$2,463,132
Public Administrator	$59,000	$2,463,132
Fire Investigator	$58,980	$2,462,297
Farm Research Scientist	$58,610	$2,446,850
Food Scientist	$58,610	$2,446,850
Zoologist	$57,710	$2,409,000
Cartographer	$57,440	$2,398,005
Anthropologist	$57,420	$2,397,000
Archaeologist	$57,420	$2,397,000
Egyptologist	$57,420	$2,397,000
Roadie	$57,000	$2,379,636
Postal Worker	$56,490	$2,358,345
Elementary, Middle or High School Teacher	$56,380	$2,354,000
Surveyor	$56,230	$2,347,000
Commercial Bank Manager	$56,000	$2,337,888
Film Critic	$56,000	$2,337,888
Secret Service Agent	$60,370	$2,336,000
Writer	$55,940	$2,335,000
Historian	$55,870	$2,332,460
Appraiser	$55,400	$2,312,839
Librarian	$55,370	$2,312,000
Police Officer	$55,270	$2,307,000
Dietitian	$55,240	$2,306,000
Aircraft Mechanic	$55,230	$2,306,000
Correctional Institution Administrator	$55,000	$2,296,140
Country Club Manager	$55,000	$2,296,140
Piano Shop Owner	$55,000	$2,296,140
Special Education Teacher	$55,000	$2,296,140
Train Conductor	$55,000	$2,296,140
Water Polo Player	$55,000	$2,296,140
Public Relations	$54,170	$2,261,000
Sports Announcer	$54,020	$2,255,000
Green Grocer Manager	$54,000	$2,254,392
Millwright	$54,000	$2,254,392
Copy Editor	$53,880	$2,249,000
Editor	$53,880	$2,249,000
Sex Education Teacher	$53,430	$2,231,000
Game Warden	$53,260	$2,223,498
Caterer	$53,000	$2,212,644
Stenographer	$53,000	$2,212,644
Mortgage Broker	$52,981	$2,211,851
Archivist	$52,930	$2,209,722
Forensic Scientist	$52,840	$2,206,000
Advice Columnist	$52,810	$2,204,712
Property Manager	$52,610	$2,196,000
Emergency Management Specialist	$52,590	$2,195,527
Parole Officer	$52,280	$2,183,000
Caddie	$52,000	$2,170,896
Lighting Designer	$52,000	$2,170,896
Sound Editor	$52,000	$2,170,896
Blacksmith	$51,981	$2,170,000
Actor	$51,880	$2,166,000
Musical Theater Performer	$51,880	$2,166,000
Hotel Manager	$51,827	$2,163,674
Taxidermist	$51,390	$2,145,000
Cinematographer	$51,300	$2,142,000
Film Editor	$51,300	$2,142,000
Public Defender	$51,190	$2,137,000
Marine Biologist	$51,180	$2,137,000
Dental Hygienist	$51,000	$2,129,148
Ecologist	$50,520	$2,109,000
Diplomat	$52,572	$2,102,880
Foreign Missionary	$49,800	$2,100,000
Senator	$174,000	$2,088,000
Corporate Relocation Specialist	$50,000	$2,087,400
Hotel Chain Owner	$50,000	$2,087,400
Telecommunications Technician	$50,000	$2,087,400
Wrestler	$50,000	$2,087,400
Electrician	$49,840	$2,081,000
Theatre Director	$49,690	$2,074,000
Curator	$49,590	$2,070,000
ATF (Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms) Agent	$77,120	$2,061,000
Jewelry Designer	$49,345	$2,060,055
Plumber	$49,140	$2,051,000
Magician	$49,000	$2,045,652
Pesticide Scientist	$49,000	$2,045,652
Music Producer	$48,900	$2,042,000
Pet Sitter	$48,640	$2,030,000
Concert/Event Promoter	$48,360	$2,019,000
Insurance Sales Agent	$48,150	$2,010,000
Air Tanker Pilot	$48,000	$2,003,904
Demolition Contractor	$48,000	$2,003,904
Interior Designer	$47,600	$1,987,000
Headhunter	$47,500	$1,983,000
Orchestra Conductor	$47,350	$1,976,768
Hair & Makeup Designer	$47,210	$1,971,000
Chef	$47,000	$1,962,156
Paralegal, Not “Two Legals”	$46,990	$1,962,000
Production Sound Mixer	$46,870	$1,957,000
Funeral Director	$46,840	$1,955,000
Marriage and Family Therapist	$46,670	$1,948,000
Food Service ManageEntrepreneur (Pizza Parlor)	$46,360	$1,935,437
Advertising Sales Representative	$46,290	$1,932,000
Sommelier	$46,260	$1,931,000
Exercise Physiologist	$46,020	$1,921,243
Auctioneer	$46,000	$1,920,408
Audio Engineer	$46,000	$1,920,408
Floriculturist	$46,000	$1,920,408
Commercial Diver	$45,890	$1,915,816
Corporate Events Manager	$45,810	$1,912,000
Hospice Worker	$45,760	$1,910,000
Private Detective	$45,740	$1,910,000
Fire Fighter	$45,250	$1,889,000
Embalmer	$45,060	$1,881,165
Music Therapist	$45,000	$1,879,000
Antiques Dealer	$45,000	$1,878,660
Cartoonist	$45,000	$1,878,660
Dredge Operator	$45,000	$1,878,660
Music Teacher	$45,000	$1,878,660
Nuclear Materials Courier	$45,000	$1,878,660
Pyrotechnician	$45,000	$1,878,660
Translator	$45,000	$1,878,660
Wind Farm Operator	$45,000	$1,878,660
Optician	$44,881	$1,873,692
Illustrator	$44,850	$1,872,000
Etsy Crafter	$44,380	$1,852,776
Sketch Artist	$44,380	$1,852,776
Social Worker	$44,200	$1,845,000
Graphic Designer	$44,150	$1,843,000
Choreographer	$44,130	$1,842,000
Liquor Distributor	$44,000	$1,836,912
Mine Safety Inspector	$44,000	$1,836,912
Priest	$43,950	$1,834,825
Sculptor	$43,890	$1,832,320
Retail Nurseryman	$43,564	$1,818,709
Foreign Language Teacher	$43,510	$1,816,000
Painter	$42,610	$1,779,000
Glazier	$42,500	$1,774,290
Car Sales Agent	$42,000	$1,753,416
Chauffeur	$42,000	$1,753,416
Grant Writer	$42,000	$1,753,416
Sales Worker Supervisor	$42,000	$1,753,416
Real Estate Broker	$41,990	$1,753,000
Grief Counselor	$41,500	$1,732,542
Consumer Safety Inspector	$41,000	$1,711,668
HVACR Technician	$41,000	$1,711,668
Machinist	$41,000	$1,711,668
Container Ship Sailor	$40,970	$1,710,416
Day Care Operator	$40,880	$1,707,000
Locksmith	$40,620	$1,695,804
Horticulturist	$40,470	$1,689,000
Cattle Rancher	$40,401	$1,687,000
Ballerina	$40,000	$1,669,920
Gemologist	$40,000	$1,669,920
Opera Singer	$40,000	$1,669,920
Rare Book Dealer	$40,000	$1,669,920
Carpenter	$39,940	$1,667,000
Border Patrol Agent	$70,910	$1,664,000
Athletic Coach	$39,590	$1,653,000
Musician or Singer	$39,550	$1,651,000
Costume Designer	$39,540	$1,651,000
Arborist	$39,000	$1,628,000
Correctional OfficePrison Guard	$38,970	$1,627,000
College Admissions Officer	$38,570	$1,610,220
President of the United States	$400,000	$1,600,000
International Aid Worker	$30,000	$1,600,000
Adventure Travel Leader	$38,260	$1,597,278
Deejay	$38,200	$1,595,000
Truck Driver	$38,200	$1,595,000
Gun Store Owner	$38,000	$1,586,424
Horologist	$38,000	$1,586,424
Matchmaker	$38,000	$1,586,424
Highway Maintenance Worker	$37,910	$1,582,667
TV Reporter	$37,674	$1,572,814
Stonemason	$37,350	$1,559,288
Flight Attendant	$37,240	$1,555,000
Auto Mechanic	$37,000	$1,544,676
Baggage Handler	$37,000	$1,544,676
Bailiff	$37,000	$1,544,676
Clown	$36,000	$1,502,928

Numbers are average earning estimates for each career [Source](www.shmoop.com/careers/)

I recently caught up with some now physicians (all kinds) and surgeons (general, orthopaedics) who recently got their fellowship, and apparently despite the limited training places they're struggling to find jobs and get a foot in the health system so they can practice. They were complaining about how the norm now is to get a PhD or years of fellowships to be competitive for a public consultant position, which they also practically need to build a private referral base.
I know it's reasonably breezy for the "less competitive" specialities (Psychiatry, Geriatrics, GP, technically Pain Medicine etc), but I also read this excerpt from the whirlpool forums by a doctor (i think) which aroused my curiosity:

My advice is just to pick whatever you find most interesting and accept that medicine isn't going to be the golden ticket it was 30 years ago.
Boils down to basic supply/demand. Firstly medicine is possibly the most heavily government-subsidized industry which doesn't bode well in a country with a stagnating economy, so don't bank on a lucrative career in the public sector. The private market is also drying up as more and more people can't afford private health cover or to pay significant gaps. Not to mention the gross oversupply of doctors thanks importing 40,000 IMGs over the last 20 years and universities pushing to sell as many degrees as they can. The oversupply of tertiary educated workers extends to allied health in general and they are all trying to get a piece of the pie with pharamcists giving vaccines/pushing to prescribe, podiatrists billing same medicare items as GPs etc.
You get a feel for how lousy things are when doctors don't even bulk-bill other doctors anymore and the president of the college of surgeons is seeing surgery connect patients privately... You might notice this new trend of colleges removing training positions from certain hospitals due to "toxic bullying cultures" (orthopaedics, ICU most recent culprits) which is just a facade and is truly driven by colleges attempting to maintain job security for the current fellows who are struggling to find consultant positions.
As for the options you've mentioned, Gas will always have a demand for registrars, however there's no way you'll be making a million a year in anaesthetics like they used to. There are less specialist jobs available at the end of training (smaller private operating lists, private theatres closing down because they aren't profitable and that the previous generation of anaesthetics all have multi-million dollar mortgages and therefore work 10 years longer before retiring). Currently there are people doing 2-3 years of fellowship because they are waiting for someone to die so they can have a consultant job. You're also competing for theatre lists against an additional pool of doctors who also have hugely saturated fields (FACEMs, Intensivists)
.......
Starting your training ?next year, you're not going to easily find a career in a metropolitan area no matter what you do unless you spend 15 years training for a super niche specialty like a base of skull surgeon or paediatric neuro-ophthalmologist where you're one of 4 people in the country who do what you do.
The only specialty in true demand at the moment is RG, which I guess you can do anaesthetics there if you want, and depending on what State you're in may not be that isolating (i.e. "rural" Victoria vs. QLD or WA), otherwise be prepared for a lot of thankless audits, research and paying $4k a pop to attend conferences to have a chance at what scraps are left in metropolitan medicine.

Are there any doctors and specialists, or friends/family in the know, who can shed some light on this?
Is the difficulty in getting consultant positions for physician and surgical specialties a new phenomenon? Has it always been that way? And does it get better, or is there a feeling of a trend of "decline" (relatively speaking) in the private medical market?
These physicians and surgeons (haematologist, cardiologists, oncologists should....paediatricians maybe?) should be able to safely rack $500k+ (conservatively) in the private sector. And COVID aside, people talk about affordability of PHI but it was affordable when they were earning such salaries...why not now?