I’m not this query truly into the “Careers in Medicine” forum, but it was the closest match I could find.
I am very interested in the prospect pursuing a career related to healthcare policy, or the intersection of policy and medicine (I’m not sure how that would manifest itself exactly). When researching this path, the MD/JD degree option kept coming up. While that sounds fascinating, it sounds very niche, and I’m not sure what specific employment opportunities that would lead to (plus, 6 years of rigorous graduate work sounds very daunting!). Would there be any alternative degree options that allow me to pursue this interest? A MD, JD, MPH, MPP, or some combination of these degrees?
I’d actually argue, that in a way, you have more employment opportunities. I’ve seen people who do this and consider themselves attorneys primarily and I’ve seen others who practice as physicians.
For those who want a more medically orientated career, the dual degree lends itself more towards academic medicine where in addition to clinical responsibilities, there is an expectation that you’ll have several hats you wear to contribute to the larger mission of the division, department and medical school you are a part of. For example I worked an MD/JD who focused on ethics and the law as it related to her primary clinical focus. One of her bigger research projects she was working on was on how well parents truly understand informed consent for their children. Someone interested in advocacy could also benefit from having a JD, and if you were interested in working for one of the big groups that represents physicians like the American Academy of Pediatrics or the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology, having the dual degree would likely be attractive to them.
I see less utility going the MD/JD route for those interested in private practice. Whereas academic medicine will give you protected time to pursue your other interests, in private practice, you’re just not seeing patients and thus not generating income. Depending on the specialty, there may be part time positions, but it’s not a guarantee.
Obviously on the legal side, there are a number of MD/JD who go on to do medical malpractice suits - representing clients on either side - some are personal injury attorneys, others are representing pharmaceutical companies in drug lawsuits, and so on.
What I think is an important distinction to make though is that you should only go to medical school if taking care of patients is a priority to you. If you have zero interest in ever seeing patients and the career you envision is more like a lawyer than a doctor, then do not go to medical school. The time, money and effort I generally don’t think will be worth it. You can specialize in healthcare law as a lawyer without an MD just fine - even in those advocacy organizations I mentioned. If, however, your dream career is not complete without patient care, then an MD is the only ticket to get that.
I’m not even 100% that pursuing a JD on top of an MD is worth it for this either. It’s 3 more years of school that you pay for. For example there is evidence showing the benefit of MD/PhD vs. PhD and MD in terms of academic appointments and grants (but there’s a reason why MD/PhDs are funded, otherwise it wouldn’t be worth it) - is there any such evidence of MD/JDs being overrepresented in certain areas in a way that would justify the cost?
I’m with you. I agree that the costs are significant and I havent’ met that many people with both to see how it’s best utilized. I only have 3 personal contacts with such a dual degree. @bluedevilmike is an MD/JD but busy as a peds resident now, there’s the aforementioned attending I worked with, and one fraternity brother of mine who is in med school after realizing he detested being a lawyer. I dated a girl (an attorney) who worked at a law firm that specialized in representing pharmaceutical companies against patient lawsuits. Several of the attorneys there were licensed physicians and all of us have seen the MD/JD personal injury lawyers advertising on billboards I’m sure.
Now in my field of pediatric critical care, in which ~90% of the jobs are in academic medicine, you could argue that the MD/JD gives you a leg up in being recruited towards a larger center, particularly if you have a division chief looking to build a diverse assortment of research interests and expertise, which is not always the case. (By the way that one attending had an impeccable resume in terms of prestige…the SDN’ers would wet their pants if they saw it). I think in particular peds critical care is a field in which the MD/JD works as the legal and ethical concerns are more complex than in other fields. It wouldn’t work as well in Derm or Radiology or something like Peds GI.
As far as grants/publications go, my hunch is that an MD/JD would be able to publish in legal journals as well, and that they would be far more impressed by the MD than medical journals would be about a JD…but I have no evidence of that.