<p>i was reading about the possibility of an md/jd combined degree program. what is the worth of this, what career options are there, and is this a smart move (the two professions seem like polar opposites to me)...</p>
<p>Few schools have an officially combined program, and those that do typically do not both have an excellent medical school AND law school. Even if they did, it would be advisable for other purposes to have degrees from as many institutions as possible.</p>
<p>medical malpractice cases, helping in politics and ethics, working as a doctor part time and a lawyer part timee (not sure how this would work out). Actually, my uncle is an md/jd. he became a jd because he had free time on his hands and was interested in the field. Now, he just works as a doctor as if he never had his jd degree.</p>
<p>There is actually a legal firm in Kansas City composed of a set of siblings and cousins (something like 2 brothers, 3 sisters and 3 cousins). I think that 5 of the 8 have both degrees or something like that. Apparently they're all just really brilliant, amazingly smart. I think they have a significant med mal practice (defense mainly), and also do a lot of hospital representation.</p>
<p>While I can imagine it would prove useful, it is widely considered overkill, since you'd have to hire medical experts anyway.</p>
<p>You could not, after all, testify as a medical expert on behalf of your own case.</p>
<p>The one thing I could see this doing is helping them screen out unwinnable cases earlier -- not by any means the crucial piece of a law practice.</p>
<p>An MD/JD is overkill for this purpose. Fun, and if you have the time and money definitely fun. And it would have its uses. But it's overkill for medical malpractice.</p>
<p>If there is one thing that CC has taught me, it's that many people do not know the meaning of overkill...</p>
<p>i think it could also be helpful if you wanted to go into hospital administration, and certainly in malpractice defense, though for the former a joint MD/MBA program might be better.</p>
<p>on a shameless plug note, Penn offers both of these joint programs, and all three professional schools are ranked in the top ten (top 5 for medicine and business)</p>
<p>Penn Med is pretty stellar, no arguments anywhere.</p>
<p>well if it's so stellar, then what is its USNews ranking???</p>
<p>Are you asking for a research ranking (3) or a primary care ranking (16)? And why?</p>
<p>Besides which, the USN rankings are hardly the measure of how recommendable a school is.</p>
<p>Penn Med's board scores are extremely high, their curriculum is innovative without being as brutal as Duke's, they facilitate extra-medical academic pursuits, and they have a great series of hospitals there with a lot of very exciting research happening throughout.</p>