PHYSICIAN RETIREMENT
Life Segmented
Did I do something useful? By John Seidenfeld, MD and Adam Ratner, MD
If I am not for myself, who will be? If I am for myself alone, what am I? If not now, when? *
Seidenfeld: Life is usually lived in phases and today in pods. Transitions from privileged birth, to child living in a peaceful land, to camper in a faraway remote location, to public school student, to athlete, to awkward boyfriend, to college student distant from home, to trainee in a lifelong profession, to Army service, to husband, to father, to grandfather, and to remembered soul seems a condensed
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SAN ANTONIO MEDICINE • April 2021
but fitting summary. Another way to view this life is that seen from a pod of medicine. Here the molt was from medical student, to intern, to resident in internal medicine, to fellow in pulmonary medicine, to faculty researcher and teacher, to mentor, to clinician, to administrator, to medical director, to clinician, and to faculty member.
