A legal question... Options

[Existentialist]

Yep, any law school. I had the academic performance sufficient to land me in a top 20 med school, plus I have the good old family connections necessary. I chose medicine for a reason.

[Bremang]

very impressive. my friend graduated from U of Maryland so I got to see and hear some of his experiences. I'd have to go through some kind of personal transformation to handle the insane workload. I'd feel alright having to deal with the cut-open dead bodies, but I think I would feel strongly opposed to sticking my finger in some nasty dudes butthole or have both my hands inside someones chest.

This post has been edited by Bremang: Apr 7 2011, 8:07 pm

[OutToDry]

What do you call 2,000,000 lawyers at the bottom of the ocean?


No Takers?

[Bremang]

a good start

[OutToDry]

DING DING WINNER

[Existentialist]

Low blow. Your lawyer is your friend! Congrats, Bre, on law school. It's a very honorable profession. Truthfully, I can't stand any of the stuff you mentioned. On the first day of med school, we dissected a morbidly obese cadaver's back, and as I was digging out more fat and the pieces of it were pooling up in the formaldehyde, I dropped the giant skin flap I was holding up, it fell into the pool of loose fat and formaldehyde, and sprayed my partner in the face. Then there was the time I literally sawed a cadaver's skull in half using a manual, good old fashioned hacksaw and a lil' elbow grease. I knew then that it was psychiatry all the way. Suit and tie every day, no blood or shit. In a lot of ways, what I do is not too different from my dad, who is in real estate and tax law. Both fields are extremely dependent on and appreciative of language down to the word and subtle nuances can't be overlooked. Keep up your hard work man, and although we took seemingly different paths, hit me up if you ever want advice on balancing life with school.

This post has been edited by Existentialist: Apr 8 2011, 12:11 pm

[Merica]

Low blow. Your lawyer is your friend! Congrats, Bre, on law school. It's a very honorable profession. Truthfully, I can't stand any of the stuff you mentioned. On the first day of med school, we dissected a morbidly obese cadaver's back, and as I was digging out more fat and the pieces of it were pooling up in the formaldehyde, I dropped the giant skin flap I was holding up, it fell into the pool of loose fat and formaldehyde, and sprayed my partner in the face. Then there was the time I literally sawed a cadaver's skull in half using a manual, good old fashioned hacksaw and a lil' elbow grease. I knew then that it was psychiatry all the way. Suit and tie every day, no blood or shit. In a lot of ways, what I do is not too different from my dad, who is in real estate and tax law. Both fields are extremely dependent on and appreciative of language down to the word and subtle nuances can't be overlooked. Keep up your hard work man, and although we took seemingly different paths, hit me up if you ever want advice on balancing life with school.

Interesting post, sir.

[FishOutaWater]

Low blow. Your lawyer is your friend! Congrats, Bre, on law school. It's a very honorable profession. Truthfully, I can't stand any of the stuff you mentioned. On the first day of med school, we dissected a morbidly obese cadaver's back, and as I was digging out more fat and the pieces of it were pooling up in the formaldehyde, I dropped the giant skin flap I was holding up, it fell into the pool of loose fat and formaldehyde, and sprayed my partner in the face. Then there was the time I literally sawed a cadaver's skull in half using a manual, good old fashioned hacksaw and a lil' elbow grease. I knew then that it was psychiatry all the way. Suit and tie every day, no blood or shit. In a lot of ways, what I do is not too different from my dad, who is in real estate and tax law. Both fields are extremely dependent on and appreciative of language down to the word and subtle nuances can't be overlooked. Keep up your hard work man, and although we took seemingly different paths, hit me up if you ever want advice on balancing life with school.

What is your opinion of primary care physicians prescribing so-called antidepressants to patients? I often see this being done on an indefinite basis without any psychotherapy plan to accompany it. I imagine that must seem irresponsible to you and I am curious about your opinion on that.

Bremang - what law school are you attending?

[Merica]

I feel a little low brow; aspiring to be a film maker with all these life savers and high-class lawyer types around!

[Existentialist]

What is your opinion of primary care physicians prescribing so-called antidepressants to patients? I often see this being done on an indefinite basis without any psychotherapy plan to accompany it. I imagine that must seem irresponsible to you and I am curious about your opinion on that.

Bremang - what law school are you attending?

It is always optimal to have a psychiatrist prescribe psychotropic medication, but unfortunately our resources don't allow for this. Depression is extremely widespread, is already a top ten cause of morbidity and mortality in the US and by 2030 will be the second greatest cause of disease burden worldwide. In order to handle this demand, PCPs need to be trained to prescribe antidepressants for simple depressive episodes. However, anything beyond a simple depressive episode, including but not limited to a depressive episode refractory to initial treatment, a recurrent depressive episode or a severe depressive episode with or without suicidal ideation, merits a referral to a psychiatrist. I'm fine with a PCP initiating a trial of an antidepressant and monitoring its effects, but the cases above would likely require switching of the medication, the method of which varies based on the medications involved and the patient's medical history, and/or augmentation with another antidepressant, a non-antidepressant drug such as lithium or an atypical antipsychotic, or an antidepressant interventional treatment such as ECT or rTMS, and should therefore be reserved for the experts.

As for therapy, it depends on the severity of the depression. For mild to moderate depression, the patient should either go to their PCP and get medication or go to a therapist and start therapy. The data for combining medication and therapy for these patients show that it generally isn't worth it. However, for severe depression, the type that merits referral to a psychiatrist, there should be a combination of medication and therapy. But, psychiatrists generally won't do therapy.

This post has been edited by Existentialist: Apr 8 2011, 4:00 pm

[Sonic Tonic]

Low blow. Your lawyer is your friend! Congrats, Bre, on law school. It's a very honorable profession. Truthfully, I can't stand any of the stuff you mentioned. On the first day of med school, we dissected a morbidly obese cadaver's back, and as I was digging out more fat and the pieces of it were pooling up in the formaldehyde, I dropped the giant skin flap I was holding up, it fell into the pool of loose fat and formaldehyde, and sprayed my partner in the face. Then there was the time I literally sawed a cadaver's skull in half using a manual, good old fashioned hacksaw and a lil' elbow grease. I knew then that it was psychiatry all the way. Suit and tie every day, no blood or shit. In a lot of ways, what I do is not too different from my dad, who is in real estate and tax law. Both fields are extremely dependent on and appreciative of language down to the word and subtle nuances can't be overlooked. Keep up your hard work man, and although we took seemingly different paths, hit me up if you ever want advice on balancing life with school.

Dude, I almost barfed reading that. I wouldn't last a minute in there with you lol.

[Bremang]

Low blow. Your lawyer is your friend! Congrats, Bre, on law school. It's a very honorable profession. Truthfully, I can't stand any of the stuff you mentioned. On the first day of med school, we dissected a morbidly obese cadaver's back, and as I was digging out more fat and the pieces of it were pooling up in the formaldehyde, I dropped the giant skin flap I was holding up, it fell into the pool of loose fat and formaldehyde, and sprayed my partner in the face. Then there was the time I literally sawed a cadaver's skull in half using a manual, good old fashioned hacksaw and a lil' elbow grease. I knew then that it was psychiatry all the way. Suit and tie every day, no blood or shit. In a lot of ways, what I do is not too different from my dad, who is in real estate and tax law. Both fields are extremely dependent on and appreciative of language down to the word and subtle nuances can't be overlooked. Keep up your hard work man, and although we took seemingly different paths, hit me up if you ever want advice on balancing life with school.

Thank you I appreciate it. Finals are ahead so school is life right now. Jeez, that is some sick stuff, dead fat guy on the first day no less. I guess med students should find out right away whether they're up for blood and guts.

[Bremang]

Bremang - what law school are you attending?

ASU

[PurdueSteve]

Ah, the post modern concept that all ideas are created equally. Well, they aren't. You aren't a lawyer, you haven't had any formal legal training, and therefore you have no ability to even know what it is you need to know. Before my training, I would read WebMD and all the other shit online and thought I could hang with an MD, and I have to laugh at myself for that today. Come back and start giving legal advice when you have at least one day of law school under your belt.

I don't know what part of my post implied as such.

I never stated to be a lawyer. There are plenty of things that I don't know about the law and plenty of concepts (not to mention Latin phrases that I probably cannot pronouce) to learn. Regardless of that fact, I've been in a court room, (civil) as the person filing the suit and have beaten a lawyer. Apparently, in many aspects of law practice, it seems to hinge upon one's ability (or willingness) to dig and do research, find case studies, and so on. As an engineer I've had plenty of experience in research, I'm good at it, and of course the application of basic logic that comes from the basic logic courses that many people take, regardless of degree, also helps.

Again, no I'm not a lawyer, but one doesn't have to go to and finish law school to have some understanding of law, the way it works in our country, the way it works abroad and how to actually practice some of it.

"Formal training" is a generally good rule to measure someone's abilities and knowledge but it's not an absolute. It's not entirely uncommon, in any industry, to see someone without the "formal training" to best someone that has it.

edit: Perhaps some of those pre-med basic courses forgot to teach you about creating false dichotomies.

This post has been edited by PurdueSteve: Apr 11 2011, 2:28 pm

[Existentialist]

So you're not a lawyer and you're trying to give legal advice. Thanks for finally admitting it, pussy!