<p>salaries will not include malpractice costs. </p>
<p>actual malpractice costs will vary a lot from state to state, and even regions within a state (eg Philadelphia is probably higher than rural PA - there are well documented shortages of OB’s in Philly proper). </p>
<p>There are currently 21 states in a full blown crisis according to the AMA , with another 26 showing signs of problems. The difference between states in crisis and those not are astounding. I read somewhere that a cardiologist in Miami will have medmal costs of over 75k, while the same cardiologist in LA will only have costs of about 12-15k. Those aren’t exact figure, but the difference was that astounding, and may be more. Hospitals and clinics in states that are experience crises may offer to pay for medmal insurance simply b/c they can’t get doctors to come there otherwise. </p>
<p>It certainly is something to consider, but should not deter you from a career in medicine if that is really what you want to do. As a current college student, don’t worry about coming up with an idea of what area of medicine you want to practice. Most med students in the basic science years are still clueless, and it’s hard to know until you’ve gotten into the clinical years. Now you should be looking at general characteristics of specialities, and not the exact “right” one. Do you like working with old people/kids/both? Do you like the idea of “doing something” to make someone better, or does the idea of balancing a number of different drugs intrigue you? What type of doctor/patient relationship do you want? Are you comfortable talking with people all day, or would you rather just look at their films and make a diagnosis? How well do you handle uncertainity in decision making? These are the types of questions that you should be asking yourself and will help you begin to narrow down your choices while leaving you open to realizing that you love ______ new subject that you knew nothing about before.</p>