To all my patients – whether new or who have been with me for decades:

This is to let you know about changes I will be making to how I practice.

Some of you know already, but for those of you who I’ve not yet told, I commenced a law degree in February, a full undergraduate degree, LLB (Hons) at QUT. The ultimate aim, if I’m good enough, is admission to the Bar.

After years of doing medicolegal work, I have got to the point where I feel like the only way I can move forward is to formally step into practicing law.

Life has a way of surprising us. When I was at high school and then when I studied medicine, I would never have thought I would go anywhere near law. Lawyers were the enemy, the people that sued doctors, a profession to be feared, not respected. I have lots of lawyer jokes collected over many years of disrespect for the legal fraternity. So it’s ironic that I now find myself not only working closely with lawyers, but actually wanting to become one.

Ultimately, I’m driven by the desire to see fairness and justice. That’s why I put so much time and effort into every report I do, because I want to see justice prevail.

Now, I’m at the stage where the next step in my journey is to transition from medicine into law, not just to express an opinion about a doctors practice, but to actually advocate on behalf of those who are facing injustice.

For the last few weeks, I’ve been trying to juggle everything full-time … full-time clinical work, full-time study and full-time medicolegal work. I did so because I felt so concerned (and, to be perfectly honest, so guilty) about potentially leaving my patient’s in the lurch. But as much as I wish I could do everything for everyone, the last few weeks have proven that I’m not superhuman and that I can’t do everything for everyone.

In all honestly, I have daily bursts of self-doubt. I ask myself if really doing the right thing, if I’ve really made the right choice, or if I’m crazy for stepping out of my comfort zone and taking on a whole new career at 50 years old when I should be cruising along, working towards my retirement. But ultimately, I know I’m on the right path. There was a brilliant scene in the Matrix where the Oracle was talking to Neo in her kitchen and she pointed to a sign above the kitchen door which read ‘Temet nosce’. She said to Neo:
“You know what that means? It’s Latin. It means ‘Know thyself’. I’m going to let you in on a little secret. Being the One is just like being in love. No one can tell you you’re in love, you just know it, through and through, balls to bones.”

A couple of weeks ago I was having lunch with one of my colleagues and I commented, ‘Having to turn up to clinic is really getting in the way of my law stuff.’ At that moment, I just knew … I’m no longer a doctor dabbling in law, I’m an aspiring lawyer currently working in medicine.

Ultimately, I can’t continue trying to do everything for everyone. Something will eventually give, whether it be my study or my clinical work. If I can’t give my clinical work enough focus, I’m liable to cut corners which means I can make errors. That wouldn’t be fair on the people that see me as their general practitioner, and I can’t risk putting someone’s health at risk because I’m trying to do too much.

So, given I know my path, and a good GPA in law needs more than determination alone, the only choice left to me is to cut back my clinical work.

Things are still quite fluid as I see what works best for me, but at this stage, I need to work less hours but earn the same income. To achieve this, I’m planning on reducing my clinical work to one and a half days a week (one week day depending on my university timetable, and every Saturday morning) and I will be private billing all patients in line with the practice’s billing policies. That will help cover my rent and my living expenses. The rest of the week will be dedicated to my studies and medicolegal work.

I fully understand that this will be a big change for so many of my regular patients. I’ve kept bulk-billing most of my patients even with the change in practice billing policy because I’ve been concerned for my patients who are also feeling the strain of the increased cost of living, and who I’ve always bulk-billed from my time at my previous practices. I’ve done so to my own detriment when I could have been earning significantly more, but I was more interested in fairness than richness. Unfortunately, I can’t keep doing so. Given I’ll be drastically reducing my hours, I need to make my time working in clinic to be the most productive that I can.

Though I won’t be doing so straight away. I understand that people will need time to adapt and adjust. I’ll be reducing my hours slowly over a couple of months, and I’ll bulk-bill those who I’ve always bilk-billed for a few visits to allow them time to find a different GP or to get used to the idea of being billed for every visit. Ultimately, I will do my best to make sure that no patient suffers as a result of the changes. But there will inevitably be a time where goodwill will have to give way to the new reality.

I’ve not made this change lightly. The future well-being of all of my patients has weighed very heavily on my heart, and like I said, I’ve been desperately trying to do everything for everyone. I wish I could do it all, but I’m only human, and there’s only so much I can do before I can’t do anymore.

I’ll never leave general practice. If I don’t get through or I don’t like law, I’ll come back to general practice full time, simple as. Even if I get through my law degree and the Bar exam, I still want to maintain my recency of practice, so I’ll always be doing some medicine, even if I’m working as a Barrister. So you won’t be losing me completely, but I will be harder to access – time-wise and cost-wise. I am sincerely sorry if this adversely affects anyone, but like I said, as much as I would like to be everywhere for everyone, there’s only so much of me to go around.

This whole stepping-out-of-my-comfort-zone thing is really scary. Uncertainty is uncomfortable. But as it’s been said, ‘Change is inevitable. Growth is optional.’ I know it might be hard, but the future is out there and I want to grow, not just change.

Thank you for your understanding.

Chris

Dr Christopher Pitt MBBS FRACGP
Carseldine Family Clinic

3 April 2024