The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1931-05-06
SURGERY FOUND
HIGHEST PAID
MEDICAL WORK
General Practitioner Makes
Least of All Branches
of Profession.
By timer spsosal

By times Special
NEW YORK, May 5.-Surgeons
are the highest paid members Of
the medical profession, and gen.
eral practitioners the lowest, av-
eraging s4,1SS a year. or less than
half Of the 1928 computed to be
the surgeons average annual earn
ing power.
These figures were produced by a
nation wide investigation of physi-
clans incomes conducted by Medi-
cal Economics, a business magazine
for doctors. The practices of 4,0S4
doctors-representing all types Of
community, and all the medical
specialties-were the basis for the
figures.
A great difference is shown be-
tween the earning power Of physi-
clans serving rural communities and
Of those in large centers Of popu-
lation, the former showing an av-
erage net income Of 1929 and the
latter Of 1914
The gross incomes range from
$4,000 to $1,000 higher, the differ
ence representing the cost Of keep
ing an office, hiring assistants,
buying medicines and surgical in
struments. and maintaining an au-
tomobile for professional calls.
X-Ray Highest Expense
The highest expense of practice
was found among those doctors who
limit their work to radium and X
ray treatments. The average gross
income of these is $13,417, but after
deducting professional costs, there
remains only $6,326 as the average
net income.
General practitioners get along on
the lowest expense Of practice
$3.50. The various specialists show
wide differences in the apportion-
ment Of their expenses, the physical
therapist spending, for example, an
average of $l,115 yearly on mechan-
ical and electrical curative devices. |
while the neuro-p sychia spends |
only $50 year on instruments of
all kinds.
A doctor is at the peak Of his
earning power during his eleventh |
to twentieth years in practice, the |
survey shows, the income from that |
point on declining until those doc
tors who have been in practice
longer than forty years earn less
than youngsters who have practiced
less than i've years.
That the younger doctors are de- |
serting the country for the city is
shown by the fact that one third of
all physicians in practice longer
than forty years are located in rural
sections, while only 10 per cent Of
the doctors in practice less than five
years are so located. The percent
age Of young men practicing in
metropolitan districts is % per cent,
as against 5 per cent of the oldest
class.
Young Doctors Specialize
Those medicos who practice large
ly among wealthy class of pa
tients report an average gross in
come Of $17,145, as against 1892
gross income reported by doctors
having a moderate-meanS clientele.
More than so per cent Of all the
doctors questioned reported that
their practice was largely among
people in the noderate-meanS class.
The general practitioners greatly
outnumber the specialists in the
smaller communities, but in cities
of 100000 and more population the
proportion of specialists and general
practitioners is almost equal.
That younger doctors are showing
an inclination to specialize is shown
by the fact that among the Oldest
class of doctors there are twelve
general practitioners to each spe-
cialist, while among the youngest
class there are only three general
practitioners to each specialist.
The best paying specialties are,
in their order: surgery, opthal-
mology, gynecology, eye ear-nose
and throat, orthopedics, pediatrics,
gastro-enterology, radiology and
urology.
The lowest paid specialties are
those of the anesthetist and physi-
cal therapist, though the general
practitioner falls even below these.
The general average net income
for all physicians in the United
States is 5000, the survey shows.
Separate estimates, obtained by
dividing the amount which the
nation spends annually for doctors
bills, by the number of practicing
in the United States,
places the average yearly income of
at S5.46l.