How much money an hour does a surgeon that does everything make?

Answer 1

You can get numbers for the salaries of people in all kinds of jobs by looking at the wesbite of the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the US Govt. That way you can get pretty accurate info, rather than just random opinions....

But just to get you started, it is not unusual for a surgeon to make several hundred thousand dollars a year. They obviously don't work on an hourly wage, but if you count a year as 2000 work hours, then $100,000 a year would be $50 an hour.

I have a good friend who is a heart surgeon. He graduated from college with straight A's, went to four years of medical school - straight A's. Then five years of general surgical residency, then four years of cardiac surgical residency. So, he finally was out on his own as a surgeon just before his 36th brithday. But now, you should see his house. Wo! Every year when he buys his newest dream car we go out for a ride.

Answer 2

I doubt there's any such thing as a surgeon that does "everything". There are general surgeons as well as those who specialize in certain types of highly complicated procedures. For instance a generalist would not be a surgeon of choice for a patient who needs high-risk cardiac or neuro surgery. Also, in any type of surgical procedure, there's always the risk of a bad or unexpected outcome for the patient, and there are many, many malpractice lawsuits every year because of this. This is why liability insurance for surgeons, anesthesiologists, and physicians who practice in other high-risk specialty areas (i.e. OB-GYN) is so outrageously high.

How much money they make also varies, depending on who employs them, types of insurance patients are paying with, etc. Some insurance companies cap the total amount that they will pay a surgeon at a specific amount. Therefore, if there are complications and the surgery goes into cost over-runs the surgeon and hospital will not receive any additional payment for the extra services rendered.

Plastic surgeons who own their practice probably make out the best because their services are mostly elective and patients either pay cash up front or finance the total costs of the procedures through a bank. Either way, the self-employed plastic surgeon determines his/her own fees and gets paid up front for all his/her services.

The health care business has changed dramatically in recent years. The medical profession is not as glamorous as many people think, and doctors nowadays are not making anywhere near as much money as they use to make in the past due to restrictive HMO rules and Medicaid DRG limits. It is easy to assume that doctors are swimming in money just because of the prestigious M.D. title, but the truth is that most physicians can no longer afford to be self-employed. The hospitals will not employ them either due to the high cost of professional liability insurance (which, in some cases, can be more than a physician's annual income!); so, many of them are employed by private companies who 'lease' their services to the hospitals.

These guys/gals can still easily earn at least several hundred thousand dollars a year, but Uncle Sam takes a huge bite out of that money every pay period, and the docs themselves blow a lot of it on expensive homes, cars, vacations, to keep up the image of their title and the so-called lifestyle that goes along with it. They also spend a lot on gifts for all the numerous girlfriends/boyfriends they have on the side. Many of them are divorced (sometimes with more than one ex) and pay a fortune in alimony and child support. I work alongside physicians all day everyday, and I am always surprised to hear some of them always complaining about how 'tough' things are.