careers in health law and policy

[Guest meredith79]

Hi everyone,

 

I am a medical school reject (well, I only applied once ) who is considering applying to law school, as it appears that the admissions process for law is a little less intense.

 

Because my interest still lies in health care, I intend to specialize in health law. Anyone familiar with this area or have any advice?

 

Thanks!

[Guest macMDstudent]

I think health law from a lawyers perspective is something to approach from within the legal profession.

 

Most MD's I know want as little to do with lawyers as possible; only because when they have to deal with lawyers it is usually bad stuff. That could include a criminal investagation about drunk driving that they were involved in treating a victim; child abuse or spousal abuse; some kind of insurance hearing about a patient who is too ill to continue working; or the worst case scenario, they are being investigated for a malpractice lawsuit or a complaint to the regulatory College. Any way you cut it, it is stressful stuff and time away from practice, which the doctors I know resent.

 

Certainly at medical school we learn about jurisprudence (a.k.a. how to cover your butt in practice) and health policy, but anyone who wants to go into these areas as a profession will need further education after the MD is done. The usual route usually requires a Masters of Health Administration (MHA) or an MBA focsusing on the health economics, which can be followed by a Ph.D. These graduate programs don't get most of their students from MD programs though, but rather from undergraduate science and economics programs as far as I know.

[Guest mindteaser]

Wow, that sounds almost exactly like what I want to pursue. Do you know of any sources I could go to inorder to acquire more information regarding those careers?

 

Thanks in advance for your help!