You're a neurosurgeon making ₹1 crore a year. Impressive. But that doesn't make you more than human. AI can now diagnose better than you. What it can't do is hold a scared patient's hand. Master that — or become obsolete.
The Money Trap: You're Not That Special
Yes, neurosurgeons earn well. A senior neurosurgeon with 10-20 years can earn ₹50 lakhs to ₹1 crore+ per year. Top ones in metros can earn ₹1-2 lakhs per day. But here's the reality check:
Fresh CA (ICAI Campus)
₹12.49 LPA average, toppers get ₹26-36 LPA — right out of the gate, no residency
Salon Owner (Metro)
₹40K-1L/month. A 5-chair salon generates ₹3 lakhs/month
Senior Hairdresser
₹35K-50K/month + ₹10-25K per bridal job
Software Developer
₹15-40 LPA fresh, seniors easily ₹50L-1Cr
The plumber who fixed your bathroom might have better work-life balance and comparable monthly income. Your degree doesn't make you superior.
AI Can Diagnose Better Than You — Accept It
This isn't a threat. It's a fact you need to internalize.
What AI Already Does Better
- • Medical exams: GPT-4 passes USMLE with scores in the top tier of test-takers
- • Differential diagnosis: Studies show AI generates more comprehensive differentials than most physicians
- • Pattern recognition: AI reads radiology, pathology, dermatology images with expert-level accuracy
- • Drug interactions: Never forgets a contraindication, never misses an interaction
- • Literature review: Processes thousands of papers in seconds
- • Treatment protocols: Always up-to-date, never relies on "what I learned 15 years ago"
Your 15 years of training? An AI can access and process more medical knowledge in seconds than you can in a lifetime. It never forgets. It never gets tired. It never has a bad day.
What AI Cannot Do (Your Real Value)
- • Hold a scared patient's hand at 3 AM
- • Read the fear in a mother's eyes when you discuss her child's diagnosis
- • Know when to push harder and when to back off based on a patient's cues
- • Sit with a family after a death and just be present
- • Inspire confidence in a terrified patient before surgery
- • Build the trust that makes patients share the embarrassing symptom that changes everything
- • Navigate the messy reality of family dynamics, financial constraints, cultural beliefs
This is your only competitive advantage over AI. Master it or become obsolete.
The Yelling Culture is Dead — Stop Copying It
Many young consultants replicate the behavior of their "legendary" seniors — the ones who yelled in OTs, humiliated juniors, made nurses cry. They think this is how authority works.
They're copying a trauma response, not a leadership style.
The Statistics on Disruptive Physician Behavior
80%
of doctors have displayed toxic behavior towards staff
90%
of nurses have experienced verbal abuse by physicians
71%
of medical errors linked to disruptive behavior
27%
see a link between disruptive behavior and patient mortality
When you yell, nurses hesitate to point out your errors. 49% of nurses who experienced toxic behavior said it resulted in them wrongly administering medication.
The Cycle of Abuse
That professor who screamed at you during posting? He was screamed at during his training. And his senior was screamed at during his. This is called the "transgenerational legacy" of abuse.
"Teaching by intimidation and humiliation may foster a culture of bullying and the setting up of a cycle of bullying, analogous to other cycles of abuse in which those who experience it go on to abuse others when they become more senior."
— Research on bullying in medicine
You can be the one who breaks this cycle. It takes conscious effort, but it's possible.
Times Have Changed — The World is Watching
That aggressive behavior which was "acceptable" twenty years ago? It's a career-ending move today.
Why You Can't Get Away With It Anymore
- • Everyone has a smartphone: Your OT meltdown can be recorded
- • Social media exists: Stories spread instantly
- • Formal reporting mechanisms: Hospitals have codes of conduct now
- • No more "untouchable surgeon": Revenue generators are no longer exempt from behavioral standards
- • Staff surveys and feedback systems: Administration is watching
What Yelling Actually Costs You
You think yelling makes you look powerful? Here's what it actually does:
The Real Impact of Disruptive Behavior
- • Nurses won't speak up: 51% of residents are less likely to call an abusive consultant — even when the patient needs it
- • "Dangerous silence": Abusive behavior prevents nurses from asking questions or seeking clarification about drugs
- • Staff absences: One hospital reduced absences by 38% after addressing unprofessional behavior
- • Quality declines: 78% of victims said their organizational commitment declined
- • Staff quit: 12% of those who experience toxic behavior end up leaving
- • Referrals dry up: No one recommends "technically brilliant but unbearable" doctors
How You Treat Others Defines You
Let me be brutally honest.
That OT technician you screamed at yesterday? He's telling his family about you. That nurse you humiliated in front of patients? She's warning her colleagues. That resident you belittled during rounds? She'll never refer a case to you when she's a practicing doctor.
The Culture of Respect
"The manner in which leaders treat people will have an impact on the way they treat each other and patients. A culture of respect recognizes that everyone in the organization plays a meaningful role in the ability to care for patients."
Your surgical skills may be excellent. But no one recommends "technically brilliant but unbearable to work with" doctors. Your reputation is built in every interaction — with ward boys, billing staff, the security guard who opens the gate at 3 AM.
Leave Your Home Problems at Home
Had a fight with your spouse? Kids not listening? Financial stress? Traffic frustration?
None of that is the nurse's problem. None of that is your junior's fault.
The hospital isn't your emotional dumping ground. Every person you interact with is dealing with their own battles — often worse than yours. The difference is, they don't have the hierarchical power to take it out on others.
Walk in. Compartmentalize. Do your job. Walk out.
If you can't separate personal frustrations from professional behavior, seek help. That's not weakness. That's self-awareness.
Be Assertive, Not Aggressive
Being grounded doesn't mean being a pushover. Setting boundaries is essential.
The Key Difference
Aggressive
"What kind of idiot prepared this OT? Are you all incompetent?"
Creates fear, resentment, sabotage
Assertive
"This setup doesn't match our protocol. I need X and Y corrected before we proceed. Who's responsible?"
Same outcome, earns respect
Assertiveness earns respect. Aggression earns fear — and fear turns into resentment, sabotage, and eventually, your downfall.
Learn This During DNB, Not After
Don't wait until you're a consultant to develop professional behavior. Don't think "I'll change once I start practice." By then, the patterns are set.
During Your DNB Training
- ✓ Watch consultants who are both excellent AND kind — they exist
- ✓ Speak to juniors the way you wish seniors spoke to you
- ✓ Thank staff. Genuinely. Regularly.
- ✓ Apologize when you're wrong — it won't kill your authority
- ✓ Remember every name — the cleaner, the technician, the canteen worker
- ✓ When you see abuse, don't normalize it as "how medicine works"
These habits, built during training, become your autopilot behavior as a consultant.
The Real Definition of Respect
What Builds Lasting Respect
- • The consultant who asks "Have you eaten?" to the tired resident
- • The surgeon who says "Good catch" when a nurse spots an issue
- • The specialist who remembers the ward boy's child is sick
- • The doctor who holds the door for the hospital cleaner
That's the doctor people remember. That's the doctor people protect. That's the doctor who gets emergency cooperation at 2 AM without begging.
Respect isn't commanded through fear. It isn't demanded through hierarchy. It's earned through consistency.
Your Only Future-Proof Skill
Let's be clear about the future of medicine:
- AI will diagnose better than you
- AI will create treatment plans better than you
- AI will read your scans better than you
- AI will never forget a drug interaction
- AI will be available 24/7 without fatigue
But AI will never replace the human connection.
The scared patient who needs reassurance before surgery. The grieving family who needs someone to sit with them. The elderly patient who needs their hand held while receiving bad news. The teenager too embarrassed to describe their symptoms until they trust you.
This is what will keep you relevant. This is what AI cannot replicate. This is what you must master — not your surgical technique (AI-assisted robots will do that better), but your human technique.
Final Word
You spent 15+ years training to be a specialist. The skill took sacrifice, dedication, and unimaginable effort.
But your surgical skill makes you a technician.
Your behavior makes you a professional.
Your humanity makes you irreplaceable.
Money will come. Recognition will come. Patients will line up.
But at the end of your career, the question won't be "How many surgeries did he do?" It will be "How did he make people feel?"
Don't become another link in the chain of abuse. Be the one who breaks it.
"The way you treat people defines you. Not your degrees. Not your income. Not your hospital affiliation. You."
Stay grounded. Stay human.
Sources & References:
- • Neurosurgeon salary: GeeksforGeeks, Glassdoor India, PayScale 2024
- • CA salary: ICAI Campus Placement Reports, CollegeDunia
- • Disruptive behavior: PSNet (AHRQ), PMC studies, American Journal of Nurses
- • Bullying research: World Social Psychiatry, Wikipedia (Bullying in Medicine)
- • AI in medicine: GPT-4 USMLE studies, Nature Medicine