The Income That Can Reasonably be Expected in the Practice of Medicine
The practice of medicine does not hold out the hope of any great financial reward. There are some medical practitioners who have made small fortunes in their practice, but such cases are few. The ordinary practitioner can not count on much more than a comfortable living, in accordance with the living standards in the community in which he lives. Not only is the physician’s salary generally small, but it is uncertain as well.
The following table gives the incomes of Harvard medical graduates, by classes and by years of experience, according to a study recently made:
Average Earnings of Harvard medical graduates, by classes and by years of experience.[16]
| Years in practice | Classes | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1901 | 1902 | 1903 | 1904 | 1905 | 1906 | 1907 | 1908 | 1909 | 1910 | |
| First | $866 | $787 | $541 | $362 | $625 | $502 | $350 | $533 | $425 | $1,237 |
| Second | 827 | 1,089 | 790 | 995 | 773 | 826 | 588 | 1,250 | 874 | 1,083 |
| Third | 1,181 | 1,539 | 1,412 | 1,295 | 995 | 1,262 | 1,353 | 1,025 | 1,370 | 1,578 |
| Fourth | 1,505 | 1,694 | 1,720 | 1,566 | 1,559 | 1,765 | 1,963 | 1,575 | 1,632 | 1,835 |
| Fifth | 2,027 | 1,556 | 1,966 | 1,981 | 1,818 | 2,359 | 2,347 | 1,847 | 2,150 | |
| Sixth | 2,341 | 1,837 | 2,333 | 2,277 | 2,347 | 2,997 | 3,202 | 2,360 | ||
| Seventh | 2,527 | 2,161 | 2,654 | 2,967 | 3,043 | 3,650 | 3,545 | |||
| Eighth | 3,003 | 2,491 | 3,155 | 3,043 | 3,337 | 4,332 | ||||
| Ninth | 3,560 | 2,900 | 3,616 | 3,604 | 4,500 | |||||
| Tenth | 3,524 | 2,963 | 4,135 | 4,535 | ||||||
| Eleventh | 3,885 | 3,691 | 4,604 | |||||||
| Twelfth | 4,422 | 4,130 | ||||||||
| Thirteenth | 4,680 | |||||||||
| Maximum number of men | 38 | 39 | 29 | 39 | 33 | 26 | 29 | 29 | 25 | 26 |
[16] Training Rewards of the Physician (Cabot), J. Lippincott Co., Philadelphia, Pa., v. 136.