SR's Job

He doesn't deserve this misfortune. Especially not two days before his graduation. SR had a job (a four month position) he was ready to start in the middle of July, but due to an unbelievable turn of events he won't be getting it after all.

In order to tell the story, you need a little background.

I met SR two years ago. At first, I thought of him as this cute blond guy who was strangely good at sports and always talked to me about running. A couple months after I started residency I worked with him on an internal medicine rotation. He was my senior resident (SR). I had never worked with anyone who was so smart and funny and confident and cared so much about his work. Not only that, he made our jobs as clueless interns easy and fun. He loved to teach and when we forgot to do something, he did it, never allowing patients to suffer and never complaining. And all the staff members of the internal medicine department adored him. I often told my now ex-husband what a great doctor SR was and how much I enjoyed working with him. I wondered where this superstar could be from (it sounded like he had a northern Minnesota accent, but that's another story). Had he been from the U.S. he could have been doing neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins, if he had wanted, with his credentials.

So how could he end up without a job after graduation? There's a one word answer, and that's jealousy. He asked for a letter of recommendation from a female staff member at our hospital. She happens to be a little older than me, single and a competitive runner. She agreed, but then, without any warning, wrote such a negative letter that he couldn't be hired (despite many staff members coming to his defense). Only now does SR admit she may have had a love interest in him. Who knows? We could only speculate. But I do know that jealousy is possibly the most deleterious of emotions. Worse than greed or even plain hate.

So SR will have to scramble to find a job of some sort. And as it stands right now, our family will be without health and dental insurance (ironic for two doctors, I know). But, this job, apparently, wasn't meant to be.

I guess I am making a big deal about the loss of a mediocre four month position. But it also makes it hard for him to get any job at our hospital. And, it seems impossible that after three years of hard work, long hours and heroic measures to be the wonderful and loving husband and father he is that he would get this slap in the face. I hope he knows how many peoples' lives he has changed for the better. He inspires and encourages everyone around him to learn medicine and to care about it. You meet people like SR so rarely; that type of person who seems more like an angel than a human.