OPINION: Surgeons, Pilots And Others Eventually Get Too Old To Work — So Why Don’t Politicians?
12:00 PM 02/12/2019 | Opinion
Brian Joondeph | Physician
Older surgeons are coming under increasing scrutiny as their competence and ability to practice medicine are called into question especially since many continue to work in their 60s and 70s. The New York Times addressed this in a recent article entitled, “When is the surgeon too old to operate?â€
They described an 80-year-old chief of vascular surgery at a New Jersey hospital who was the first doctor evaluated by a new aging surgeon program, which after testing, reported that, “He could capably continue operating.â€
According to the American College of Surgeons, “Approximately one-third of all practicing surgeons are older than age 55.†It is clear that certain surgical skills may decline with age, including vision, cognition, and manual dexterity, but it is not at all clear at what age this occurs, and how much it varies from surgeon to surgeon.
https://www.dailycaller.com/2019/02/12/joondeph-old-politicians/