Agree with the part about doctors being overpaid in the states. My wife is a 3rd year resident of a fairly well-known hospital system in one of the biggest metro areas of the US. We always feel lucky that she is a doctor because we know that she will make $250K+ (more like $300K/year if she choose a hospital in a rural area) as an internal medicine doctor (hospitalist/attending). My wife might go for oncology fellowship and that might put her earnings close to $400K+/year after 3 years of fellowship training (during the fellowship, she will make ~$80-90K/year). We get very good health insurance from her hospital since she started her residency there. I myself quit medical school after 2 years because I hated the way I had to study to get good grades there (a lot of rote memorization). But looking back, I regret quitting.
Both my wife and I agree that if we ever have a kid, we'd encourage him/her to at least consider medicine as his/her profession (assuming that the US healthcare system stays the relatively same). We are NOT the only ones. There are so many doctor friends of ours whose parent(s) are doctors. Our friends also think the same as us (that they'd encourage their kids to consider medicine as a profession).
Medicine is great because once the loans are paid down doctors have plenty of job options to get the right fit.
That being said the system of training is a ridiculous and discriminatory waste of human potential. Eight years of study with giant amount of vacation is just abhorrent. 18 year-olds who want to be doctors need 48 weeks of school per year like a military medic or any normal adult. What a joke college is in the US. And the residencies are flat out nonsensical illegal discrimination. If a woman wants to have a baby every year while she can, there are many types of medicine where there is zero reason to require 24 hour residency shifts, yet they basically coerce it anyway. Similar for a disabled trainee or just anyone whose training need not include such things. Heck, even a trainee with a bit of sleep apnea or a sleep disorder should not be forced to destroy their cardiovascular and mental health unless shift work is a necessary component of training for the respective discipline.
Both my wife and I agree that if we ever have a kid, we'd encourage him/her to at least consider medicine as his/her profession (assuming that the US healthcare system stays the relatively same). We are NOT the only ones. There are so many doctor friends of ours whose parent(s) are doctors. Our friends also think the same as us (that they'd encourage their kids to consider medicine as a profession).