So just the idea of a doctors union was worth a laugh. Yet it was probably the elevated prestige and prevailing remuneration levels that eventually helped to chip away at the American physician’s social and economic pedestal. Craving wealth and prestige, hordes of young people trained to be doctors, just as drugs and research were stamping out many diseases and reducing the hazards of others. Since those times, with the exception of the increased need for geriatric care as people live longer, the general demand for doctors has diminished, even as the overall supply has risen. By the 1980s, there were far more Young Doctor Malones out there than the nation’s private practices could support. And, according to the AMA’s figures, nearly every one of those apprentice medicos was carrying $75,000 worth of debt coming out of medical school.We know what happened. Nowadays, most doctors work with or for HMOs and kindred organizations that supply enough care to keep us in fair health while providing an absolute minimum of human contact. This situation, unsurprisingly, also affects the way doctors think of themselves.