This article is not a complaint.
This article is an effort to put a name to a reality that has long been ignored.
I’ve been a surgeon for twenty-eight years. I have two spinal implants. I live with five herniated discs. I have permanent loss of strength in my right arm and chronic varicose veins in my legs. I am sharing this not to paint a picture of victimhood, but to ask how the price of a profession is paid.
Surgery is not merely a profession practiced through knowledge alone. Surgery is physically demanding work performed with the body. Surgeons stand for hours on end. The same muscles and joints are strained in the same position. The surgery may be over, but the fatigue does not end. The next day, the same strain begins anew. Over the years, this cycle leaves its mark on the body. This is not an exception; it is the rule of the profession.
For this reason, surgeons are, in fact, manual laborers.
They produce with their bodies.
They pay the price with their bodies.
The risks surgeons face are not limited to musculoskeletal problems. Injuries from sharp instruments, needle sticks, and contact with blood and bodily fluids are everyday realities in the operating room. Bloodborne infections such as hepatitis B and HIV are not merely a theoretical possibility for surgeons—they are occupational risks. Added to this are exposure to surgical smoke, toxic and irritating particles, and cumulative biological burdens over the years. These are invisible but constant.
The global literature has examined this issue not only in terms of wear and tear but also in terms of life expectancy and mortality. In registry-based studies conducted in some countries, it has been shown that the average life expectancy of surgeons is lower than that of the general population with a similar level of education; among the causes of death, cardiovascular diseases, stress-related conditions, and problems associated with occupational workload stand out. More recent studies, however, report that surgeons may have a higher risk of mortality compared to physicians in non-surgical specialties. While these data alone do not prove anything conclusively, they clearly indicate that surgery is a profession that takes a toll in the long run.
Despite this entire situation, surgeons are still classified under the same category as physicians who work primarily in an office setting under current regulations. There is no wear-and-tear allowance. There is no definition of an occupational disease. There are no provisions for early retirement.
Severance pay, on the other hand, takes into account only the time spent on the job; it disregards the physical toll it takes on the body.
We need to stop and think about this.
How can a profession that literally wears out your body be treated like a desk job?
Is this what equality is?
Does that mean lumping all doctors from every specialty together?
The inclusion of physical labor in the calculation of occupational wear-and-tear allowances, early retirement benefits, and severance pay for surgeons is not a demand for special privileges. It is a demand for the proper recognition of labor. This demand is not an individual one, but a public one. Because it is not only the surgeon’s body that is worn down; as long as this burden is ignored, patient safety and the quality of healthcare also suffer.
At this point, the responsibility does not lie solely with surgeons. All institutions—starting with the Turkish Medical Association—that claim to defend physicians’ rights must no longer remain indifferent to this issue. Surgery is a profession that is too demanding and specialized to be subsumed under the general definition of medicine. This reality must be reflected not just in reports, but in legislation.
This is not a call for conflict.
This is a reminder.
Surgeons work with their bodies.
They create with their bodies.
And they no longer want to be ignored because of their bodies.