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This is a question I hear all the time. As a physician agent and a lawyer, I often have physicians ask me: do I really need to have my employment contract reviewed by a lawyer? An interesting fact I have come to notice with regard to this question is that I never hear it from physicians who have been out practicing for several years. I imagine part of the reason behind this phenomenon is they know by now that the answer it most certainly "yes." It is always the younger physicians who are just finishing up their training who are inquiring about whether a legal review of their physician employment contract is necessary.
It's hard to blame young physicians for being somewhat skeptical about the need for a contract legal review- after all, as they are finishing up residency or fellowship, they have come to trust the attendings they work with, and see them as mentors who will look out for their best interests. And that is certainly the case. However, it is important to realize that actual employment as a practicing physician is an entirely different animal than the highly-regulated world of residency and fellowship. Such training programs are government-funded, and are meant to provide young physicians with the training and experience they need to become practicing physicians. Employment as a practicing physician, on the other hand, occurs in the "real world" where everyone is looking out for their own best interests. In fact, the hospital or practice personnel young physicians deal with when seeking a new job are obligated to protect the best interests of the entities they work for when they make an employment offer. And you wouldn't expect anything different. Picture yourself joining a private group that will one day offer you partnership- would you want to be a partner in a group that hands out freebies and doesn't protect itself? I doubt it.
So if they're protecting the employer's best interests first, there is no room for them to be looking out for yours. This isn't to say they are out to intentionally offer you a bad deal, or try to compromise you in some way. But when they tell you not to worry about the terms of your contract because it's all "just standard language," you should not simply take their word for it and stop there. What does that mean anyway? "It's all just standard language"? That isn't very descript or helpful when you're looking out for your own legal and financial well-being and trying to understand what your obligations are under the employment agreement.
I always encourage physicians to have their employment contracts reviewed by a lawyer, and specifically one experienced in physician contracts, because even though a potential employer may not be trying to do you any harm under your contract, they are not working to protect your best interests- they're protecting their own.
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