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This is literally a quote I have heard from physicians finishing up their residency and fellowship training. When confronted with the option of having a lawyer review their physician employment agreement, they feel that paying someone to do so won't make any real difference, or they are afraid to get into such a legal review because they don't want to come off as being difficult or hard to work with. Or, as one of the most commonly cited reasons to not have a lawyer review their employment agreement, physicians will say that the employer told them the contract is all just standard language that all employees agree to. Well, that may be the case, but it certainly doesn't mean it's language you should be agreeing to.
No matter how "standard" the language is, you may not want to agree to pass on all income you receive as a physician to your employer. For example, let's say that, outside of your employment duties, you consult with and do research for a pharmaceutical or manufacturing company and they pay you a fee for your work- does it make you greedy or difficult that you'd like to keep that money for yourself to help pay off your loans, or take a vacation once a year?
Or, as another example, consider a contract provision that requires you to provide services at all locations where the employer provides services. This provision seems fairly simple and harmless at a glance, but if you knew the employer runs a clinic 200 miles away from their home office, you likely would not want to agree to providing services there, would you?
These are just 2 of the many, many examples of physician employment contract terms I see regularly that are not favorable to the physician, and that need to be re-written in order to be absolutely fair. While it is true that many physician employment arrangements go just fine without the involvement of any lawyers, it is unfortunate when a physician ends up getting the short end of the stick in an employment deal gone badly because he or she never had someone in their corner protecting their best interests.
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