Of course, it's all the fault of "Dr. Kildare". Had the original radio series not been such a success, it would never have been transferred to the TV screen, making Richard Chamberlain a star. This is not to say that physicians had escaped glamorisation before. There were movies showing surgeons as gods. But "Dr. Kildare" was the first prime-time series with a young hero leading an experienced cast in a hospital melodrama. As a result, society was finally convinced that becoming a hospital doctor was the coolest thing on the planet. This completed the cultural task of giving the medical profession top status, eclipsing the work of Raymond Burr in "Perry Mason" who had done so much to make the defense attorney seem the most desirable job. So the boomers grew up with the fixed idea that becoming a doctor and saving lives in a hospital setting was "the" career path to follow. One of the first victims of this transference was the role of primary care physician working in their offices or local clinics. Although a socially necessary position, it lacked charisma and, from the 1960s onward, it grew challenging to persuade newly qualified doctors to work more anonymously. Only those with a social conscience followed this path, taking less money and working longer hours than those who stayed in secondary and tertiary care. That's why, today, the vast majority of primary physicians are old and coming up to retirement.
