Saturday night I enjoyed an evening with friends at a local establishment to celebrate one's birthday. There was a band playing. The band was not only good, but their music selection (mostly 60's) was also outstanding. Several times during the evening, one of my friends got up to visit with one of the band members. Come to find out, the band's bass player is his dentist. That got me to thinking about another band. When my niece got married a few years ago, we were very impressed with the band they had hired to play at the reception. We were so impressed, that my wife engaged them to play at her parent's 50th wedding anniversary. That's when I learned that the band's front man and lead guitarist is a gynecologist by day.

This got me to thinking about what might happen if Obama's healthcare plan gets passed. At work, we sell and support electronic healthcare records (EHR) management software. We have over 300 medical practices that are clients and lately we have been receiving a rather large number of emails from them asking that we contact our representatives in congress to keep the government out of healthcare. It seems many are so afraid of what it will do to them, that they have gone as far as to suggest they would stop practicing medicine.

As I have reported, it appears there are more than a few doctors out there that already have a second career lined up and are ready to go. But what about the rest? What happens if they actually do feel compelled to quit medicine? What will they do? Is it all doom and gloom for them? Well, maybe not. Think about it. The entertainment industry is great at latching on to any topical situation and turning it into some sort of programming, so I believe there will be ample opportunity for them in reality tv. I can just see it now -

Coming this fall to NBC - "America's Doctors Got Talent". Watch former medical practitioners as they try to impress our panel of judges by singing and dancing their way to new fame and fortune.

On CBS this fall, a brand new season of "Survivor: The Mayo Clinic". Watch the doctors and nurses of the Mayo Clinic form tribes and compete in challenges of endurance, problem solving and teamwork as they try to survive and win a subsidy to their government controlled compensation.

New to ABC this fall, the exciting "I'm a Neurologist and I Survived a Japanese Game Show". Each week, we will fly a team of highly skilled former neurologists to Tokyo where they will compete for the grand cash prize of $250,000. Afterwards, we will follow the winners in their hilarious attempts to keep the government from taking their winnings to pay for the program that put them out of a job in the first place.

Stay with Fox for this season's episodes of "Hell's Kitchen - The Surgeons". Watch Chef Gordon Ramsey slice and dice once proud surgeons as they attempt to carve their way into a chef's jacket.

I have never been a fan of reality tv, but this just may change my viewing habits. The sight of watching all of these formerly pompous medical practitioners endure these humiliating situations just to make a living would have such a beneficial effect that we would probably lose the need for medical care all together. So, don't worry. Things always have a way of working themselves out.