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I work with docs in my practice every day and almost all of them profess great love for it. Of course, most of my docs are at academic medical centers, they're very smart, and they went into it as much to do good as to do well. In my own family, the docs who are less happy are inevitably the money grubbers, but they'll never be satisfied (in any profession, really).
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Most in my family (immediate and extended) and those in my social circle and clients don't dislike the work so much. It's the administration. Most of those I know work for large hospital systems and are pressured to see enormous numbers of patients by both management and due to supply and demand.
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You know, it is pretty easy to get data on lawyer and doctor incomes and if you looked you'd find out that you are way off on across the professional averages. The average physician makes north of $200K, while the average attorney is around $150K. Obviously, in both groups, it's possible to identify a subgroup that would scoff at that figure.
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I know loads of lawyers pulling in well over $200k. GPs in this region are, as you note, around $200k. Law is more a parabolic distribution, however. If you eliminate the lawyers who have crappy jobs, and those working in local DA offices, etc. from the data set, that $150k moves north pretty quickly.
I think there's a lot more compression among GPs once one is around the $200k mark. An even generalist lawyer who stumbles upon the right referral fee or gets an equity slice of a deal can achieve windfalls a GP will never see.
Having docs who've saved and improved many lives in my family and circle of friends, this illustrates the perverse outcomes of our distorted market economy. No paper pusher should be paid better than a GP.
