Why is Geriatrics unpopular? 2

There are lots more reasons why geriatrics is unpopular than the above.

By the way, I'm not going to talk about whether geriatrics is unpopular, others have done a far better job of that than I.

On a more personal level, taking care of old people can be physically unpleasant. They are not attractive, they do tend to talk at length, they're often hearing impaired so you have to shout to be heard, they sometimes are confused so you can't tell them what's wrong or why you are doing this unpleasant thing to them, they can be just plain verbally or physically hostile, incontinent, dirty and smelly.

If you never want to encounter any of that then not only should you avoid geriatrics, medicine is not the job for you at all, because I guarantee in ANY field of medicine, even cosmetic practice or epidemiology, you'll find that stuff.

Old people remind us too of our own mortality and frailty, and that can be very challenging for a young person at the peak of their powers. We all know that someday it will be one of us there. The temptation is to avoid or dehumanise the old to disconnect us from that realisation.

Financially Geriatrics is not as rewarding as other specialties, although I should say that earnings are still well beyond the reach of most people. I've seen figures of $160-170K average in the US and first year in Australia in public practice around $140K is to be expected.

Finally, the aged are perceived as useless, disgusting and unworthy of attention and resources in western culture, and this directly impacts the status of geriatrics as a profession.