Fleas

 (shared by a colleague)

An old colleague in the residency days used to quip: "We internists are like fleas!" 

" How so?" I asked. 

"Well. When the patient is dying, and while we fleas preside over the death of the patient! We general internists, cardiologists, nephrologists, and infectious disease specialists are the only ones hanging around! The surgeons are first to sign off when they see a dying patient, the GI guy, after having scoped up and down, is nowhere to be found! The Family Doc mourns the loss of a patient from the practice, while the hospital admin celebrates fewer losses from the DRG."

(unfortunately, the way healthcare has evolved in USA, I have to agree with this).