From
Case Histories to Case Law
Medical professionals find J.D. degrees good medicine for their careers
Setting aside white attire and stethoscopes three years
ago, two health care professionals received law degrees at the Law School's
spring commencement. While law and medicine might seem to represent mutually
exclusive career paths, statistics reflect an upswing in the number of
career changers from medicine to law.
Joining these ranks are Law School Class of 2003 members Pamela Ratliff,
a former nurse from Baldwyn, and Tupelo neurosurgeon Dr. Jimmy Dixon Miller.
While Ratliff is poised to join a Jackson law firm, Dr. Miller is mulling
his options.
Ratliff says she initially decided to enter nursing because it was a somewhat
"family profession."
"Both my parents are nurses, and my sister and I decided to go to
nursing school together," she says. "Nursing is a good profession.
It's honorable and you can get a job anywhere, so it just seemed like
the right choice at the time."
After earning an associate's degree from Northeast Mississippi Community
College, Ratliff worked in nursing administration at North Mississippi
Medical Center in Tupelo. She says she enjoyed the work, but a lifelong
fascination with the law began tugging at her. "After 13 years, it's
always hard to change careers, but I decided that if I was ever going
to do it, I'd better get moving," she said.
Miller says he chose to attend law school to better understand the medical
profession's legal and business principles. A member of the medical profession
for more than two decades, he studied pre-med at Ole Miss, then graduated
from the UM Medical Center in 1979.
He returned to the Medical Center in 1985 as a resident and later joined
the faculty. While there, he studied cranial-cerebral trauma in Scotland
and advanced to the center's rank of associate professor. In 1992, he
decided to go into private practice, first in Jackson then back in his
hometown of Tupelo.
Miller says he enjoyed the challenge of law school and appreciates the
unique perspective he now has from both his clinical and academic experiences.
"Going back [to school] as a former faculty member from a professional
program, it was not nearly as intimidating," he says. "When
I went to school the first time, particularly to medical school, it was
kind of scary-the professors were older, and they knew everything. This
time around, a lot of them weren't really any older than I am, and I felt
like my knowledge was pretty good."
Ratliff, however, says readjusting to the academic routine of a new discipline
presented her some difficulties at first. "It's different from the
medical and health-related classes, particularly in how you have the one
big test at the end," she says. "That part and just getting
back into the swing of going to school were the hardest things about it."
Miller and Ratliff agree that the most interesting part of law school
was studying cases that involved medical issues, which many of their classmates
found a bit daunting.
Ratliff plans to take the bar exam this summer, and she has accepted a
position in the Jackson office of Armstrong Allen, a Memphis-based firm.
She will handle insurance defense cases for the group, which pursued her
because of her nursing experience.
Miller-whose wife, Dr. Mary Carol Miller, was a family medicine physician
before leaving her practice a few years ago to write books-plans to stick
with medicine for a while. He is considering the possibility of becoming
a legal consultant for other doctors, but says he's in no hurry to make
a major career move. The Millers' daughter, Emily, 19, will be a freshman
at Ole Miss this fall, and they have a 16-year-old son, Jim.
But even if he decides to remain a surgeon, Miller says the law school
training will be a tremendous professional asset. "I don't think
a law degree is ever a waste, no matter what you decide to do," he
says. "There are all kinds of things you can use legal expertise
for at the hospital, things like risk management and insurance and Medicare.
Medicare is getting to be more of a business, and a lot of doctors don't
have the legal background to keep up with a lot of the regulations and
requirements, so this degree will help me even if I decide to keep practicing
medicine."