Where do you draw the line........
 

between high risk behaviour/occupation and your family's security?
Just wondering.......

Considering that I am a desk jockey--a cubicle dweller, I really have never had to consider this question.

My next-door neighbor is a cop. There's a world of difference in potential occupational hazards. Still, a cop is a lot safer than a drug dealer or a lobster fisherman...

With the right insurance policy , you could have both.
Rika

Is a drug dealer really considered a high-risk "occupation"?:p

The right money can buy plenty of security - risk and reward go hand and hand.

This was perhaps more appropriate of a question when I was flying junky cargo planes in IMC in the Pacific northwest for a living, but to answer the question, "I'd have quit anytime if my wife ever said she couldn't stand worrying anymore". Fortunately I flew with her several times in my CFI days prior to doing that and I've included her in anything I do (including riding motorcycles and racing cars). She knows I enjoy life, but I won't do anything overtly stupid that would cost her a husband. I'm grateful for her understanding. As such, if she ever said "quit it", I would.

Family first.:)

That's kinda funny to me, I got a degree in college for criminal justice and was a cop for a while about 30 years ago. Quit that for the better money in commercial fishing, crabs and deep sea trawling. Had one boat sink out from under me in 1991. I was out about 30 miles at the time. Guess that I'm an adrenaline junky!:D I think my kids never inherited the "Danger Will Robinson" gene either, oldest daughter is a cop, son is a Navy submariner, and the youngest is in process of becoming a prison guard.

Just today I suffered a paper cut...

Before the days of AZT and other HIV meds I had two separate needle stick injuries from patients with AIDS. I was lucky and I've remained HIV negative. Even during the long six month wait for testing I never considered quitting.

My hobbies probably put me at greater risk. I ski, scuba dive (even cave dives) and I tend to travel to very remote places in very small airplanes. I drive my car very fast at the track with very little skill with which to moderate risk. As a kid I raced dirt bikes. I survived far too many crashes. (I wasn't a very good rider.)

I have a wife and three kids that I would hate to leave prematurely, but I won't stop living because I'm afraid of dying.

Wow, Moses....can you tell us how that happens? Two separate needle sticks from infected people...wow! That seems like something that would happen to a street cop more than a doc, so I am just curious.

And I agree with your assessment not to stop living because you are afraid of dying - well said.

JA

Back Country Flying, ATV's, Horses, P-Cars, Skiing, Snowmobiles

I would not give up any of my activities. I am more careful as I age. I live for that stuff!

I have good insurance, the family will be provided for
I will not however go more than 4 rungs up a ladder.

You could never leave the house and still have a heart attack at the kitchen table, happened to a young guy I knew that never engaged in any thing risky.

Is engineering hazardous? ;-)

I don't know. I've been a big city prosecutor and then defended insurance companies against ordganized fraud rings and I've had my name in the phone book the whole time. I had an adjuster get attacked by the Russian mafia and bomb threats called into his claims office, but no one has ever bothered me. I just don't worry about it. Odds are far greater that fatty foods or a car accident will do you in than almost anything else. I wear my seat belt, drive the speed limit most of the time and don't drive after drinking. That's my risk reduction strategy. Fatty foods? Mmmmmm.....ribs.......

I trained in New York (Brooklyn) and 10-15% of our patients were HIV+ (No treatment at that time). Needlestick injuries are really common. Generally from working too fast, having a bad assistant or poor technique. Both injuries were my fault.

The first was a car accident victim with massive internal bleeding. I was throwing stitches as fast as I could. The suction just couldn't keep up. I was using the first two fingers of my left hand to compress and retract and throwing sutures between my fingers. I stuck myself.

Similar situation the second time. Severe hemorrhage during a Cesarean. I'm more careful these days. Believe it of not, there are a lot of surgeons who have bloody index fingers after most of their operations. They either use their left index as a pin cushion or routinely grab surgical needles with their fingers rather than instruments. Bad technique. A friend of mine died during his final year of training at our hospital. He was a year ahead of me. He died from AIDS acquired during surgery. He was a wonderful man, but a sloppy surgeon.

i'm well insured...

Architecture sure as hell is. At least to one's mental health and certainly their financial health.

ouch, literal meaning of risk here.

How about the more economical type? ie, go out on your own vs. cubicle life style?

As I age, I still enjoy all my favorite hobbies (motocross, snowmobiles, skiing, ATV's, street bikes, fast cars, flying, kayaking etc etc), I just do them less and am a bit more careful when getting near the edge.

While I would like skydiving, I have always avoided activities that require trust in someone elses skills in prepping the equipment (packing parachutes).

Interesting and scary depiction, Moses....wow. Sad story about your friend who died from AIDS from trying to help people...stay safe out there, and thanks for all you do.


JA

Therer's a quote in the bible (and in the movie North dallas forty) that pretty much sums it up for me:

"When I was a child I spoke as a child I understood as a child I thought as a child; but when I became a man I put away childish things." I Cor. xiii. 11.

I'll raise you one Sammy G:And he saith unto them, Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? Then he arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm.:D I do think that there is a big difference between doing things for sport and thrills and what you need to do to make a living. There also is a big difference between calculated risks and foolheartiness! My family is well protected in a financial sense for when I die. They are all mature adults and death is as much a part of life as being born. I would much prefer dying in an accident as opposed to rotting away in a hospital or similar setting.

I've got the same and I agree completely.

Hazardous? Or death by monitor radiation?

"leave prematurely" When is that, exactly?

sayeth the man with a turbo SC ;)

get busy living or get busy dying - I'm like moses - I prefer not to leave any of my kids or my wife prematurely - but I'm not sure I am going to change my life measurably either.

In Naval Aviation, we call what you described as a "Commanders Moon".

When you're a young Lieutenant and bullet proof, flying off the boat at night without any ambient (moon) light seems reasonable...as you age and make Commander the near misses accumulate, you begin to yearn for a full moon to guide your horizon.:)

My risk taking is much more calculated, but I still like to get my mug into the fray.

I love my family, but I'm certainly a risk taker. It could be that I lost my father at a very young age so I'm a little desensitized to loss.

My wife has never seemed too concerned with it, but I was a little surprised when I was going through my life insurance policies with her earlier this year. She didn’t relish the idea of losing me, but let's just say she was rather frisky that night ;) I hope that she was just happy to know that they’ll be taken care of if something happens.