Paul Doru Mugur, 34, a native of Romania's second-largest city, Constanta, has been working as a doctor in New York since 1996. He heads the oncology and hematology department in a public hospital. In 1991, during his fourth year of university, he left Romania for France on a Tempus scholarship awarded by the European Community. He finished his studies in Paris.

“I've had the opportunity to get to know three medical systems very well: the Romanian one --a tribal system characterized by influence, bribes, and the mentality that the doctor is a small god; the French one--a bureaucratic system characterized by a rigid administration where the doctor is a clerk; and the American one--a business-based system where our patient is our client and the doctor is a businessman,” Mugur said.

In the U.S. contracts between a doctor and a hospital are normally for a one-year period. The salary is fixed. Starting salaries are between $2,200 and $2,500 a month after taxes. Salaries of specialist doctors start at $6,000. “In seven years, I climbed all the steps of medical specialization to become head of section,” Mugur said. “For me, it’s very important to treat my patients without considering their financial status. It’s one of the reasons I preferred a public hospital to a private one.”

Mugur said the Americans are very severe with medical errors. Lawyers are always ready to make money out of doctors’ negligence. Medical mistakes are punished according to their consequences, going as far as expulsion from the medical profession and jail.

Malpractice insurance for a specialist costs about $10,000 a year. If a medical error is proved, the patient can receive up to $3 million.

But for Mugur the main concern of American doctors is not having any free time.

“This is the most valuable thing in the U.S.,” he said. “Patients and colleagues can call you on the pager any