#79 Courage to Climb the Second Mountain with Dr. Kat Hudon

Dr. Kat Hudon shares her journey from enthusiastic learner to an employed physician slowly beaten down by a system designed to keep doctors exhausted, constrained, and disconnected from their creativity.

In this convo, we explore how medicine places an impossible mantle of perfection on physicians, why resilience is a finite resource, and how the system punishes anything that falls outside the narrow definition of “excellence.” Dr. Hudon reflects on moral injury, middle management challenges, the growing administrative bloat in healthcare, and how she realized she always had a choice.

This episode is about reclaiming agency through values, connection, collaboration, and the courage to design a life and practice that actually aligns with who you are.

Key Themes:
From Idealism to Disillusionment

1. Kat describes the arc many physicians experience: entering medicine as a high-achieving, enthusiastic learner and slowly realizing, “I thought this was going to be better.”
2. Residency forges some of her most meaningful, lifelong relationships—even as the system itself begins to erode joy and creativity.
3. As leadership changes in employed medicine, conditions often worsen rather than improve.

The Myth of Infinite Resilience

1. Medicine demands perfection while punishing anything less.
2. Resilience is not endless—it’s a bucket that must be actively filled and resourced.
3. The dream of post-training life rarely matches reality; the clinical work is often the easiest part of the job.

Moral Injury and Systemic Failure

1. Five years ago, Kat witnessed a dramatic rise in loneliness and anxiety among children without adequate training, resources, or systems to support them.
2. The moral injury of feeling like she was causing harm simply by working within a broken system shook her willingness to participate in it.
3. Healthcare has become an industry of industries, bloated by layers of administration and confusion designed to perpetuate itself.

Insurance, Power, and Autonomy

1. Insurance companies dictate care decisions, limiting physician autonomy and patient-centered care.
2. If given a magic wand, Kat would eliminate the outsized power insurance holds over medical decision-making
3. The growing number—and salaries—of administrators contrasts sharply with the lived experience of clinicians.

Choosing a Different Path

1. Disillusionment with healthcare helped catalyze Kat’s move toward building a direct care clinic focused on longevity and age management.
2. Starting a business required clarity around core values and identity.
3. Physicians have highly transferable skills and more freedom than they are often led to believe.

Relationship Over...