Merran Cooper

At 50, while in a blended family with 3 children, 3 stepchildren and husband, I decided to study medicine- my lifetime goal was to work in palliative care. I suffered no ageism from the 24-30 year olds I studied with, nor professors. The ageism came from people of my OWN age and older.

As a qualified doctor on the ward one day, with 10 medical registrars and students present (many of whom were my friends and colleagues) one specialist ( older than me) called out loudly- “Why are you here? You’re too old to be an Intern. You must be 50! ( I was 56!) You’ve only got 5 years left. You shouldn’t be here.”