Giving Your Doctor a Retirement Gift? (3 Considerations)
A doctor, physician, or hospital consultant is retiring, and you are wondering if it is appropriate to give your doctor a retirement gift. Then you think if it is appropriate, what is the best gift for a retiring doctor.
When thinking about these questions, when your doctor is retiring, you have a relationship with that doctor. If you don’t have a relationship, the problems of appropriate gifting will not cross your mind.
1. Who is the Doctor to You?
Your starting point in deciding if it is appropriate to give your doctor a retirement gift is to focus on what role the doctor plays in your life.
Doctors are valuable members of society, but they are people with all types of connections to others.
Family Doctors
A doctor touches a lot of lives in a career spanning several decades. The relationship between you is a unique kind of friendship.
Your doctor probably sees a side of you that no one else does. You rely on your doctor to treat you with compassion and discretion.
Losing a family doctor to retirement causes a bit of a grieving process. If you want to give a retirement gift to a family doctor, it is an appropriate way of expressing your gratitude for the care your doctor gave you and your family.
Often when a doctor retires, the practice sets up a donation to a retiring gift or for a cause close to the doctor’s heart. You can contribute to this fund or choose a gift or both.
Your decision depends on the depth of your relationship and your available budget.
Regular Doctor
The retiring doctor is one you see on most visits to your practice. He or she remembers your name, and you would stop for a chat if you met them while shopping.
They are not quite a family doctor, but you would like to express your appreciation for their care over the years. A token retirement gift or contribution to a practice collection will represent your gratitude without being excessive.
The Life Saver
A special bond exists with someone who saved your life or that of someone close to you. Hollywood films make a great play about the responsibility resting on the hero who saved another.
In real life, doctors in trauma wards, emergency response situations, and cancer and infectious diseases are in the business of saving lives.
For them, it is part of the day job. For you, it was a life-changing event. You are here today because of it.
Many people give a gift of appreciation immediately after the event. Many people form a relationship with the team that had such an impact on them – possibly through fundraising or general friendship.
If you are still in contact with the doctor that was so influential on your outcome, then when you hear they are retiring, you may want to send a gift. Alternatively, a card expressing thanks and good wishes on their retirement is equally appropriate.
No-one will judge you for either giving a gift, sending a card, or doing nothing at all.
If you are thinking about the question, then you probably want to send a token gift or card. Now your question revolves around a good retirement gift for a doctor from a patient.
2. Retirement Gifts and Doctor’s Ethics
You may be wondering if your Doctor can legally or morally accept a retirement gift from a patient – is there a rule against it?
Individual medical practices may have their own rules about receiving presents. Generally, a present given out of gratitude with no expectation of a benefit doesn’t raise any ethical issues. A retirement gift from a patient is a token of thanks and not a bribe for preferential treatment. It is a personal expression of gratitude and warm wishes to the retiring doctor.
3. Best Gifts for Retiring Doctors
When it comes to saying goodbye to a retiring doctor, you can choose a gift that acknowledges their doctor’s status in a fun way or look forward to their retirement with its increased leisure time.
A gift that is in line with the doctor’s interest, or one that he or she can enjoy in relaxation such as a selection from these retirement tea gifts, usually makes great presents.
Doctor-themed Gifts
Doctors link with stethoscopes, thermometers, syringes, medicine, bandages, and the phrases’ trust me. I’m a doctor,’ and ‘the doctor is in’ amongst other things.
An excellent gift for a retiring doctor involves any personalized item with a ‘doctor phrase’ from shot glasses, T-shirts, engraved pens, a tea mug, or a tumbler.
For a retirement gift for male doctor, consider stethoscope cufflinks and for a retirement gift for female doctor, a stethoscope pendant with an optional birthstone.
For all doctors, a medically inspired artwork or sculpture makes a quirky doctor themed retirement gift. You can get everything from a floral human heart to a Caduceus sculpture in wood or glass.
Retirement Gifts for Doctors
If you are looking for a token gift up to $25, then consider flowers, growing plants, and small gift baskets. When it comes to a gift basket for a doctor, avoid alcohol and chocolate and gift green or herbal tea.
After all, the doctor has been telling you for years to cut down on alcohol and sugar, and you can add a tag that says – ‘A taste of your own medicine!’
Alternatively, a gift of a notebook, a picture frame, or a wooden keepsake box makes a pleasant keepsake gift.
When spending between $25 and $100, your range of gifts increases – beautiful porcelain tea set, a set of crystal glasses, or perhaps champagne or whiskey with a personalized glass make excellent retirement gifts.
Alternative gift ideas include a subscription to a magazine of the doctor’s interest, or an experience like a spa day or activity like hawk flying may be a better gift.
When your budget starts to increase beyond the $100 mark, it is time to take advantage of inside knowledge and ask a member of the practice who is close to the doctor.
Your doctor may be planning a special retirement trip or taking up a new activity. If you are responsible for a substantial joint gift budget, you can consider a weekend break, or perhaps a set of classes depending on the recipient’s plans for retirement.
Alternatively, online gift vouchers or cash will allow the retiring doctor to invest in a gift that suits them from a few new tools, adding to a collection of books or remodeling the garden.
Some people don’t want retirement gifts, but those closest to them want to mark the occasion. In this case, consider a charitable contribution – a donation to a good cause, plant some trees, or support a rescue service.
Is it Appropriate to Buy Your Retiring Doctor a Gift?
If you want to buy the retiring doctor in your life a gift, then it is entirely appropriate. You decide if you are going to buy them a memento of their days as a doctor or a welcome to retirement present.
The precise gift you choose depends on how close your relationship is to the retiring doctor.
Whatever you want to buy them and however you want to personalize it, you have plenty of choice in a range of prices to suit any budget.
Most (although not all) retiring doctors are financially secure, and your doctor appreciates a small meaningful gift as an expression of affection.
A modest gift suited to the individual is more welcome than an extravagant present that makes more of a statement about the giver than the recipient.
When contributing to a group present, you expect that the gift will be substantial but tailored to the retiree’s interest after leaving the medical profession.
Retirement gifts for doctors can be fun, quirky, useful, and beautiful and are a charming way to express your thanks for the unique role your doctor plays in your life.
