Family of doctors provide health care to Utahns amid physician shortage

Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes

KEY TAKEAWAYS

The Morrell family, comprising multiple doctors, provides healthcare in Utah amid a physician shortage.
They emphasize the importance of family support and shared experiences in their medical careers.
The U.S. may face a shortage of 86,000 physicians by 2036.

KAYSVILLE — What are conversations at the dinner table like when you all practice medicine?

"Having people that we love and trust with a different perspective within the profession is really helpful," said Dr. David Morrell, a fellowship-trained surgeon at LDS Hospital.

David Morrell is one of three surgeons in his family. His father, Dr. Glen Morrell, is the chief medical officer at the Intermountain Healthcare Layton Hospital and a general surgeon, and his brother, Dr. Josh Morrell, is a general surgeon at the Layton Hospital and at Tanner Clinic.

David Morrell with his father, Glen Morrell. They are two of three surgeons in the family. (Photo: Emma Benson, KSL-TV)

The Morrells also have two brothers who work in healthcare administration and a brother who is a nurse. So, of course, medicine and healthcare are often brought up in family conversations.

"For us, medicine and surgery is exciting, but not so much for the family members, so we try to limit it," Josh Morrell laughed.

Glen, David, and Josh have even been in the operating room together.

"It's true of any profession. It's difficult to understand without having experienced it," David Morrell said. "I don't think I would have ever gone into surgery without my dad's example."

David Morrell and Glen Morrel performing surgery together. They are two of three surgeons in their family. (Photo: Morrel family)

"You know, when there's a difficult part that you're going through, a difficult time that you're going through, it's really nice to be able to have that support and family members that have gone through it as well," Josh Morrell added.

So, what does this family of doctors do when they're off the clock?

"We're pretty big BYU fans," Josh Morrell said.

The Morrell family at a BYU game in Provo. Three of the family members are surgeons. (Photo: Morrell family)

The Morrells enjoy watching and playing sports together and spending time with their families. The trio said all being in the same field has brought them closer together.

"Whether it's a difficult question or just sharing in a success, that's a lot of fun as a father just to get those phone calls," Glen Morrell said.

After both David and Josh Morrell spent years out of state for residencies, they're now all back in Utah, providing care to the communities they grew up in, especially considering a looming nationwide physician shortage. Data shows that the U.S. could face a shortage of up to 86,000 physicians by 2036.

"We recognize there is a real shortage," Glen Morrell said. "Part of that is aging physicians retiring."

"It's important for more people to go into medicine, you know, and we need to work on attracting more people to come into medicine," Josh Morrell added.

The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.