On the rise of political advocacy in medicine and public health, where it leads us astray, what it costs the public, and the case for a return to political neutrality.
Doesn’t sound like any doctor I’ve ever been to see and I’m north of 70 and live in NYC Metro area. In fact, my PCP stopped asking about my Covid booster status in 2022 after my 1st bout with Covid. Very sorry if this is becoming the norm.
I hope you got up and told the doc to bill the visit as a no charge...and then walked out. If we hit them at their pockets and speak our own truth, that is the power we each have. I own a small healthcare business so that would speak to me. The other wrinkle is most people work for "healthcare systems" and are I'm.une to payments. If they see one less patient, it probably wouldn't matter. Which is sad to think you alienate a patient and wouldn't care, on a human level.
I think my desperation to be as close to “done” as possible with my health issues over a lifetime came about the time someone in admin said that “offending a patient by using the words obesity, overweight, and the like is unacceptable.” I watched patient satisfaction scores become more important than reducing risk of iatrogenic addiction and watched an entire branch of the opiate epidemic addicts stay sicker. When admin admonished those of us who treated addicts to soften this to “people with impulse control issues” I knew the jig was up for honest healthcare. This article underlined my personal disgust of politics in medicine. NOTHING about politics belongs there. NOTHING. I’m not sure who is subverting our students (I have ideas) but the moment something happens to me that happened to the author I’ll walk right out.
I’m a retired general surgeon who worked in a small community hospital for 40 years. Many times I heard patients make insensitive comments but chose not to “correct” them. As long as I was wearing my white coat, I did not feel it was my place to do so. Had I been standing in a check out line at the grocery store, I might have. I still think it’s important to know the proper time and place to make ones opinions known, but the office/clinic is not that place. I knew that had I spoken up, all I would have done is alienate the person I was there to care for and lost the lost the most important “team member”.
My patient referred to his cardiologist as a towel head or something like that. He’s still my patient, and I still want to take care of him, even though I found what he said to be extremely offensive. I try to find where we align on things because above all my patient is a human being, and I’m here on this planet to take care of human beings.
Sad this has to be written it should be so obvious, but most of our institutions are corrupted now. Education, journalism, medicine, climate science.... Not sure how we come back from this.
You lost me at “My dad was confused. He did not go to Harvard and therefore did not appreciate the substance and importance of the correction.” There was neither substance nor importance in the correction, only a remarkable lack of self awareness.
I think the point the author was trying to make was that all “standing up and being counted” has accomplished is making half the electorate stop listening to the “responsible journals.” So as practitioners of medicine, those are people we can either choose to try to rebuild trust that we’re not primarily political actors (hopefully most of us wouldn’t want to be that) or continue with the virtue signaling and moral grandstanding.
Unprecedented times call for unprecedented actions. Only political change can get rid of the dangerous idiocy driving health policy in America. Responsible journals must stand up and be counted.
Doesn’t sound like any doctor I’ve ever been to see and I’m north of 70 and live in NYC Metro area. In fact, my PCP stopped asking about my Covid booster status in 2022 after my 1st bout with Covid. Very sorry if this is becoming the norm.
I hope you got up and told the doc to bill the visit as a no charge...and then walked out. If we hit them at their pockets and speak our own truth, that is the power we each have. I own a small healthcare business so that would speak to me. The other wrinkle is most people work for "healthcare systems" and are I'm.une to payments. If they see one less patient, it probably wouldn't matter. Which is sad to think you alienate a patient and wouldn't care, on a human level.
I think my desperation to be as close to “done” as possible with my health issues over a lifetime came about the time someone in admin said that “offending a patient by using the words obesity, overweight, and the like is unacceptable.” I watched patient satisfaction scores become more important than reducing risk of iatrogenic addiction and watched an entire branch of the opiate epidemic addicts stay sicker. When admin admonished those of us who treated addicts to soften this to “people with impulse control issues” I knew the jig was up for honest healthcare. This article underlined my personal disgust of politics in medicine. NOTHING about politics belongs there. NOTHING. I’m not sure who is subverting our students (I have ideas) but the moment something happens to me that happened to the author I’ll walk right out.
I’m a retired general surgeon who worked in a small community hospital for 40 years. Many times I heard patients make insensitive comments but chose not to “correct” them. As long as I was wearing my white coat, I did not feel it was my place to do so. Had I been standing in a check out line at the grocery store, I might have. I still think it’s important to know the proper time and place to make ones opinions known, but the office/clinic is not that place. I knew that had I spoken up, all I would have done is alienate the person I was there to care for and lost the lost the most important “team member”.
My patient referred to his cardiologist as a towel head or something like that. He’s still my patient, and I still want to take care of him, even though I found what he said to be extremely offensive. I try to find where we align on things because above all my patient is a human being, and I’m here on this planet to take care of human beings.
If you like your journal, you can keep it … laughter remains the best medicine.
Sad this has to be written it should be so obvious, but most of our institutions are corrupted now. Education, journalism, medicine, climate science.... Not sure how we come back from this.
Facts, common sense, scientific process, humility, altruism. We got here because we have these to guide us. Stay the course, just make corrections.
You lost me at “My dad was confused. He did not go to Harvard and therefore did not appreciate the substance and importance of the correction.” There was neither substance nor importance in the correction, only a remarkable lack of self awareness.
I took that line as a smirk against the nose in the air attitude that comes from that institution.
I think the point the author was trying to make was that all “standing up and being counted” has accomplished is making half the electorate stop listening to the “responsible journals.” So as practitioners of medicine, those are people we can either choose to try to rebuild trust that we’re not primarily political actors (hopefully most of us wouldn’t want to be that) or continue with the virtue signaling and moral grandstanding.
Unprecedented times call for unprecedented actions. Only political change can get rid of the dangerous idiocy driving health policy in America. Responsible journals must stand up and be counted.
They need the $ and will do what it takes…