Docs must put politics aside and become patient advocates

In the wake of last week’s election, it’s more important than ever that physicians--whatever their political stance--become advocates on behalf of their patients, according to a number of doctors.

“This election and its results have illuminated a dark underbelly of American society: President-elect Donald Trump’s campaign may have drawn in voters who felt forgotten, but it also fed on racism, misogyny, homophobia, anti-Semitism and Islamophobia,” writes Allison Bond, M.D., a resident physician at Massachusetts General Hospital, on Slate.

Physicians need to use their voices to advocate for patients and their well-being, including those who have been targeted in the election and those who felt neglected before it, she says.

Meanwhile, members of the Social Justice Coalition of the Cambridge Health Alliance have penned a letter addressed to their patients promising to “act and advocate” against any threat to patients’ well-being in the Trump era.

“For our patients, poverty, violence and marginalization are not mere abstractions but instead harsh realities,” they write, in a letter published on Medium.com. They outlined eight beliefs, starting with health as a human right, and invited medical colleagues to co-sign their names. The letter has 562 signatures so far.

Robert Zarr, M.D., president of Physicians for a National Health Program, has also issued a “call to action” on the part of healthcare professionals.  “It is important, in this time of chaos and uncertainty, that healthcare professionals organize ourselves to take collective action and speak with a coherent voice. More than ever, our patients, and our country need us as activists, as well as healers,” he wrote in a letter on the group’s website.

And in a slightly different vein, Philip Katz, M.D., shared the lessons he learned when he suddenly found himself a patient after suffering cardiac arrest, according to Medscape.

"I actually think I'm alive because of everything good about our profession. I believe I am the beneficiary of everyone doing their best. To me, that's our obligation every day--to be our best, no matter how freaking hard our job is," said Katz, who received a standing ovation after delivering a lecture at the American College of Gastroenterology 2016 Annual Scientific Meeting last month.