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Should doctors be more politically active?
posted at 17/10/2012 4:39 PM BST
on bmj.com
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*Moderator*
Posts: 1451
First: 7/4/2011 Last: 24/5/2013 |
A new BMJ Personal View claims that doctors should be more politically active in opposing decisions made by governments that could entail medical harm. He points to recent examples in the UK -discontent regarding pensions and the NHS reforms and Greek doctors taking to the streets of Athens last year to demonstrate against austerity measures and the effect of these measures on healthcare, especially the increasing suicide rate and rationing of medicines. A problem identified with getting exercised about politics and healthcare is because global capitalism is unopposed and is almost seen as the way of things but this ideology has perhaps contributed to marketisation performance management, the rise of managerialism and targets etc. He says: “If we truly believe in putting patients first then we should be equally (if not more) motivated to be politically active when events impinge negatively on the population as a whole, to the detriment of health and wellbeing. We should learn from our Greek counterparts. Collectively, we are a respected and powerful force in society. We should be more outspoken as a body when we see funding for public services and welfare siphoned into a structural deficit that ultimately arose from an astronomical bailout for finance capital.... It is our duty to openly challenge those decisions that will cause mental and physical harm to the nation.” http://www.bmj.com/content/345/bmj.e6894 Should doctors do more to question politicians and the decisions they make? Is this what it means to be patient-centred? How are doctors different to other areas of public service? “Saving the NHS” is an tangible campaign but can we expect herds of doctors to protest and lobby on overtreatment or junk food, smoking, assisted dying? |
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Re: Should doctors be more politically active?
posted at 17/10/2012 6:43 PM BST
on bmj.com
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Posts: 2060
First: 12/3/2010 Last: 24/5/2013 |
I fear that "taking to the streets" should be the last resource of a desperate community. may be we are there already, but I have never been impressed by a mob, or even by an organised, disciplined demonstration. But there are other ways of challenging and informing politicians about the views of special interest groups, in particular the MPs' "surgeries". Every MP has, or should have, a venue in which they will meet constituents with a grievance or an issue to raise. Those constituents may ask to meet the MP as a group, not just as individuals, and I believe that individuals may bring with them another person who is not a constituent. This last provision has been inserted to allow trade union representatives to accompany members and assist them in making a case to the MP for their support. And is not the BMA a trade union? So might not a doctor "with a grievance" seek an appointment with their MP and bring along friends and trade union reps, who happen to be local BMA members and officers? Has the BMA considered this tactic, so bring the views of doctors personally to MPs? John |
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Re: Should doctors be more politically active?
posted at 17/10/2012 8:02 PM BST
on bmj.com
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Posts: 1271
First: 13/4/2010 Last: 23/5/2013 |
I have always been and always will be politically active in medicine but I have never been a member of a political party nor will I be. As doctors we are still held in high regard (inspite of the best efforts of the tabloid press and sound-bte politiicians). Our views have influence and we are seen as powerful advocates. And so we should be. As doctors we cannot divorce ourselves from those things which impact hugely on health and well being but for which the solutions are political rather than medical. The founding of publoc health as we understand it came out the activities of Dr John Snow in the London cholera outbreak of 1854 and without his overt politicising of the issue things would not have changed for perhaps decades afterwards. So by his political actions millions of lives may have been saved. The Highlands and Islands Medical Scheme of 1913, the forerunner of the UK NHS, would not have happened were it not for the political efforts of the most significant witness to the Dewar Committee which came up with the idea. He was called Dr Lachlan Grant, a GP from Ballachulish and an overtly political man. Similarly the fiction of AJ Cronin, based on his real life experiences, shows how important and powerful "political" doctors can be. As a GP working in remote rural Scotland I cannot stand idle whilst the things which have a huge impact on my patients health and well-being go unchallenged. Health is about housing and education and employment and public transport and we have a powerful vopice in all these areas if we choose to use it. Likewise the outrageous attempts to withdraw disability living allowance from many of my patients who are not fit for work even by the biggest stretch of the imagnination requires us to advocate politically on their behalf. And if we a serious about the health impact of climate change how are we going to tackle that if not politically? I could go on but you can see where I stand. |
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Re: Should doctors be more politically active?
posted at 18/10/2012 7:43 PM BST
on bmj.com
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Posts: 13
First: 16/3/2012 Last: 9/4/2013 |
I don't think so. Doctors are not free to be involved in activities related to politics! This is because doctors do not enjoy the normal human rights of 'innocence until otherwise proven'! As soon as someone is unhappy with your political views, or if God forbid, you are involved in a political mess, you shall be suspended by the GMC for 'protection of the profession' and 'for public interest'! Politics is a game, medicine an art/profession; do not mix these! |
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Re: Should doctors be more politically active?
posted at 18/10/2012 7:58 PM BST
on bmj.com
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Posts: 3045
First: 27/3/2012 Last: 20/5/2013 |
It is an extremely important 'need' considering the present scenario seen almost all over the world that undue political interference or healthcare related policy decisions are many times not in favor of the public health system, but rather a commercial aspect. Also commercial favoring for certain pharmaceutical industries. There should be a separate clino-political wing or a branch or the 'Preventive & social medicine' be upgraded in this regard. |
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Re: Should doctors be more politically active?
posted at 19/10/2012 12:28 AM BST
on bmj.com
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Posts: 579
First: 8/6/2011 Last: 22/5/2013 |
In ancient Athens merchants had not the right to vote. As it was possible to harm their city in order to make more money. Now they are who decide what information we can take in order to believe what they want and to vote who they want. Doctors are those who fight constantly for the benefit of the citizens so they should be and political active. Before some years happened to read an alternative book about the history of USA and what was the ingredients which made this country great. One of them were the workers unions who were independent of the political parties . In our days the unions and their leaders are soldiers of political parties and they act for protecting firstly the interest of their political parties and lastly for the workers. |
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Re: Should doctors be more politically active?
posted at 30/11/2012 9:56 AM GMT
on bmj.com
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Posts: 2
First: 30/11/2012 Last: 30/11/2012 |
caisses enregistreuses Doctors were once overwhelmingly male and usually owned their own practices. They generally favored lower taxes and regularly fought lawyers to restrict patient lawsuits. Ronald Reagan came to national political prominence in part by railing against “socialized medicine” on doctors’ behalf. |
