Monday, February 21, 2011

Hsieh PJM OpEd: "The Wisconsin Protests and the New Medical Ethics"

PajamasMedia has just published my latest OpEd, "The Wisconsin Protests and the New Medical Ethics". Here is an excerpt:
During the recent Wisconsin protests pitting the public-sector teachers' union against a governor attempting to rein in their overly generous benefits, several doctors were caught on camera apparently handing out fake work excuses to the protesters.

Although this might seem an outrageous breach of professional ethics, it is actually entirely consistent with the new brand of "progressive" medical ethics currently taught to medical students. And these apparent breaches of professional ethics displayed in Wisconsin may be an ominous foretaste of future problems Americans can expect under ObamaCare...

In traditional medical ethics, a doctor's primary responsibility is to tell his patients the truth and to treat his patients according to his best honest judgment, skill, and ability.

But a new form of medical ethics is being taught in medical schools that tells doctors to place the needs of "society" ahead of individual patients. At best, it forces doctors to juggle the truth and the interests of their patients alongside "social" considerations. At worst, it will give them license to sacrifice their professional integrity (and their patients' interests) in the name of "society"...
(Read the full text of "The Wisconsin Protests and the New Medical Ethics".)

For more on this topic, I recommend "Social Justice and Medical Ethics" by Dr. Beth Haynes of the Black Ribbon Project.

Another good resource is this series of blog posts on the New Medical Ethics by Dr. Richard Fogoros of The Covert Rationing Blog.

Update: Thank you, Instapundit, for the link!

And thank you, HotAir, for the link!