Part of the standard doctrine we are taught, in parallel with doing no harm, is that the service of providing care to another is and must remain entirely apolitical. I have always thought this to be wrong.
There is nothing apolitical or politically neutral in providing care to the ill, the injured, the scared, or the underserved;
in establishing a free clinic for the uninsured;
in watching a patient die but having to sanitize your hands and immediately visit another patient without letting them see the cracks in your shield;
in reviewing radiographs to weigh your suspicion of elderly abuse;
in demanding the prison guard leave the room to provide the county inmate even a modicum of privacy;
in risking your license by subverting elected officials who wish to outlaw or restrict maternal health services;
in referring a drug-dependent patient to a methadone clinic or two;
in rapidly transfusing blood into a pregnant woman hit by an intoxicated driver who, by the way, happens to be recovering rapidly in the adjacent trauma bay; Continue reading “Politics in the workplace”