PS might be too critical of past doctors

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eversoitgoes

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My PS heavily implies that doctors during the AIDS epidemic were unfairly apathetic to their patients (which I believe is true). My thinking is that it was a long time ago and most people realize that hostility to gay people was wrong, so I would think it wouldn’t ruffle feathers? But I would like some other opinions.
 
that doctors during the AIDS epidemic were unfairly apathetic to their patients (which I believe is true). My thinking is that it was a long time ago and most people realize that hostility to gay people was wrong, so I would think it wouldn’t ruffle feathers?
Like @gyngyn has already pointed out, Why would you focus on this? Touch briefly on how AIDS patients have been historically underserved (not much utility in pointing fingers) and then spend the statement talking about your past advocacy/work and how it ties into your career aspirations in medicine. You are applying to be a doctor, not a social sciences/history professor.
 
Your PS is to tell us how your participation in the doctor patient relationship is going to make life better for others.
Does this theme tell us that?
It’s more of a motivation as to why I’d like to be a doctor, and how being a doctor is beyond just practicing science. It’s contrasted to a positive shadowing experience I had which proves my point. It is not mentioned out of the blue as the AIDS epidemic is a recurring theme in my statement.
 
It’s more of a motivation as to why I’d like to be a doctor, and how being a doctor is beyond just practicing science. It’s contrasted to a positive shadowing experience I had which proves my point. It is not mentioned out of the blue as the AIDS epidemic is a recurring theme in my statement.
I understand what you were going for. I just disagree with the strategy. I don’t see any amount of dwelling on how doctors were morally in the wrong benefitting your chances of admission.
 
I understand what you were going for. I just disagree with the strategy. I don’t see any amount of dwelling on how doctors were morally in the wrong benefitting your chances of admission.
Understandable- I may shift the language a bit. Thank you.
 
It’s more of a motivation as to why I’d like to be a doctor, and how being a doctor is beyond just practicing science.
I don't think this analogy will achieve the desired effect.
 
There are still some of us around who were there when the first patients were admitted. We were puzzled, curious, saddened, ashamed at the ignorance and fear shown by some hospital workers (nurses aides, housekeepers, food service) but I never saw any physician who was apathetic. (In many ways, the responses were similar to those during the early days of the COVID pandemic). Maybe this is by virtue of the places I worked.... but there will be application readers who will be offended by your words. Nothing good can come from comparing and contrasting physicians of today (and the future) to those of the past. Find a new approach, please.
 
My PS heavily implies that doctors during the AIDS epidemic were unfairly apathetic to their patients (which I believe is true). My thinking is that it was a long time ago and most people realize that hostility to gay people was wrong, so I would think it wouldn’t ruffle feathers? But I would like some other opinions.
For those of us who were already doctors at the height of the AIDS epidemics, and took care of the many patients dying of AIDS (yes, in the beginning, all my AIDS patients died), I would interpret your PS as ignorant and depending on your tone, probably arrogant also. As it turns out for you, I will not be reviewing application files this year so my feathers won't be ruffled if you applied to the school I'm at.
 
There are still some of us around who were there when the first patients were admitted. We were puzzled, curious, saddened, ashamed at the ignorance and fear shown by some hospital workers (nurses aides, housekeepers, food service) but I never saw any physician who was apathetic. (In many ways, the responses were similar to those during the early days of the COVID pandemic). Maybe this is by virtue of the places I worked.... but there will be application readers who will be offended by your words. Nothing good can come from comparing and contrasting physicians of today (and the future) to those of the past. Find a new approach, please.
Thank you for the advice. I want to be clear that I do not mean to imply all doctors were apathetic. I do appreciate your words and grateful to hear a perspective from someone that was there.
 
For those of us who were already doctors at the height of the AIDS epidemics, and took care of the many patients dying of AIDS (yes, in the beginning, all my AIDS patients died), I would interpret your PS as ignorant and depending on your tone, probably arrogant also. As it turns out for you, I will not be reviewing application files this year so my feathers won't be ruffled if you applied to the school I'm at.
I appreciate your candor and perspective, especially as someone who was there.
 
So there is a lot to unpack here.

AIDs was scary back in the day because people didn’t immediately know what caused it or how it spread and it killed lots of people. Yeah, a lot of that was homophobia, but some of it was a legitimate fear of personal harm.

I personally think that if you go to medical school, you sign yourself up to be in harm’s way, and that kind of behavior (even if from fear) is unacceptable. But be careful as a premed student throwing such stones at people. It’s easy to say when you’ve never been in that situation, and I for one would have a hard time taking you seriously.

Besides, what does the historical treatment of AIDs have to do with your motivation for medicine?

Finally- even if you’re right, don’t bash physicians in your PS. It’s just a bad idea. It rarely goes over well.
 
My PS heavily implies that doctors during the AIDS epidemic were unfairly apathetic to their patients (which I believe is true). My thinking is that it was a long time ago and most people realize that hostility to gay people was wrong, so I would think it wouldn’t ruffle feathers? But I would like some other opinions.

You don't want to focus on the negative in your PS. You will come across as a negative person.

Can you find an example of someone who treated a patient with AIDS or another disease with kindness, compassion, and caring? Someone you want to emulate? Can you tell your story from a more positive perspective?

Also, if your essay is focused on or spends significant real estate talking about how gay people were treated in the 1980's, that investment could be taking away from the space you spend writing about YOU. You should be the main character in the PS. What have you learned, when and how? When have you contributed? How have your personal experiences motivated you to become a physician -- presumably one who is kind, caring, and compassionate.
 
For those of us who were already doctors at the height of the AIDS epidemics, and took care of the many patients dying of AIDS (yes, in the beginning, all my AIDS patients died), I would interpret your PS as ignorant and depending on your tone, probably arrogant also. As it turns out for you, I will not be reviewing application files this year so my feathers won't be ruffled if you applied to the school I'm at.
Ditto for me, but I WILL be seeing applications….and I WOULD be very offended. We cared more than you can ever imagine, but there was so little we could do that it brings tears to my eyes even now.
 
Ditto for me, but I WILL be seeing applications….and I WOULD be very offended. We cared more than you can ever imagine, but there was so little we could do that it brings tears to my eyes even now.
My fear was that my essay implied that docs were too apathetic, and I still believe that some were early on. In no way did I mean to say all docs were like that. I apologize for the wording as it wasn’t really even a good synopsis of my actual essay, which was more about societal apathy. I am grateful for all doctors of that time who treated their patients with empathy during an impossible time, you included.
 
Thank you everyone for your thoughts. I was wrong here and I truly thank you all for your perspectives. I’m going to rethink my angle to be more reflective of the situation.

This topic of history is incredibly important to my understanding of the world and why I want to be a physician. Most of that comes from those who did care at a time where society didn’t. I’m looking forward to making that clearer in my statement.
 
I think you should only use this as an application theme if you have extensive involvement in HIV/AIDS related work or spaces - which the whole premise suggests you probably do not. If its something that you're interested in, consider pursuing it and meeting people who are actually doing the work! As a young physician with interests in HIV care, a lot of my attendings began their careers in the height of the AIDS crisis and it is very easy to see how it shaped them, and how much they cared (and still do).

of course there were plenty of people who were apathetic or discriminatory, but there are still people like that today. rather than trying to paint yourself as better than them, consider learning more about some of the important doctors/nurses/patients/activists of that era who might serve as an inspiration for you instead.
 
I think you should only use this as an application theme if you have extensive involvement in HIV/AIDS related work or spaces - which the whole premise suggests you probably do not. If its something that you're interested in, consider pursuing it and meeting people who are actually doing the work! As a young physician with interests in HIV care, a lot of my attendings began their careers in the height of the AIDS crisis and it is very easy to see how it shaped them, and how much they cared (and still do).

of course there were plenty of people who were apathetic or discriminatory, but there are still people like that today. rather than trying to paint yourself as better than them, consider learning more about some of the important doctors/nurses/patients/activists of that era who might serve as an inspiration for you instead.
I did not include full context to my statement in my question. My PS includes much of this if you’d like to read it.
 
I did not include full context to my statement in my question. My PS includes much of this if you’d like to read it.
I am sure that there is more nuance than here in a forum post! if you do have extensive involvement/connection to those spaces and people, or a specific positive inspiration from that time, then I think it is reasonable to recognize the context in which they were living/working while focusing on how the positive characteristics you would like to embody. But I think the point everyone is making is that "all older AIDS doctors bad, recent shadowing experience good" as you initially described is not a great frame and will make it clear to physicians who lived through it (including lots of current med school deans, etc) that your understanding of that time is somewhat one dimensional
 
I am sure that there is more nuance than here in a forum post! if you do have extensive involvement/connection to those spaces and people, or a specific positive inspiration from that time, then I think it is reasonable to recognize the context in which they were living/working while focusing on how the positive characteristics you would like to embody. But I think the point everyone is making is that "all older AIDS doctors bad, recent shadowing experience good" as you initially described is not a great frame and will make it clear to physicians who lived through it (including lots of current med school deans, etc) that your understanding of that time is somewhat one dimensional
I see your point. It is definitely a more nuanced take on it. Thank you for your thoughts.
 
My PS heavily implies that doctors during the AIDS epidemic were unfairly apathetic to their patients (which I believe is true). My thinking is that it was a long time ago and most people realize that hostility to gay people was wrong, so I would think it wouldn’t ruffle feathers? But I would like some other opinions.
It's never a good idea to throw doctors under the bus.

Also, the PS is not meant to be an essay on the state of the practice of Medicine, past or present. It's about "Who am I?" and "Why Medicine?"

The doctors I saw at MSKCC at the time who cared for AIDS patients worked desperately to heal their patients (who were not all gay, BTW). They definitely were NOT apathetic.
 
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It's never a good idea to throw doctors under the bus.

Also, the PS is not meant to be an essay on the state of the practice of Medicine, past or present. It's about "Who am I?" and "Why Medicine?"

The doctors I saw at MSKCC at the time who cared for AIDS patients worked desperately to heal their patients (who were not all gay, BTW). They definitely were NOT apathetic.
I was definitely conflating general institutional attitudes and policies with individual physicians, which is probably very foolish. Is a critique of these systems around that time warranted? Would it bring about similar feelings?

All of this really is a few sentences in my PS and not a big part of it.
 
I was definitely conflating general institutional attitudes and policies with individual physicians, which is probably very foolish. Is a critique of these systems around that time warranted? Would it bring about similar feelings?

All of this really is a few sentences in my PS and not a big part of it.
How is it relevant to your PS?
 
I was definitely conflating general institutional attitudes and policies with individual physicians, which is probably very foolish. Is a critique of these systems around that time warranted?
No. As I mentioned, this is for an application to medical school, not a term paper for a History of Medicine in America class.
 
My fear was that my essay implied that docs were too apathetic, and I still believe that some were early on. In no way did I mean to say all docs were like that. I apologize for the wording as it wasn’t really even a good synopsis of my actual essay, which was more about societal apathy. I am grateful for all doctors of that time who treated their patients with empathy during an impossible time, you included.
I think you should examine whether your belief that some docs were apathetic is really true. What the media (or some of it) reported may not reflect actual physician conduct, versus the conduct and policies of hospital and clinical administration and insurance companies, who, as we know, have an outsized influence on health care options and decision making.
 
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