Stalinization of Medicine

[IAMS]

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This term is used to describe the situations where physicians, nurses or patients, who would otherwise be whistleblowers to unethical or immoral actions, are silenced by fears of professional or legal retributions. Apparently this is a concern in the UK, any complaint can be responded to with a libel claim which seals all information matters from public disclosure, and the threat of legal battles effectively allows impropriety to continue. Is this at all a problem in the US for physicians or med students? Would anyone here not want to speak up about problems they see, out of fear of retribution?

 

[DrBowtie]

This is a problem in every field/profession.

 

[Zoom-Zoom]

This is a problem in every field/profession.

Yes but in most professions it won't threaten peoples' health or even lives...

 

[IAMS]

Anyone familiar with the Milgram experiment would be able to point out that medical authority, the guise of a white coat, clouds judgement in otherwise well intentioned people. For those who aren't familiar, under direction of a "doctor", participants in the learning study were asked to deliver increasing levels of electric shocks as punishment for incorrect responses to questions. In spite of the recipient complaining of a medical heart condition, screaming, and then non-responsiveness, 65% of those "teachers" involved delivered the lethal level of punishment.

In todays world, where medicine can be used to take advantage of the weak and debilitated, an open culture which discusses morality, free of fear for retribution, is all the more important.

 

[BooMed]

There was a good story about a whistleblowing in AMSA nationals a few years back. An ER resident at Hopkins, who had also been there for med school, blew the whistle on work hour regulations thinking he was anonymous. However, he was found out and was kicked out of residency and almost at the point of calculating how long working at a job like mcdonald's would take to pay off his debt. At the last minute, he was given a chance by gaining residency in Ohio State University.

So yes, I'd imagine that these sort of things go on everyday in medicine. Its sand and unfortunate, but as it goes, "life is unfair" .

You can find his blog online, it's actually a really interesting story. He's in another residency now. Kind of blew my admiration for JHU.