Take Two Aspirin and Call Me by My Pronouns

Wall Street Journal ^ | 12 Sep 19 | Stanley Goldfarb

[SkyPilot]

At ‘woke’ medical schools, curricula are increasingly focused on social justice rather than treating illness.

The American College of Physicians says its mission is to promote the “quality and effectiveness of health care,” but it’s stepped out of its lane recently with sweeping statements on gun control. And that isn’t the only recent foray into politics by medical professionals. During my term as associate dean of curriculum at the University of Pennsylvania’s medical school, I was chastised by a faculty member for not including a program on climate change in the course of study. As the Journal reported last month, such programs are spreading across medical schools nationwide.

Why have medical schools become a target for inculcating social policy when the stated purpose of medical education since Hippocrates has been to develop individuals who know how to cure patients?

A new wave of educational specialists is increasingly influencing medical education. They emphasize “social justice” that relates to health care only tangentially. This approach is the result of a progressive mind-set that abhors hierarchy of any kind and the social elitism associated with the medical profession in particular.

These educators focus on eliminating health disparities and ensuring that the next generation of physicians is well-equipped to deal with cultural diversity, which are worthwhile goals. But teaching these issues is coming at the expense of rigorous training in medical science. The prospect of this “new,” politicized medical education should worry all Americans.

The traditional American model of medical training, which has been emulated around the world, emphasizes a scientific approach to treatment and subjects students to rigorous classroom instruction. Students didn’t encounter patients until they had some fundamental knowledge of disease processes and knew how to interpret symptoms.

[SkyPilot]

ACP is not a medical university (like Johns Hopkins). It is a ‘clearing house’ for insurance and government programs.

Thanks.

[SkyPilot]

Where this ‘Social Justice’ crap is getting REALLY INTERESTING is how it relates to the (relatively high cost) Low Carb Lifestyle (Keto diet, and other, less-low carb diets). It’s now pretty much a FACT that the switch from the high fat (i.e., fatty red meat) to high-carb diets in the US and most Western countries is the root cause of the obesity/diabetes epidemics breaking out in those countries (as well as many non-Western countries).

There was an article that made headlines this week about the states with the highest obesity rates.

Because the states were in the deep south, leftists started to jump on comments and on Facebook and say it was "Trump supporters" who were responsible for the obesity rates.

Until the facts came out that the states mentioned had very large minority populations, and the very highest obesity rate is among the Food Stamp ranks of minorities (especially women).

We are the only generations in history to have poor-obese people.

[Spok]

Marxism preaches that everything is political, without exception. Good Marxist thinking makes the sun rise and the earth turn. There’s no room for deviant thinking based on science or reason. Orwell nailed it.

[polymuser]

Yep. Fed gov has been gradually taking control of healthcare (17% of our economy, a big juicy peach), in conjunction with big healthcare. Obamacare put that on steroids.

Healthcare, pubic education, entitlements, alien insurgency, patents, property reg’s, mpg/toilet/light bulb/gas can reg’s...runaway fed gov crap.

[GailA]

We already have to poorly educated Doctors now. Especially in Rural areas. To find a competent one you have to drive 2 hrs.
My little berg has 1 Pediatric and 1 GP. NO competent Internist, or Specialist. The 2 nearest hospitals are fit to treat your dog.

[originalbuckeye]

I read yesterday that Sam Smith (popular with our youth, singer) has asked that people use the pronouns ‘they, them’ when referring to him. I am wondering, since they and them are both plural pronouns, if Mr Smith and those like him might be schizophrenic? As with ALL Dem ideas, the pronoun ‘problem’ has gotten out of hand.

(I recently heard a cut from a Leftist gathering, where the person asking a question of the speaker first stated his name and then immediately added his requested pronouns. Leftists are going off the Left end of the World)

[BobL]

“On the other hand, it’s not a sin to tell a lie to someone who is not entitled to know the truth.”

Kids with decent parents were always told (trained) to tell the truth, at least to adults in positions of authority. The problem is that life isn’t so simple anymore, particularly for conservatives and children of conservatives. It is now just as important to tell kids how and when to lie to others, particularly adults.

For example, I told my kids to ALWAYS answer “NO” if asked if they are/were spanked. And, to help them remember, I promised them they could get “Brand New Parents” if they ever answered “yes”. So it worked out good. Gun ownership, of course, is another area worth lying about, in most cases. Same when I see a doctor. If they ask me probing questions about my past that I don’t think they need to know about...well, they get whatever answer I feel like giving them, that day.

[rockrr]

I was once asked by a manager at work if I owned firearms. My reply was, “Guns are icky!” This stopped the manager in his tracks. He backed up and tried again, “Yes, but do you own any firearms? Again, all I said was “Guns are icky!”

As it turned out he was a gun enthusiast but I had no way to know that. And the company had lurched decidedly in the leftward direction so I had no inclination to be forthright with any of them - about anything.

[BobL]

“I’ve seen it written that pediatricians now routinely ask parents of their patients if there are any firearms in the house.”

I always remind people here that there are 3 potential answers to this question:

1) No (regardless of whether it’s true or not)
2) Yes, but we are careful about locking them up, unloaded.
3) None of your G-DAMN business.

Answer 3, these days, may well get them red-flagged. Answer 2 is better than Answer 3, but Answer 1 is always the best.

What I worry about are when laws are passed REQUIRING truthful statements to doctors (heck, I even lie about my Social Security number, as I don’t want copies of that showing up in their trash bins). If that day does come (when lying is punishable), then I’m through seeing doctors (except for emergencies, of course). I just go low-carb and roll the dice.

[BobL]

“How many unqualified people will become “doctors” so as to allow them to proclaim they are “diverse”?”

I had a black doctor do surgery on me. Not only were the results excellent, he also had an attitude that conveyed he really loved the work he was doing. Having said that, I should note that he is at least 60 years old, so any ‘help’ he might have gotten along the way was limited (i.e., he at least had to study somewhat).

What’s really sad is that he was referred to me. Had I seen his picture from a list to choose from (without a referral), he simply would have been rejected outright, as there is no way, now, to know if he is as good as a doctor who actually had to earn his license. He may be a great doctor...but he may also just be a doctor to ‘get the numbers up’, something that I don’t have to worry about when it comes to Asian doctors, for example.

[Fred Hayek]

I did get asked all sorts of questions when I lived in Minnestoopid. I learned quickly on giving the correct leftist soy boy responses. Then I moved back to Texas, and for a year the nitwits continued to call.

I no longer recognize any professional license issued by Minnestoopid.

[Seruzawa]

We ate in the Twilight of our civilization. The chances of the collapse being reversed are slim. Every Institution is now run by lunatics and outright criminals.

[BlackbirdSST]

We are the only generations in history to have poor-obese people.

Have you seen the throngs of porkers advancing from our south? I think we've 'imported' a goodly portion of our obesity over the last 30-40 years. Not all mind you but I'm sure it drives the numbers up.

[aquila48]

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[Savage Beast]

You know the decadence of Western Civilization has permeated the heart of a society when even its medical schools have succumbed to Big Brother’s groupthink propaganda.

[goodnesswins]

Ha...had a doctor (woman) start asking me a bunch of personal questions (Do I use a seat belt, etc?) I looked at her funny, and said, basically, I wasn’t going to be answering her questions...to which she said...”I won’t even as you about guns, then.”

[Savage Beast]

"True - education has become a joke, and the Left ruins everything it touches." ~SkyPilot

"Curricula will increasingly focus on climate change, social inequities, gun violence, bias and other progressive causes only tangentially related to treating illness."

Nurse: "He's in anaphylactic shock."

Doctor: "You mean se."

Nurse: "Whatever. Here's the epinephrine."

Doctor: "The what?"

Nurse: "Inject the epinephrine, Doctor!"

Doctor: "Not until you say se.

Nurse: "Inject se epinephrine! He's dying!"

Doctor: "PC Police! Calling the PC Police!"

Nurse: (Starting epinephrine injection) "Take your hands off me!" (Before she can inject the epinephrine, PC Police drag nurse off to Re-education.)

Doctor: "I apologize for su getting called a he instead of a se. I hope su aren't upset. Uh..." (shaking patient) "Se's not responding. What's the matter?"

Orderly: This patient's dead: anaphylactic shock.

Doctor: What's that?

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

The neat thing about all these new imaginary pronouns is that they are pronounced the same way: “A**hole”.

[tbw2]

This is happening in engineering, too.

The Rise of Engineering’s Social Justice Warriors
https://www.jamesgmartin.center/2018/11/the-rise-of-engineerings-social-justice-warriors/

[tbw2]

It is part of some of the most commonly used Electronics Medical Records or EMR systems, and Obamacare penalized doctor’s offices that didn’t switch to digital records.

In these cases, it is a question they have to ask as part of the patient visit.