Dr. Brandt argues that the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade violates one of the central tenets of medicine in that it removes the ability for healthcare providers to align a patient’s care with a patient’s values and wishes. It also opens medical decisions up to legislation. Throughout the pandemic healthcare workers were also exposed to the realities of their work being politicized, with people refusing vaccinations and suggesting unproven treatments for COVID-19.
Thus in order to fight against the politicization of healthcare, Dr. Brandt argues that those in the field have to be more open to speaking out.
“We must embrace the irony that to get politics out of medicine, we must become political,” she writes.
Joining advocacy committees, national groups and creating groups within health systems are all ways physicians and healthcare workers can start to push back, she says.
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