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Don't Bully Your Doctors

  By the time you are reading this the election will have been completed. We may not have a final result, but the voting will be over.  Our country is extremely politically divided right now and tensions are at an all-time high, but when discord slips into threats towards physician leaders and bullying of medical organizations, things have gone too far.  

I come from a family whose members have a variety of political opinions, as I imagine many of you do.  Some are democrats, but others are republican, libertarian, green or something else altogether. If we only ever loved those who have identical ideologies a lonely world ours would be. Our differences make us interesting, and diversity lends balance to society. As a county, we must remain civil and respectfully strive to reach sensible compromises.  If families can disagree, but come together in ways that only families can, our country can do this as well.

However, right now, in the midst of a pandemic, things are happening that have crossed a line.  Unfortunately (and unbelievably) medical leaders and public health officers have come under fire during the pandemic for just doing their jobs.  Revered medical organizations have been politicized. The CDC was influenced to make medically unsound recommendations (quickly reversed, thank goodness), pharmaceutical companies have been pushed to rush production of medications and vaccines, and FDA has been pressured to approve treatments and vaccines before appropriate testing has been done. Public health officers have been threatened for making unpopular recommendations. Many have resigned.  IT IS NOT OKAY TO BULLY AND THREATEN PHYSICIAN LEADERS AND MEDICAL ORGANIZATIONS FOR DOING THEIR JOBS TO PROTECT AND CARE FOR PEOPLE. Expression of this type of sentiment or action should be legally punished with severe penalties whether you are a member of an extremist group, or the president of the United States.  Doctors and health organizations need to be free to make the best recommendations possible based on knowledge, science and concern for public health.  Violence, hate speech and bullying of medical professionals has no place in any political party.  Shame on those who have propagated this type of behavior, and shame on those who have condoned it.  Turning a blind eye to threats aimed at caring, hard working medical professionals will have nothing but negative consequences in the future.  

A line must be drawn when it comes to manipulation, threats or abuse towards the doctors, practitioners, nurses and medical organizations that are tasked with protecting public health.  Violence, hate speech, and bullying should not be tolerated under any circumstances, and such behavior merits severe consequences. 


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