It is often said that medicine is not for the faint of heart. I would add that it is also not the place for bleeding-heart activists. Unfortunately, a dangerous trend of elevating left-wing activism is poisoning America’s medical schools, threatening the integrity, quality, and objectivity of the profession to which I have devoted my life. In many instances, medical schools have veered away from taking care of patients to instead prioritize the professing of politics.
According to a new report by Do No Harm, ideological goals have become more important than traditional medical knowledge in many top medical schools across the country. While this appalling trend is no surprise to those who follow it, the American public is beginning to take notice.
Liberal academics are abusing their positions of authority to push progressive agendas to a susceptible and captive audience of students. Grades matter in medical school, and poor performance in just one class can limit a student’s chances at pursuing a lifelong dream in certain fields.
Medical schools are chartered to be institutions defined by rigorous academic standards and a commitment to cultivating excellent doctors—practitioners who treat their patients compassionately without regard to their social, racial, or economic status.
While there may be some credence to arguments that Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) practices help address health disparities, their divisive and exclusionary practices do more harm than good.
Donato Fasano/Getty Images
We cannot allow schools or businesses with one-sided political inclinations to mount peer pressure campaigns to achieve their goals. Faculty and students who voice concern about DEI should not be fired, coerced, or silenced, and promotions and academic success should not be tied to a commitment to any political ideology. Such actions are unconstitutional and should be countermanded by Congress rather than deferred to the long road of litigation toward the Supreme Court.
As a dedicated physician of over 30 years, as well as a representative in Congress, I perceive a much more sinister movement undermining the integrity of medicine. Speaking out against the rapid politicization of health care in recent years comes at a cost. Left-wing advocacy groups, academics, and many in the media have put a target on my back because I introduced legislation to ban DEI mandates at medical schools.
Throughout my entire career, I have treated patients who do not look like me. My urology practice in Eastern North Carolina takes care of a large population of minority and immigrant patients. I have traveled around the world to Haiti, Africa, India, and other nations to treat destitute populations. Not once in my career have I treated anyone with less respect and diligence because they look or think differently than I do.
We must prevent today’s divisive politics from seeping into every corner of American society. Our country’s history contains many moments in which society has failed, but from them we have striven to create a more perfect union. Equality under the law for every man and woman is worthy of being vigilantly guarded. Progressive leaders in medicine may continue to push their agendas, but I will continue to fight to preserve the apolitical nature and true purpose of medicine.
Greg Murphy, M.D., represents North Carolina’s Third District in the U.S. House of Representatives.
The views expressed in this article are the writer’s own.
