Medical Science vs 'Social Justice'?

"[The 2025 framework for training future physicians] affords us the opportunity to think critically and propose a vision for the practice of medicine which is rooted in social justice, anti-racism, anti-oppression and cultural safety, promoting a broader cultural shift which is necessary for the profession."

"A new model of CanMEDS would seek to centre values such as anti-oppression, anti-racism and social justice, rather than medical expertise."

"[The new system envisioned] would prioritize bidirectional relationships with patients, providers, communities, the land, the health system and society at large rather than the individual physician as a gatekeeper of professionalized knowledge. With this new model, we can reflect a stance of humility over hubris."

Anti-racism working group

"In daily practice, [DEI] is barely given a nod. We are overwhelmed by the volume of patients that need care on a daily basis."

"Our work has bled into our evenings and weekends leaving very little time to think about what seems to be both a political and academic exercise. You can imagine the chaos that would ensue if patients were queued based on perceived oppression as opposed to the acuity of their medical condition."

"The vast majority of physicians have entered the field in order to care for others. There is an abundance of empathy and kindness among my colleagues."

"[DEI] has tried to piggyback on these noble traits and impose a social justice agenda that is driven by only a handful of activist physicians." 

Dr. David Jacobs, president, Ontario Association of Radiologists

AAMC.org

 

It was only a matter of time, after all. The overwhelming social agenda of diversity-equality-inclusion activists determined to change societal norms and to have everyone everywhere condemn 'colonialist'  and 'imperialist' racism in all its guises, where those judged white have been privileged and entitled for far too long, and it's now the turn of Black, Indigenous and People of Colour to be advantaged over white entitlement, has entered government at all levels, schools and universities, the professional bodies, unions and every other facet of society.

Now, it seems, it's the turn of the medical profession. A profession overwhelmed by the demands of its services on a growing public that cannot find primary care physicians, reflective of the shortages of medical professionals. Who themselves are beyond fatigue working long hours, trying to compensate for the dearth of family doctors, coping with infuriating government paperwork; underpaid and feeling under-appreciated. Now, a final assault on their consciousness, to imbibe the social justice message to incorporate it thoroughly in all their experiences with the public.

Under the auspices of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, a working group is opting to push for the training of future doctors to concentrate on social justice and anti-racism; medical expertise, evidently, is optional. Move over, Enlightenment ideals of science and reason; Marxist ideology is preparing to take over...

AAMC.org

 

CanMEDs is implemented by a consortium including the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, the College of Family Physicians of Canada, the Canadian Medical Association, the Medical Council of Canada and the Quebec College of Physicians, as well as others. According to the anti-racism working group that reports to CanMED, the medical profession is described in their report as committing "structural violence" against the marginalized. Leading to its authors proposing a social justice solution to be implemented within the health system.

In one section of the report entitled "Decentering medical expertise", a shift away from medical expertise is called for, toward values such as anti-racism, anti-oppression, shared humanity and decolonization. What could go wrong? This "humility over hubris" concept represents the virtue of the caring and compassionate working group, deploring their haughty, pride-filled colleagues. Another section in the report calls for recognition that historical power structures such as "white supremacy, hetero-patriarchy and capitalism" inform the present, and something desperately must be done to change it.

AAMC.org

 

In Dr. Jacobs' opinion the cult of diversity, equality and inclusion strives to alter medicine from a discipline caring for patients to one championing social justice -- to the extreme detriment of the former, and therefore to society at large. Aside from which, the entire concept is the product of disturbed minds. ("This is bonkers") The goal of medicine is to train doctors in medical competency. In the world of DEI, doctors are to be "tested for 'purity of thought'."

"Equity is about recognizing and accommodating people’s differences to ensure that every individual has what they need to thrive. In the background to its policy on equity and diversity in medicine Opens in a new window, the CMA says equity is achieved when 'every person has the opportunity, with their own identity, culture, and characteristics, to create and sustain a career as, or receive care from, a medical professional without discrimination or any other cultural or characteristic-related negative bias or barrier'."

Canadian Medical Association Website

Hitting all the right notes in intersectionality; female and Black...Canadian Medical Association website

"Beyond the obvious worrisome impact on patients, there is also an impact on physicians' freedom of expression and thought."

"[DEI] is governed and policed by a small unelected and unaccountable group that is using the authority of universities and medical governing bodies to establish what is acceptable and what is unacceptable thought."

"[Medicine should return to embracing respect and partnership with patients, and] strongly reject those who would try to weave their political and social agenda into the doctor-patient relationship."

Dr. David Jacobs

• 
  

Publicly state and reaffirm its support for diversity in medical education and acknowledge the incorporation of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts as a vital aspect of medical training.

Directly oppose any local, state or federal actions that aim to limit diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, curriculum requirements or funding in medical education.

Advocate for resources to establish and maintain DEI offices at medical schools that are staff managed and student- and physician-guided as well as committed to longitudinal community engagement.

Investigate the impacts of state legislation regarding DEI-related efforts on the education and careers of students, trainees and faculty.

American Medical Association

Canada, "Woke" Central

"We will hire the most qualified people based upon their skills and mutual interests. I've had two people say that was the kiss of death. I thought I was trying to be nice saying that if you were interested and able I'd hire you and that's all that mattered. I don't care about the colour of your skin. I'm interested in hiring someone who wants to work on the project and is good at it."

"I believe this is an important stand to make. I will not be silenced any more."

"I think what's happened is the woke and the social justice warriors have made a moralistic argument the way the religious right used to make moralistic arguments. And now people are afraid to challenge them. But I think it's okay to say I believe that equality is a morally valid position. I believe that meritocracy is a morally valid position."

"People do different things. They have different abilities. They have different interests. To me, the whole point is to treat people as individuals, so that's what I do in my life. My way of dealing with racism, or sexism, or any other 'ism' is to treat people as individuals.

"[As scientists] we don't believe in EDI [equality, diversity, inclusion]. We believe in merit, fairness and equality. You should be fair in your procedures and treat people as equals."

Patanjali Kambhampati, professor of chemistry, McGill University, Montreal

Patanjali Kambhampati, a scientist at Montreal's McGill University turned down twice for government grants related to inclusive, equity and diversity provision 'hoops;. John Kenney, National Post

 

As an award winning Canadian scientist Professor Kambhampati has decided to speak out after his request for funding of two projects a year apart were refused one after another, two years running. As a man of great integrity and an expert in his field of scientific research accustomed in the past to receiving federal government research grants, he was being punished for his lack of commitment to "diversity"; doublespeak for giving breaks to unqualified people simply on the basis of their colour or ethnicity.

It doesn't seem to matter to the funding authorities who decided to set his requests aside as not worth evaluating when he emphasized that it was expertise as a qualification that moved him to make his hiring choices, not the colour of an applicant's skin. As himself a man of colour, born in India, living in a 'white' society with ample experiences of his own in the past as a recipient of overt racist discrimination. It is the scientist in him, not the man of Indian origins who responded to pointed questions on his funding application that displeased the funding arbiters.

He committed himself to hiring on merit, nothing more, nothing less. Merit as in scientific qualifications, not the merit based on diversity and considerations of 'inclusiveness'. When his first research funding request was turned down on patently obvious rejection linked to the critical hiring questions, he put it down to new criteria he had no interest in and set it aside. When it happened for a second time, he decided to make it a public issue.

His field of scientific expertise explores super-fast laser science at its cutting edge, a field spanning every issue from telecom to medicine. He applied for a $450,000 grant from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada [NSERC]. NSERC responded that "the Equity, Diversity and Inclusion considerations in the application were deemed insufficient", and they rejected his application. His previous application went to the federally funded National Frontiers in Research Fund a year earlier "to support world-leading interdisciplinary, international, high-risk, high-reward, transformative and rapid-response Canadian research"; turned down on similar grounds.

 

This is the same government that refuses to give summer-student employment grants to any employee-applicant that refuses to sign a commitment to never support groups or are themselves involved in denying abortion rights to women. The result of which was that critical hiring in many areas of social services for summer student jobs for the past several years stumbled and failed when church groups, for example, could not affirm the demand.

It was at the first-stage bureaucratic level that both Professor Kambhampati's applications were stalled. Neither proceeded to the next step where other scientists would review the proposals for their scientific merit and immediacy. Then it came to light that at roughly the same time another arm of government, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, approved a grant to Dr.Lana Ray, professor at Lakehead University, Thunder Bay, of $1.2 million to study cancer prevention with the use of traditional Indigenous healing practices. 

 

Professor Ray commented when the award was announced: "We need to stop framing prevalent risk factors of cancer as such and start thinking about them as symptoms of colonialism."

Professor Kambhampati took up his position in Montreal in 2003 at McGill. Born in India, the now-50-year-old had lived in the United States since age four, working in Minnesota, Texas and California before taking up his Canadian professorship. "In childhood I used to get constant beatings and name calling. Two years ago, I had eight police officers break into my house because I was sitting on my porch while brown. That happened on Canada Day", he said in an interview.

He treats everyone equally and fairly, led by his own experiences. He now believes that woke ideology prevalent on campus has leached into government, creating two major problems: self-censorship and a resistance to asking meaningful questions. "There's a lot of self-censoring. And certainly you see it among young people in the university. So young people in the university self-censor a lot. Now they are afraid to talk. That's no way to advance our understanding of the world."

As a child, he said, his mentors were "old, white World War II vets" who taught him all about radio-controlled airplanes. "And that's what led me to build lasers 30 years later". As a mentor now, the Professor explained he has been of assistance to both men and women of different cultures and religions. "I've mentored minorities, I've mentored women. I myself am a Third World minority. And I have mentored people who have catastrophic illnesses. And I have mentored people who are LGBTQ, and not for any reason other than to treat people as equal."

Woke ideology, in his experience, has accelerated in the last several years. "And now it's the prevailing culture. It's 90 percent of the normal people against 10 percent of the vocal minority that has shamed everyone into self-censorship", he said. 

 

"As a scientist our job is to think about how nature works, ask questions, and find answers without prejudice. We cannot do that anymore. We cannot ask how humans work, and how science and nature work, because the woke are interfering with us and saying, 'You can't ask those questions. You're a racist. You're a sexist. You're a homophobe. You're a colonialist. You're a something'. There's some way in which the woke are trying to get people [so they're' no longer asking meaningful questions]."