This comment, from a respected physician, hits the critical danger from the whacked wokeness afflicting medicine.
“When my daughter’s boyfriend graduated from a top 20 med school in Boston in June – the same school that I attended and from which my daughter will graduate this year – I was surprised that the program did not list any seniors as members of “AOA,” the national medical honor society. My daughter informed me that the students had voted to eliminate it because it was “racist.” As a student in the ’80s, I worked my tail off in order to get that honor (I wasn’t the smartest in my class of 140 by a long shot).
Since when is pursuing excellence racist? Doesn’t banning the honor society a sign of racism itself, by implying that some group or group(s) have a more difficult time achieving it? This is a common theme among the woke: They posture as “anti-racist,” at the same time they don’t recognize their own hypocrisy.
To be a leftist is to be a hypocrite, as Rush used to say.”
None of us are better off if we abandon the meritocracy; if we emphasize characteristics and beliefs that have nothing to do with ability, experience, knowledge and hard work. Our communities and our nation suffer when we do not have the best, most capable people doing any job. This has nothing to do with equal opportunity; it has to do with the futile and insane quest to creat equal outcomes. Whether you are African-American, Hispanic, Asian, Caucasian or any other race or ethnicity or gender or religion, when you have a serious health-problem, you want the best care and you want to be treated as an individual.
People are literally going to live in worse health and even to die because woke medical schools and woke medicine will lead to poorly skilled clinicians and even completely incompetent ones providing care. Good luck if you become seriously ill.
The Healthy Skeptic is a website about the health care system, and is written by Kevin Roche, who has many years of experience working in the health industry. Mr. Roche is available to assist health care companies through consulting arrangements through Roche Consulting, LLC and may be reached at 
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the dark ages really happened
Kevin, do you have any advice on how we find a decent doctor? Thank you.
Well said!
I’m surprised that they didn’t just induct all the students into AOA! After all, they’ve probably all been getting trophies their whole careers.
Kevin, thanks for singling out my comment in the post above; I’m honored. There is an afterlogue. I will change my friend’s name to conceal his identity out of respect for him and his privacy.
As we were finishing our three-year specialty fellowship (year eight after med school graduation) and about to embark on our careers at age 34, “Kurt,” who is African American, and I were discussing race in medicine. In the decades since, I’ve sent many patients (“snowbirds”) to him for care during the winter since he practiced in a warm climate.
“It’s not fair,” He said to me. “patients will always look at you differently than me.”
“What do you mean, Kurt?” I said naively. “You went to Harvard; I went to Yale. You trained at Mayo and the Cleveland Clinic, and I trained at the University of Chicago and the Cleveland Clinic. And besides, I think you’re smarter than I am! How can you say that?”
“Because you’re white, patients will assume you achieved your position from merit. Being Black, patients will assume I achieved my status due to Affirmative Action.”
That was eye-opening. In the years since, the many dozens of patients I sent to him always returned to my cold climate, more than satisfied with Kurt, the care he provided, and his compassion. Not one – not a single one – mentioned his race (to test his theory, occasionally, back in the ’90s, I would ask the patient before my referral if they would “mind,” and not a single one objected – “As long as YOU think he’s good doc!” And so, over the years, I was privileged to share many patients with one of the most thoughtful physicians I have had the privilege to know.
Two (of many potential) conclusions. First, “Kurt” is correct. Perhaps Affirmative Action’s persistence detracts from brilliant people of color who achieved excellence in their profession and did so on merit, without any “preferences.” Kurt did have the advantage not only of very high intelligence but also of highly educated professional parents, who made sure he had an excellent education from the earliest years – far unlike the urban public schools of ANY US city today. Arguably the biggest tragedy for urban children of any color is that they do not have access to schools that will push and pull to draw out their best talents. We must fight to reverse this (racist) inequity, ensconced by leftie teacher’s unions who care little or nothing about their students. Second (forgive me for forgetting to whom I owe this quote), “The demand for racism vastly exceeds its supply.” The patients Kurt and I shared did not care about our race, color, or any other Democratic Party-based label – they could perceive and assess quality care, empathy, and respect, regardless of the race of their physician. That so many “leaders” and fraudsters in the USA want to deny, obfuscate, and prevent the dissemination of this fact – and that they want to keep decrepit public schools as the only option for urban children of any color – are challenges that should be high on conservatives’ action lists.