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EDITOR'S CHOICE: Fiona Godlee A diverse profession BMJ 2008; 336: 0 [Full text]

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The genius of Einstein leads to Hiroshima

BM Hegde   (7 April 2008)

The genius of Einstein leads to Hiroshima 7 April 2008
BM Hegde, Retd. Vice Chancellor Mangalore-575 004 Send response to journal: Re: The genius of Einstein leads to Hiroshima	Dear Fiona Godlee, I enjoyed reading the issue with your editorial. I wish to make a few points which, I think, are pertinent to the future of medical profession. These are my personal observations in the teaching profession for nearly half a century in various parts of the world. Carol Black was statistically correct but philosophically wrong. Beauty is what beauty does. Gender and beauty are secondary to professional commitment and integrity. As Pablo Picasso said years ago about scientists (the heading) applies also to doctors. At the end of the day what matters is your compassion for humanity. I call this as medical humanism, the great word introduced by Johanna von Goethe in Faustus I. What ails medicine is not the gender bias or even the number of doctors per capita. Women would do as well as men given the opportunity. Their roles as mothers could also be fulfilled if conditions at work are conducive. The number of professionals has very little to do with medical care delivery as shown by the seven country study that showed that the countries with lesser numbers, especially lesser sub-specialists, did much better even in longevity and health status of the populace compared to those with higher numbers in both categories, although we need a minimal critical number. Women would make better doctors as they are genetically coded to be more empathetic. It was Buddha who said that “a doctor should look after every patient like a mother looks after her child, her only child, with all her affection.” Each doctor should shower all her/his affection on every patient, like the mother does on her child. Who, then, would be a better doctor than a good woman? Let us not forget what happened in Israel when doctors went on strike in 2000 (1), earlier in 1953 and 1973, in Bogota, Columbia, in 1973 when doctors attended only to emergencies, and in Los Angeles County in 1973 when doctors stopped work protesting against medical insurance premium rates. Did not the death and disability rates go down significantly only to go back to the original levels when doctors came back to work? (2) We should be able to reverse the new term iatrogenocide introduced by Dr. Quentin Young in 1976 by inducting more compassionate women in our force.(2) A woman that way is better suited for the job. In addition, the greatest curse of modern medicine today is its commercialization where women might show better integrity and authenticity compared to men. If women are in charge there could be less fraud in research that we see today, mostly to please the research funders’ in the industry. (3, 4, 5, 6) Most research funds, in all countries, today flow from the industry. No industry would give any of its stakeholders’ money without strings attached! Otherwise, they will be breaking their own rice bowl. Researchers’ commitment to mankind should be supreme. Women might fit the bill here better. Yours ever, Bmhegde. References: 1) Siegel-Itzkovich, J. "Doctors' strike in Israel may be good for health." BMJ Jun 10; 320(7249) 2000. p. 1561. 2) Mendelsohn RS. Confessions of a medical heretic. 1990. McGraw Hill, New York 3) McCormack J, Greenhalgh T. Seeing what you want to see in research-The UPSPD study. BMJ 2000; 320: 1720-1723. 4) Lenzer J. Researcher received undisclosed payments of $300 000 from Pfizer. BMJ 2006 333: 1237. 5) Angell M. Is academic medicine for sale? N. Engl. J. Med 2000; 342: 1516-8. 6) Editorial. Drug Company influence on medical education in USA. Lancet 2000; 356: 781-83. Competing interests: None declared