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Group therapy: New book ponders the damage political correctness can do to medicine

Observations. By Bonnie Booth, amednews staff. Feb. 19, 2001.

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Every so often a book is published that threatens to severely undermine the public's faith in the medical establishment and/or those who practice the healing profession.

Most recently, Blind Eye: The Terrifying Story of a Doctor Who Got Away With Murder comes to mind. The book, by James B. Stewart, tells the story of Michael Swango, MD, who is widely believed to have killed several patients in his care.

Despite a criminal conviction in Illinois, he was able to obtain positions in hospitals in South Dakota and New York. Stewart blames the medical establishment for Dr. Swango's ability to lie his way into these positions and ones at other hospitals.

The book's hardcover edition was released around the time then U.S. Rep. Thomas Bliley (R, Va.) was introducing legislation to open the National Practitioner Data Bank. Stewart popped up on newspaper editorial pages supporting the opening of the data bank, although it is highly unlikely such a move would have made a difference in the Swango case.

Now comes another assault on the medical establishment in the form of P.C. M.D.: How Political Correctness is Corrupting Medicine -- a new book by psychiatrist Sally Satel, MD. Dr. Satel's premise is that the tenets of political correctness, including victimology, multiculturalism, and the rejection of fixed truths and individual autonomy, are causing serious damage to patient care and medical standards.

These are serious accusations, and the book is more often than not well-argued. But it is highly unlikely that it will enjoy the widespread audience of Stewart's Blind Eye or pose as much of a threat to the standing of the medical profession. Stewart's book is what we like to call a "great read" -- it has drama, it has suspense, it has people being murdered. On top of all that, it's a true story. [...]