The role of physicians in addressing the myriad of nonmedical factors that affect human health—from poverty to social injustice to infringement of human rights—is a complex one. Physicians and other experts in the field explore the role of physicians as agents of change in the September issue of Virtual Mentor, the AMA’s online ethics journal.
One concern is that well-intentioned physicians may not have the expertise on these non-clinical issues and yet be taken as authorities on the subject because of their professional status. On the other hand, these social, economic and environmental ills threaten the health and welfare of the public. Ignoring them is like treating the symptoms of the disease rather than the cause.
Virtual Mentor contributors take a closer look at the topic. Highlights include:
- “Advocate as a doctor or advocate as a citizen?” This commentary by Matthew Wynia, MD, points out the hazards of physicians invoking their medical training when giving opinion on nonmedical matters. Doctors should be careful not to present their personal views as professional insights if they do not have special expertise in the area.
- “A call to service: Social justice is a public health issue.” Martin Donohoe, MD, and Gordon Schiff, MD, argue that unless physicians build bridges between their clinical work with patients and the public health mission prescribed by Rudolf Virchow, efforts to help patients could prove futile.
- “The Medical Committee for Human Rights.” In this piece, John Dittmer, PhD, looks at this special committee formed in the 1960s, which become a model for similar organizations, such as Physicians for Human Rights and Physicians for a National Health Program.
- “Structural competency meets structural racism: Race, politics and the structure of medical knowledge.” Jonathan Metzl, PhD, and Dorothy E. Roberts write about how to better prepare physicians for medical practice in an ethnically diverse society. They also examine how to eliminate the misguided views of cultural competency that have proven ineffective in combatting racism and its health consequences.
Be sure to take this month’s ethics poll (“How should physicians manage their public advocacy and expressions of opinion?”), and check out the September podcast.
