Hi everyone:
Universities have ample reason to maintain institutional neutrality. Neutral positions encourage dialogue and the expression of key minority, contrarian, and unpopular ideas.
Institutional neutrality is also crucial in medicine. Freely exchanged ideas push us to think critically about controversial topics, like who should get a lung transplant or the best way to fund healthcare. Rather than promulgate official views, medical centers should provide space and resources for faculty and trainees to investigate, teach, and debate.
But there is a limit to institutional neutrality: institutions can’t stay neutral when defending their missions. For example, medical centers must stake out clear positions to support research, patient care, and education, particularly when any of these missions are threatened. The same is true of our residency’s mission. Last week, in light of threats to civil discourse, I focused on the fourth principle of our mission statement: “To treat our colleagues and hospital staff with kindness, respect, generosity of spirit, and patience.” We may debate how to treat each other well but not whether we should do so.
Our ninth principle asserts our mission “to promote social justice by advocating for equitable health care, without regard to race, gender, sexual orientation, social status, or ability to pay.” In other words, we oppose medical discrimination. Our tenth principle asserts our mission “to extend our talents outside the walls of our hospitals and clinics, to promote the health and well-being of communities, locally, nationally, and internationally.” In other words, we are concerned with people everywhere, from New Haven to thousands of miles away.
Our residency is embedded in a world-renowned institution, and our reach is universal. Though our commitment to equity and universal rights is not subject to debate, our commitment does frame the questions we ask. How do we ensure equitable care for everyone, without discrimination? How can we deliver health care everywhere, even to impoverished war zones? As program director, it’s not my role to answer these questions. Rather, it’s my responsibility to provide the space, resources, and freedom you need to answer these questions yourselves.
Enjoy your Sunday, everyone. I’m headed out for a long, much-needed bike ride.
Mark
What I’m reading:
- Colleges Have Gone Off the Deep End. There Is a Way Out.
- Art Isn’t Supposed to Make You Comfortable
- Skepticism Is Healthy, but in Medicine, It Can Be Dangerous