Skip to main content

A Nation Reels from Police Brutality


In medical terms, the nation has been in status epilepticus – an unrelenting seizure - since the cruel and cowardly killing of George Floyd, an act of evil that we have all witnessed on tape repeatedly.
First, there was the brazen killing of an unarmed man who was already lying face down in handcuffs while a police officer pressed his neck into the pavement.  All the while the officer’s hand was comfortably planted in his pocket, a casual pose that one might expect from an officer ambling down the street greeting folks passing by.  Three of the officer’s confederates hovered over the scene.  Was Mr. Floyd a flight risk?  While I am not a law enforcement professional, Mr. Floyd did not appear to be combative or resisting?

This violence was perpetrated by one who was sworn to protect and serve all of us, including Mr. Floyd.

Protests erupted throughout the nation and beyond our borders.  While Mr. Floyd's passing may have been the spark, the story started hundreds of years ago.

And, there was also violence and looting.

And, there was a reaction to the violence and looting.

And, yes, there was a reaction to the reaction to the violence and looting.

And, so it goes.


How will we find a way out?

Through it all, the nation is headed by one who gives voice and space to the darker angels of our nature.

Astonishingly, for a week or so, COVID-19 was pushed to the back pages of our attention.

Much of the nation who are not black are accepting the existence of structural racism whose roots sprouted here over 400 years ago.  The issue is longer, wider and deeper than we can fathom. And, we have made real progress over the past several decades.  Let’s acknowledge this as we also accept the challenge to pursue fairness and justice.  Making progress will take strength, pain, perseverance, frustration, understanding, protests, compromise, reform, disappointment, fairness, tolerance and, perhaps most importantly,  the ability and willingness to consider an issue from another’s point of view. 

The task is beyond the abilities of any one person to accomplish.  And, we may not personally witness its completion.  

As written in the Jewish Talmud, it is not incumbent upon you to complete the work, but neither are you at liberty to desist from it.




 

Comments

  1. It would be nice if these people had facts.

    https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2020/06/just_like_that_gun_control_support_and_covid19_died_this_week.html

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Why Most Doctors Choose Employment

Increasingly, physicians today are employed and most of them willingly so.  The advantages of this employment model, which I will highlight below, appeal to the current and emerging generations of physicians and medical professionals.  In addition, the alternatives to direct employment are scarce, although they do exist.  Private practice gastroenterology practices in Cleveland, for example, are increasingly rare sightings.  Another practice model is gaining ground rapidly on the medical landscape.   Private equity (PE) firms have   been purchasing medical practices who are in need of capital and management oversight.   PE can provide services efficiently as they may be serving multiple practices and have economies of scale.   While these physicians technically have authority over all medical decisions, the PE partners can exert behavioral influences on physicians which can be ethically problematic. For example, if the PE folks reduce non-medical overhead, this may very directly affe

Should Doctors Wear White Coats?

Many professions can be easily identified by their uniforms or state of dress. Consider how easy it is for us to identify a policeman, a judge, a baseball player, a housekeeper, a chef, or a soldier.  There must be a reason why so many professions require a uniform.  Presumably, it is to create team spirit among colleagues and to communicate a message to the clientele.  It certainly doesn’t enhance professional performance.  For instance, do we think if a judge ditches the robe and is wearing jeans and a T-shirt, that he or she cannot issue sage rulings?  If members of a baseball team showed up dressed in comfortable street clothes, would they commit more errors or achieve fewer hits?  The medical profession for most of its existence has had its own uniform.   Male doctors donned a shirt and tie and all doctors wore the iconic white coat.   The stated reason was that this created an aura of professionalism that inspired confidence in patients and their families.   Indeed, even today

Electronic Medical Records vs Physicians: Not a Fair Fight!

Each work day, I enter the chamber of horrors also known as the electronic medical record (EMR).  I’ve endured several versions of this torture over the years, monstrosities that were designed more to appeal to the needs of billers and coders than physicians. Make sense? I will admit that my current EMR, called Epic, is more physician-friendly than prior competitors, but it remains a formidable adversary.  And it’s not a fair fight.  You might be a great chess player, but odds are that you will not vanquish a computer adversary armed with artificial intelligence. I have a competitive advantage over many other physician contestants in the battle of Man vs Machine.   I can type well and can do so while maintaining eye contact with the patient.   You must think I am a magician or a savant.   While this may be true, the birth of my advanced digital skills started decades ago.   (As an aside, digital competence is essential for gastroenterologists.) During college, I worked as a secretary