Health
Canadian medical college suggests doctors prioritize ‘social justice’ over ‘expertise’
From LifeSiteNews
The proposal by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada ‘would seek to center values such as anti-oppression, anti-racism, and social justice rather than medical expertise.’
Canada’s federal medical regulatory body is being roundly condemned for suggesting that medical experts should “center” their care around woke politics rather than medical knowledge.
According to an internal report published November 23 by Dr. David Jacobs, the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada has proposed a new model of practice which encourages doctors to focus on “social justice” rather than providing medical expertise to their patients.
“In this internal document from the @Royal_College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, there is a proposal from the EDI group to prioritize social justice over medical expertise,” Jacobs wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter. “This is bonkers.”
Warning ⚠️ EDI can be bad for your health!
In this internal document from the @Royal_College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, there is a proposal from the EDI group to prioritize social justice over medical expertise.
This is bonkers.#Cdnpoli @fordnation #Onhealth pic.twitter.com/9e98ZynbJo
— David Jacobs (@DrJacobsRad) November 24, 2023
The Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Accessibility Interim Report, written by Dr. Ritika Goel, reads, “A new model of CanMEDS would seek to center values such as anti-oppression, anti-racism, and social justice rather than medical expertise.”
The proposal suggests that medical professionals be instructed on “equity and advocacy” to enable them to “more effectively engage in community-led social change.”
“Such a model of CanMEDS would allow medical schools to appropriately embed and infuse lenses of social justice, anti-oppression, advocacy and equity throughout their teaching, and thereby teach future physicians how to incorporate such thinking into all of their clinical, teaching and research work,” it added.
The report is part of new requirements entitled CanMEDS 2025. CanMEDS is a framework which outlines how physicians can provide patients with the care that they need. The original expectations were put in place in 1996 with the most recent update taking place in 2015.
According to the college’s website, the new goals under CanMEDS 2025 will “support the goals of anti-racism and anti-oppression” and “support the goal of equity, diversity, inclusion, and accessibility.”
Jacobs is hardly alone in his condemnation of the proposal. Harvard professor Jeffrey Flier wrote on X, “For a medical society, or a medical school, to prioritize ‘social justice’ over medical expertise is to declare themselves unfit for their professional roles.”
For a medical society, or a medical school, to prioritize "social justice" over medical expertise is to declare themselves unfit for their professional roles. https://t.co/H6e5UA6lZ8
— Jeffrey Flier (@jflier) November 24, 2023
Similarly, Mark F. Proudman, who holds a doctorate in imperial history from Oxford, sarcastically posted, “A new model of medical care ‘would seek to centre … social justice, rather than medical expertise.’ I thought it was conservatives and populists who were hostile to expertise?”
However, the proposal should not come as a surprise to Canadians as medical colleges have become increasingly politicized, focusing on pushing woke ideologies rather than patient care.
For example, British Columbia nurse Amy Hamm is testifying to keep her nursing license after she was accused of “transphobia” for defending women’s rights and spaces. After months of hearings, Hamm was given a chance to defend herself earlier this month from accusations by the B.C. College of Nurses and Midwives (BCCNM) that she is unfit to work as a nurse because she believes that sex is based on biology.
Similarly, Ontario pro-freedom Dr. Mark Trozzi is at risk of losing his license for taking a stance critical of the mainstream narrative around the COVID-19 so-called “pandemic” and the associated vaccines.
Furthermore, British Columbia is still banning unvaccinated healthcare workers from working in provincial facilities, despite an ongoing healthcare worker shortage, leading many to suggest that politics is being placed over patient welfare.
From the Fraser Institute
By Nadeem Esmail and Tegan Hill
The Smith government may soon allow Albertans to privately purchase diagnostic screening and testing services, prompting familiar cries from defenders of the status quo. But in reality, this change, which the government plans to propose in the legislature in the coming months, would simply give Albertans an option already available to patients in every other developed country with universal health care.
It’s important for Albertans and indeed all Canadians to understand the unique nature of our health-care system. In every one of the 30 other developed countries with universal health care, patients are free to seek care on their own terms with their own resources when the universal system is unwilling or unable to satisfy their needs. Whether to access care with shorter wait times and a more rapid return to full health, to access more personalized services or meet a personal health need, or to access new advances in medical technology. But not in Canada.
That prohibition has not served Albertans well. Despite being one of the highest-spending provinces in one of the most expensive universal health-care systems in the developed world, Albertans endure some of the longest wait times for health care and some of the worst availability of advanced diagnostic and medical technologies including MRI machines and CT scanners.
Introducing new medical technologies is a costly endeavour, which requires money and the actual equipment, but also the proficiency, knowledge and expertise to use it properly. By allowing Albertans to privately purchase diagnostic screening and testing services, the Smith government would encourage private providers to make these technologies available and develop the requisite knowledge.
Obviously, these new providers would improve access to these services for all Alberta patients—first for those willing to pay for them, and then for patients in the public system. In other words, adding providers to the health-care system expands the supply of these services, which will reduce wait times for everyone, not just those using private clinics. And relief can’t come soon enough. In Alberta, in 2024 the median wait time for a CT scan was 12 weeks and 24 weeks for an MRI.
Greater access and shorter wait times will also benefit Albertans concerned about their future health or preventative care. When these Albertans can quickly access a private provider, their appointments may lead to the early discovery of medical problems. Early detection can improve health outcomes and reduce the amount of public health-care resources these Albertans may ultimately use in the future. And that means more resources available for all other patients, to the benefit of all Albertans including those unable to access the private option.
Opponents of this approach argue that it’s a move towards two-tier health care, which will drain resources from the public system, or that this is “American-style” health care. But these arguments ignore that private alternatives benefit all patients in universal health-care systems in the rest of the developed world. For example, Switzerland, Germany, the Netherlands and Australia all have higher-performing universal systems that provide more timely care because of—not despite—the private options available to patients.
In reality, the Smith government’s plan to allow Albertans to privately purchase diagnostic screening and testing services is a small step in the right direction to reduce wait times and improve health-care access in the province. In fact, the proposal doesn’t go far enough—the government should allow Albertans to purchase physician appointments and surgeries privately, too. Hopefully the Smith government continues to reform the province’s health-care system, despite ill-informed objections, with all patients in mind.
Nadeem Esmail
Tegan Hill
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