Dear... The Public
To the public,
In this chaotic time that we find ourselves, we, as a society, are realizing that celebrities and sports stars are not who is important. We are realizing that the true stars are the dedicated people that serve us, take care of us, and protect us. To that, I would like to thank the dedicated grocery workers, fire fighters, law enforcement, and medical professionals.
However, as is the nature of these kinds of letters, I would like to point out an example that should be a slap in the face to all the praise and admiration being handed out. A fire fighter that refuses to fight a fire, should no longer have their job, a law enforcement officer that refuses to deal with a crime, should no longer have their job. So please explain to me how a physician who refuses to see patients during a pandemic, is still employed? As far as I am concerned a physician refusing to see patients during a pandemic should amount to “abandonment of patients” and they should lose their medical license. The ripple effect is so vast that the public probably has no idea. If a physician refuses to work, then nurses, medical imaging staff, schedulers, and support staff can’t work either. So, for everyone physician that refuses to work, a minimum of two other staff members are also not working, and this also creates a large number of patients that are not being seen. So where are these patients suppose to be seen? Unfortunately, since medical issues are not quarantining themselves for the sake of Covid-19, a fair amount of these patients will end up in the ER, thus adding to the strain that they are already dealing with.
The bottom line is that a physician that refuses to see patients during a pandemic is a selfish coward. So, please praise the first responders and medical professionals and the grocery providers and truck drivers, but please make sure that they are truly deserving, because not all are. I am a medical professional, I have made personal, very personal, sacrifices to continue to show up to work every day, and not a single person in my personal or professional life has thanked me for my sacrifice.
Now, please don’t get me wrong, that is not why I do my job, but I am tired of all the acclamation being blanketed on those with titles, not those with a positive work ethic and a willingness to take care of the community. Unfortunately, I work with one of these physicians, and in this time of crisis it is sad but oh so very clear why some became physicians.
There are good apples and bad apples in every basket in life, I believe that the bad ones simply need to be discarded. If you read this, thank you for listening to my rant, and please think about what I said here, and I hope and pray that when we are on the other side of this, that we can, together, realign our priorities and actually care for one another. May God bless us all and pull us through!