I really don’t want to get into politics but politics has more than just crept into medicine. Patients ask me if they should get the COVID vaccine or boosters and I preface my advice by saying it depends upon whether the person is a red state or a blue state supporter. I don’t feel I should be sharing my personal political views with my patients nor should my politics influence how I provide care to my patients.
Our country has become polarized to the extreme and it is now affecting how I care for patients. Healthcare should not be influenced by the political hot topics of the day. Physicians should be able to weigh the evidence and provide what we feel is the optimum care to each individual patient without fear of criticism from our peers or even the certifying boards. I am certainly not advocating for unfounded, off the wall, sensationalized uses of therapeutics. We must carefully review the data from multiple studies and keep an open mind.