When I was a first-year medical student, I happened across The Citadel, a novel published in 1937 by A.J. Cronin, himself a physician. The following is from the review on Amazon:
“The Citadel follows the life of Andrew Manson, a young and idealistic Scottish doctor, as he navigates the challenges of practicing medicine across interwar Wales and England. Based on Cronin's own experiences as a physician, The Citadel boldly confronts traditional medical ethics, and has been noted as one of the inspirations for the formation of the National Health Service. The Citadel has been adapted into several successful film, radio, and television productions around the world, including the Oscar-nominated 1938 film starring Ralph Donat, Rosalind Russell, Ralph Richardson, and Rex Harrison.”
From the Wikipedia entry:
“Cronin once stated in an interview, ‘I have written in The Citadel all I feel about the medical profession, its injustices, its hide-bound unscientific stubbornness, its humbug ... The horrors and inequities detailed in the story I have personally witnessed. This is not an attack against individuals, but against a system.’"
Reading this novel had a very profound impact on me, and that impact has lasted up until today, 50 years later.
Medical school always had its own set of peculiar struggles, as does everything. Certainly, Basic Training in the military is an eye-opener. What makes medical school unique is the profound contrast of the reality with the ideal. Like many students, perhaps most, I entered medicine with a profound sense of the magnitude of what I was doing. It had a “spiritual” element, almost as though I was entering a religious order and now would be taking on the mantel of responsibility that was more than just a job. I had read the Oath of Hippocrates, and could sense the heavy responsibility that had been felt by the ancients and the duty that this road would take.
It would serve no purpose to recount those years in detail. Suffice it to say that, like those of Andrew Manson, the protagonist in The Citadel, my experiences were intense. They ranged from the utter heights to the deepest depths. The metal of my character was amalgamated in ways difficult to fully understand, even now. I graduated having many of the same feelings described by Cronin in the interview referenced above. I was conscious of my own mortality. I understood what it was like to make mistakes, but over all of it I had a firm desire to really make a difference in a system that was filled with obstacles.
The worst aspects of medical education have improved significantly since the time I spent there. The 40 bed wards are gone. Attending physicians take a more active role in the care of patients. Medical students and resident physicians no longer spend an exhausting 80 hours or more a week in patient care. There are multiple safety measures in place for patients and those caring for them. Up until COVID, I thought that we had made real progress in things.
But those are the externals. Has the internal moral compass really changed? Certainly it has in many individuals, but what about collectively in our profession? Consider those who told their patients, “I would sooner watch you die than give you hydroxychloroquine.” Has their moral compass changed? What about the medical leaders who allowed patients to die without trying ivermectin, despite the pleas of their family? Did their moral compass change? Or those who treated the unvaccinated as lepers? The medical ethicists who championed denying care to those unvacinated? How about the late night comic who said this:
Or those in the audience of that comic who thought this was outrageously hysterical? True, he was not a healthcare professional, but the problems we see run very deep in our society.
Or how about the governmental officials who promulgated the CARES Act and PREP Act that shielded those who denied this care? Reference pages 172-175 of The Courage to Face COVID-19 by John Leake and Peter McCullough, MD:
How about those leaders of academic medicine, presidents of medical organizations, medical school Deans and Chief Medical Officers who went along with this? Did the monetary compensation for following protocols that were known to be faulty play a role in these decisions? But what about those who received no monetary compensation, but still went along with things they knew, or should have known, to be wrong?
What would A.J. Cronin say about COVID? We don’t have to look hard at all, as the books and articles have already been written! Search on these authors to see: John Leake, Peter McCullough, Scott Atlas, Paul Alexander, Peter and Ginger Bregin, Harvey Risch, Pierre Kory, Robert Kennedy, Jr., Naomi Wolf, Alex Berenson, Robert Malone, Zev Zelenko, Mark McDonald, Sabine Hazan, Jay Bhattacharya, Martin Kulldorff, George Fareed and Brian Tyson and many, many others. I apologize to anybody not listed, but in truth the list could go on for pages.
The point is, we DO have individuals ringing the same bell that Cronin rang back in 1937. We have many courageous people who are doing what needs to be done, and pointing out what Cronin mentions:
“Cronin once stated in an interview, ‘I have written in The Citadel all I feel about the medical profession, its injustices, its hide-bound unscientific stubbornness, its humbug ... The horrors and inequities detailed in the story I have personally witnessed. This is not an attack against individuals, but against a system.’"
I pointed out the three groups of people involved in the COVID Disaster:
· The victims
· The architects
· The enablers
The victims need restoration and compensation. Jobs need to be restored. Members of the military, hospital workers and first responders need full reinstatement. Of course for those who died needlessly, that is beyond possibility. So is restoration of the lost loves, years of education, lifetimes of work for a goal and so, so much that was wiped out for, what it turns out, no good reason.
The architects need investigation, prosecution and if found guilty, punishment. But what about the enablers? Certainly there is a continuum of enablers and they need rehabilitation if possible. At one end of the spectrum are those who saw what was happening, knew it was wrong but did not intervene out of fear of the repercussions. What do we do with those who saw the injustices of the past few years but did nothing to stop them?
We need to value critical thinking, courage, ethical behavior and moral reasoning in those we accept into training in the health professions, and even more, in those who advance to leadership positions. The actual study of leadership needs to be a part of education in the health professions.
This should be by no means only a preparation for leadership IN medicine. We need to understand that a physician should not be a “treater of disease” but a “leader of patients”!
We as physicians need to look to the nursing profession, as they have done a much better job than we physicians have. We must make a conscious effort to form healthcare “Communities of Practice” that are composed of groups of vertically and horizontally integrated professionals. Those just entering, those in active practice and those in retirement can utilize such a Community of Practice for the effective transgenerational transfer of both tacit and explicit knowledge. We may be able to attempt to restore the soul to medicine…..
Heavy, heavy thoughts. But more importantly, EXCITING THOUGHTS!! Let’s do it!
Perhaps there is something more preserved in the ethics of nursing; but it feels more like the Nightingale is caged and barely croaking--certainly not singing. There were a lot of things nurses could have done: ethics conferences, hydrate/feed people, get dietary consults within 48 hours for those admitted to the ICU so they could have had high dose vitD and melatonin, asked the dose of the biologically active substance of the injectable products. (I've just gotten started, there is so much more.)
One can't give a med without a dose. Call the hospital pharmacy--just ask them: what is the dose of the spike protein? If they can't tell you, chart that and move on.
And what about the complete lack of safety data on the monoclonals? Have nurses, who now sport many letters behind their names done their homework on new meds? Especially meds with only EUA?
We could detail the fraudulent nature of the trials, based upon an instrument not designed to be able to determine if people were infected with SARS COV2, and on and on it goes.
If the FDA has destroyed regulatory science--what does that mean for all of who depend on it?
New communities of practitioners, certainly. I only see a return to healing based upon first principles: imago Dei, etc.
And YES to save the 'house of medicine/nursing' we need to ensure pathways of apprenticeship from the dinosaurs in medicine (all docs over 60) to those emerging out of the AI; cookbook schools of medicine--where they don't teach them to listen to patients or do a differential unless they have their face in a screen. Unhook them from the AI and you discover they are only some kind of roboton. This is purposeful of course.
Thank you for the book recommendation. The dinosaur in my life keeps me quite busy or I'm sure I would enjoy the Citadel.
There have been many courageous dedicated doctors, nurses saving lives during this plandemic. Unfortunately, the profession has been overwhelmed by evil, greedy "care-givers" who have not cared one iota for the health and lives of their patients. Aside from the nobility of the medical world's, mission, doctors are reflections of the rest of society today.
Our government, existing to protect "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness". Our elected representatives, the majority who practice self service rather than public services. Our military, who are supposed to protect us, not use us as guinea pigs for their propaganda and bioweapons. The drug industry, manufacturing poison, not medicine. More could be added here, but I think the point is made.
The world, especially this great republic, is not what we learned about or even perceived. The greed, the need for power and control is beyond our ability to comprehend. The awakening is very rude and hurtful. At least we see and can act. So many, way too many, especially in an enlightened, educated country cannot. Desmet Mattias's "Mass Formation", I believe.
The medical profession is but a slice of the whole society, mired in the hell of filth and dishonesty and evil.
All we can do is acknowledge the problem then try to fix it. Let's hope we are successful.
Perhaps there is something more preserved in the ethics of nursing; but it feels more like the Nightingale is caged and barely croaking--certainly not singing. There were a lot of things nurses could have done: ethics conferences, hydrate/feed people, get dietary consults within 48 hours for those admitted to the ICU so they could have had high dose vitD and melatonin, asked the dose of the biologically active substance of the injectable products. (I've just gotten started, there is so much more.)
One can't give a med without a dose. Call the hospital pharmacy--just ask them: what is the dose of the spike protein? If they can't tell you, chart that and move on.
And what about the complete lack of safety data on the monoclonals? Have nurses, who now sport many letters behind their names done their homework on new meds? Especially meds with only EUA?
We could detail the fraudulent nature of the trials, based upon an instrument not designed to be able to determine if people were infected with SARS COV2, and on and on it goes.
If the FDA has destroyed regulatory science--what does that mean for all of who depend on it?
New communities of practitioners, certainly. I only see a return to healing based upon first principles: imago Dei, etc.
And YES to save the 'house of medicine/nursing' we need to ensure pathways of apprenticeship from the dinosaurs in medicine (all docs over 60) to those emerging out of the AI; cookbook schools of medicine--where they don't teach them to listen to patients or do a differential unless they have their face in a screen. Unhook them from the AI and you discover they are only some kind of roboton. This is purposeful of course.
Thank you for the book recommendation. The dinosaur in my life keeps me quite busy or I'm sure I would enjoy the Citadel.
There have been many courageous dedicated doctors, nurses saving lives during this plandemic. Unfortunately, the profession has been overwhelmed by evil, greedy "care-givers" who have not cared one iota for the health and lives of their patients. Aside from the nobility of the medical world's, mission, doctors are reflections of the rest of society today.
Our government, existing to protect "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness". Our elected representatives, the majority who practice self service rather than public services. Our military, who are supposed to protect us, not use us as guinea pigs for their propaganda and bioweapons. The drug industry, manufacturing poison, not medicine. More could be added here, but I think the point is made.
The world, especially this great republic, is not what we learned about or even perceived. The greed, the need for power and control is beyond our ability to comprehend. The awakening is very rude and hurtful. At least we see and can act. So many, way too many, especially in an enlightened, educated country cannot. Desmet Mattias's "Mass Formation", I believe.
The medical profession is but a slice of the whole society, mired in the hell of filth and dishonesty and evil.
All we can do is acknowledge the problem then try to fix it. Let's hope we are successful.