The Evasion and the Point

Posted on August 26, 2004 in Campaign 2004 Health Medical Ethics

I finally got the first weak attack on my stand in the cardiologist’s office, probably a neocon artist following a link from All Hat No Cattle. It followed the classic “his office” line and developed a common formula used by the Rude these days. If I hadn’t called the man a liar and insulted the president, the argument goes, I would not have been kicked out. But this is missing the point: if the man had not been shouting his political opinions in a loud voice and making me and others in the waiting room uncomfortable, then I would not have spoken up. I don’t go to medical offices to make issues: I go there to investigate my health, in this case see if I have a heart problem.

It was the physician who defended his action on the basis of “it’s a free country”. So, in this free country, I countered what he said. A better, if still weak response would be, “well, if you don’t like it, you don’t have to stay here.” And I would have agreed to go at that point, marking my protest. But this man did not do that: he used coercion to silence me after I had voluntarilly quieted myself. I was not continuing the issue. I was not being a disruption. When the security guards came, I cooperated because they were just doing their job.

How like the Rude to write off boorish behavior as they write off atrocity in the War in Iraq! When an act is wrong, they claim it to be the nature of the interaction, inevitable, something that can’t be helped. I counter that the nature of a medical office, private or not, is to serve its patients. I dare say that the beleaguered bookstore chain I mentioned yesterday handles these things better. They do their best to provide the book in question. They answer the attacks civilly. They continue to serve all their customers unless the person in question becomes outright violent.

So do most professionals I know.

Medical ethicists and, perhaps, the State of California agree with me: it was the doctor who was at fault. As far as the state was concerned, he denied me medical service by another doctor in his practice on political grounds which is discrimination. As far as the ethicists are concerned, because he should not have been bringing his politics to the office in the first place.

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UPDATE: Now The Raw Story has picked this up.

And I have added a “medical ethics” category.