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Should a Doctor Care About Social Justice?

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Should a Doctor Care About Social Justice?

Much work has been done in the 21st century to establish racial and social equality.

However, was it enough to destroy these two phenomena? The numbers show a severe difference

in living conditions for men and women, black and white, in all spheres. The healthcare system

can serve as a bright example to prove it. For instance, 41% of the black US population and 25%

of the white are HIV-positive ("Impact on Racial and Ethnic Minorities", 2022). Taking this into

account, one can guess the critical situation that is now developing in the system. That is why, as

the population steps toward abolishing social inequality, none of the society, including doctors,

can stay asocial and keep aside when dealing with any issues related to social injustice.

When discussing medical practice through the prism of social inequality issues, one

expects a medical consultant to keep an interest in the issue and pay equal attention to all their

patients. As doctors take responsibility for the lives of their patients, they also undertake numeric

obligations, including honoring patients' decisions, providing emergency care, and keeping a

medical secret. Nevertheless, these also include respecting basic human rights and being

indiscriminative (Monteith, 2020). The position of doctors is of immense importance because the

ability to receive appropriate health care is the basis of well-being in any other life sphere of a

black or white human. In this case, some activities can be useful to change the medical

community's approach toward social inequality at the root. Thus, adding special subjects to the

medical school curriculum could help medical workers better understand the root causes of

inequality and boost their awareness of up-to-date problems (Monteith, 2020). Such an approach

can twist the relationship towards social problems on a personal level and speed up the solutions.

Sometimes, medical institutions are advocated as apolitical organizations that should not

incline emotional connection and compassion – the approach that leads to deeply established
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indifference towards social problems. Social tension and prejudices overburden some doctors, so

they lack the energy and will to engage in extracurricular activities and advocate a sound

approach to social equality. Mary Bassett also speaks about this in her talk "Why your doctor

should care about social justice" (2015). Being part of the Zimbabwean healthcare community,

she understood that voicing her thoughts on equality could badly influence her career

development in the country. Bassett provides one personal reason for keeping silent while there

can be many more. Nevertheless, keeping silent and avoiding the problem does not mean that it

will eliminate. Thus black people who were not given proper medical care can transmit a

COVID-virus or HIV infection, for instance, so influencing the population. Inappropriate

healthcare also leads to higher suicide rates, increased mortality, as well as social disorders, and

indecent behavior. In addition, medical workers must voice their thoughts because of their higher

authority in any society. Thus, when they choose to be active in the question, wider masses also

get involved, which increases the overall awareness of the topic.

When it involves health and medical treatment, a commitment to social justice suggests

that basic cognitive process that everybody ought to be able to avoid preventable health problem

and premature death. Some subgroups bear a disproportionate burden from health problem and

death, whereas alternative people square measure protected by the benefits of others thanks to

variations within the health service (Patel, 2015).

Critics may argue that it is fine for doctors to apply injustice when helping other group of

people that differ in race, sexuality, socio-economic status, age, gender, religion, culture, and

physical appearance. For instance, a health care practitioner may not want to help someone from

different culture because of being scared that they won’t understand each other, maybe the way

the patient dress or language accent. However, in the health care systems, it is where clients or
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patients must feel safe and comfortable. If doctors choose who to help and not to help, this may

result in some individuals to be scared to attend the health care clinic or hospital. People will

start overthinking and having stress before attending the health care as some will think that, if it

happens, they find a criticizing doctor they won’t get help. Being that said, this can increase the

number of individuals infected with diseases and mortality.

Although there are some doctors from different religion which practice some beliefs that

you can’t touch a non-heteronormative individual. It is perceived that touching a non-

heteronormative person can bring you dark cloud. Regardless of how some religion believe in,

physicians are expected to carry out their work professionally in practice, which include

respecting the inherent dignity and worth of the person. Only in community can human dignity

be recognized and safeguarded. The human being is social as well as holy according to our

doctrine. Human dignity and people's ability to participate in community are strongly impacted

by the way our society is set up (Jacobs, 2000). Social people that aren't revered their inherent

dignity might suffer depression which will increase the number of people dealing with mental

health problems in our society and some of them will commit suicide.

To sum up, today, many doctors choose to preserve their emotions and avoid tackling

social inequality issues. Nevertheless, such a position destabilizes the situation and harms all the

social layers. On the contrary, the choice of being political allows any healthcare specialist to

attract more attention to issues of inequality indirectly. Indeed, proper health support provided

for any patient creates a healthier society with a higher well-being rate and lower risks of

developing severe diseases. Considering all the data, medical workers should develop and

preserve a firm position and desirably engage in social activities to guarantee to maintain social

justice.
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References

Bassett, M. (2015). Why your doctor should care about social justice [Video]. Ted Conferences.

https://www.ted.com/talks/mary_bassett_why_your_doctor_should_care_about_social_justi

ce

Hiv.com. (2022, January 26). Impact on Racial and Ethnic Minorities. https://www.hiv.gov/hiv-

basics/overview/data-and-trends/impact-on-racial-and-ethnic-minorities

Monteith, T. (2020, September 7). Why doctors should be trained to speak out and lead the

movement for social justice. KevinMD.com. https://www.kevinmd.com/2020/09/why-

doctors-should-be-trained-to-speak-out-and-lead-the-movement-for-social-

justice.html#:~:text=To%20be%20most%20effective%2C%20doctors,justice%20training

%20and%20advocacy%20skills

Patel, N. A. (2015). Health and social justice: The role of today’s physician. AMA Journal of

Ethics, 17(10), 894-896.

Jacobs, B. B. (2000). Respect for human dignity in nursing: Philosophical and practical

perspectives. Canadian Journal of Nursing Research Archive.