In an article posted to the AMA's website, Gerald E. Harmon, MD – the AMA's president – says the language physicians use when counseling patients "must change and evolve" based on new revelations and a "deeper understanding":
"The dominant narratives in American medicine and society reflect the values and interests of the historically more privileged socioeconomic groups – white, heterosexual, able-bodied, cisgendered, male, wealthy, English-speaking, Christian, U.S.-born.
"These narratives have been deeply rooted in value systems and ingrained in cultural practices that have given preference to the interests of society's most powerful social groups. But they can also be wielded as a weapon to oppress others.
"That is the case, for example, with the use of adjectives that dehumanize individuals by reducing them to their diagnosis – simply referring to a patient living with diabetes as a "diabetic" – or that unfairly labels groups of people as 'vulnerable' to chronic disease while ignoring the entrenched power structures, such as racism, that have put them at higher risk."
The article includes a link to "the AMA's strategic plan to embed racial justice and advance health equity."
Dr. Jeff Barrows of Christian Medical & Dental Associations appeared yesterday on the "Washington Watch with Tony Perkins" program and responded to the AMA's plan to advance racial and social justice. The AMA, he argued, is increasingly ideologic in all of its public statements.
"They clearly have bought into the LGBTQ agenda in so many ways; and now with this, they are clearly buying into CRT – and they're not hiding it," said Barrows.
"So while not surprised, I'm very concerned because the AMA is now moving into the whole topic of how a physician or medical professional should begin to talk to their patients within the privacy of an examination room – and that's always very disconcerting."
For now, using "new language" is just recommendation. But Barrows is concerned that it could become a demanded terminology – one where a medical professional's job hinges on the professional using the right narrative.
