The Privilege of Slicing Into the Body Politic

The following appeared in a recent op-ed column in the Los Angeles Times by a young doctor, SreyRam Kuy. The issue was a health insurer asking doctors to report patient conditions that might be used to cancel health insurance.

“Physicians hold a trust to protect the health of our patients. We cannot abdicate this sacred trust. ... That a person would allow me to take a scalpel and slice into his body to extirpate diseases is such an extraordinary act of trust. It places me, the surgeon, in an enormous position of both privilege and responsibility. The patient entrusts their health to the physician with the confidence that the physician will advocate first for the patient’s health, not her pocketbook. When physicians place the health of our patients as our first consideration, we reclaim our autonomy, our morale, and ultimately, our dignity as a profession.”

Local government officials don’t slice into anyone’s body, but they are responsible for many decisions that affect the lives of the people in their communities. People entrust to them their tax dollars and the health of their community.

Everything this young doctor says could be embraced by local government officials. The idea of a sacred trust, of having a position that gives both privilege and responsibility, of putting the resident first, and of the dignity of one’s profession —these are key elements of both government ethics and of the satisfactions of public service.