Collegiality by Ted Bacharach MD (retired)

The ability and desire of physicians to work together was an attribute that added to the status of the medical profession in the eyes of the public. Physicians shared their knowledge as well as their expertise with their colleagues. Ethics were a major consideration and recognition by their colleagues was considered important.

Today various groups and institutions consider physician collegiality and ethics to be an impediment to their financial goals. Physicians, no longer independent, are expected to submit completely to the wishes and goals of the organization they work for. In acquiescing to the wishes of their non-medical administrative masters, physicians have lost much as well as financially. If a physician or group found a way of doing something better we presented it to our colleages in journals or medical meetings. In our present environmnt the administrators will advertise this and imply that they are the only ones who can do this.

The pride and status that physicians once enjoyed has been lost. I hope that some day physicians will realize how much has been sacrificed on the altars of the insatiable financial institutions that dominate their existence. Physician’s even members of a group or specialty would do wll to remember that they have considerably more in common with other physicians than they do with financial officers and administrators.

It would probably also be well to remember that all advertising that is done costs money and is just an added expense to the cost of medical care that we provide.