Altruism by Ted Bacharach MD (retired)
Altruism: A great idea and a great word. Altruism is certainly a needed basic sentiment on the part of their members, on which all religions rely. Once upon a time physicians were quite successful and could afford altruism often at considerable cost and sacrifice. In our present environment the once altruistic physician has to be more greedy if he or she is to be able to survive. Curtailing the altruism that may have motivated new members of our profession starts in the medical school where tuition and the need to incur debt make the realization that giving anything away is not really possible.
In today’s environment every once in a while, physicians volunteer to provide some type of free service to their community. These efforts are often thwarted by the lack of space that can be offered to accomplish this and little encouragement. Many physicians still retain some altruistic ideas but they are not encouraged in our present environment, so we might as well be greedy and give nothing away, which is how most of the population views physicians anyway.
Altruism: “The belief in or practice of disinterested and selfless concern for the well-being of others.”
Ted, you noted that once physicians “could afford altruism”, but herein is the problem. Physicians were NEVER truly selfless, any more thany anyone else is, and it was to their, and their patient’s great harm, that they preteneded otherwise. If a doctor did something for free, or participated in a charity case, he still received the personal satisfaction, or well wishes from the community for his work. It was not for “free.” But once institutionalized, the philosophy of altruism became manifest in large government care programs that paid doctors, removing any charitable value yet allowing our duplicitous profession to rationalize ourselves as “charitable”, and consigning the providers to defend programs that ultimately dehumanized both themselves and their clients.
No Ted, I respectfully disagree that there was ever any value to a mode of thinking that denied the self; rather, I argue that when physicians were properly aware and concerned for themselves as autonomous professionals seeking their own multi-faceted rewards for their legitimate efforts, they were at their best. It has been my observation and experience that only those doctors who recognized their own value as individuals can then recognize that value in their patients. No sir, I think that there has been nothing great about the word or works of altruism.