Unfit to Lead
The leadership of the American College of Surgeons has proven itself unfit to lead surgeons by its uncritical promotion of antiracism and DEI within the College
It is time for the membership of the ACS to come together and demand new leadership. The current leaders of the ACS have embraced and promoted the odious ideology of antiracism and DEI and radically transformed the ACS from a professional organization dedicated to excellence in surgery into just another organization captured by the social justice agenda. Executive Director Patricia Turner, MD, FACS; Vice-President Tyler Hughes, MD, FACS; Director of Diversity Bonnie Mason, MD, FACS; and others on the Board of Regents claim that DEI and antiracism are necessary to deal with the systemic racism within the ACS. They provide no proof of this whatsoever of this racism and slander their own membership with claims that white surgeons are racists who need to get over their whiteness. They even claim that surgery itself is discriminatory and have advanced the extraordinarily appalling claim that black patients might do better if their surgeon is also black. The leadership wants surgeons to treat patients according to their racial, ethnic, or other group identity rather than as individuals and even provide a DEI Toolkit to indoctrinate surgeons on how to implement antiracism and DEI into their practices. Their radical turn is clearly demonstrated by the fact that they are willing to violate their own rules to permanently ban surgeons who object to this without due process or any recourse such as a formal hearing, as is the right of all Fellows of the College. I, a senior (white) surgeon who has been a Fellow of the ACS in good standing for over thirty years, was banned in this fashion in April 2022 and others have been silenced as well. These are not the actions of professionals; they are the actions of radical ideologues. No less than the Presidents of Harvard and Penn, they have forfeited their right to lead and must go.
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/2815848/its-not-just-harvard-woke-healthcare-leaders-are-unfit-to-lead-too/
We all need to start doing this with our various boards, societies and academies. Unfortunately, I think it is only us old farts that are able to do so. If we get kicked out, we are probably already so burned out that we won't care. It is the younger generation that I worry about. Until they stand up, things will probably not change. And a lot of them don't see a problem with the way things are going.
What do you recommend the average surgeon do? Is there any way to even complain or have a voice in the ACS? I spent 8 years working towards becoming a Fellow and while boycotting or voluntarily giving up my FACS is an option but it seems unlikely to even be noticed.
I'd love to see a robust alternative organization to the ACS. My entire business (Veritas Surgery) is predicated on creating robust alternatives to the system - a parallel medical economy. I think we are increasingly going to be seeing a need for parallel medical schools, licensing bodies, professional orgs, and even hospitals, clinics, and insurance options.