RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 My Role in Health Care’s Existential Crisis
JF The Annals of Family Medicine
JO Ann Fam Med
FD American Academy of Family Physicians
SP 566
OP 567
DO 10.1370/afm.2879
VO 20
IS 6
A1 Curtis Kommer
YR 2022
UL http://www.annfammed.org/content/20/6/566.abstract
AB Contemplating retirement after 38 years as a family physician has, for me, been an uncomfortably revealing process. I can’t help but remember the few patient-care regrets that still upset me after all these years, and I find myself wishing I could go back in time; do things differently; conjure up better outcomes. I can’t, of course, but those memories of individual patients eventually led me to consider my entire practice life, the legacy I might leave, and my role in a health care system that has changed so dramatically over the course of my career.Far too late, I have realized that while I was singularly focused on “taking care of patients,” I neglected an even greater responsibility: to advocate for myself and my patients and push back against an endless series of misguided policy decisions that have adversely affected the health and well-being of my patients and made my job so much more difficult and stressful.American health care is experiencing an existential crisis, and I regret that it has happened “on my watch.” By not speaking up as a physician, I enabled others to speak for me, others with far less knowledge, understanding, or commitment to patient care. I regret that most of all.In this article I try to come to grips with why I was mostly silent, and I share what I am trying to do now at the end of my career to effect change and find my voice. Better late than never, I am speaking up for my colleagues and patients. Now, more than ever, I hope that we physicians will insist on being heard.