The Obligation to Testify Against Yourself

 

          The Obligation to Testify Against Yourself

Just when you thought that the country had no standards. 

The editor in chief of the Journal of the American Medical Association, one of the country’s pre-eminent medical research journals, is stepping down after the publication produced a podcast episode and a tweet that questioned the existence of racism in medicine.

On Feb. 24, JAMA’s official Twitter account posted a message that read in part, “No physician is racist, so how can there be structural racism in health care?” The message urged readers to listen to an episode of a JAMA podcast hosted by Edward Livingston, a top editor at the journal, in which, according to several news reports, he said, “Many people like myself are offended by the implication that we are somehow racist.”

The podcast episode and the tweet have since been deleted. In place of the podcast on the JAMA website is a recording of Dr. Bauchner apologizing for the discussion.

“Comments made in the podcast were inaccurate, offensive, and hurtful, and inconsistent with the standards of JAMA,” Dr. Bauchner said in the recording. “Racism and structural racism exist in the United States, and in healthcare.”

In a JAMA statement Tuesday, Dr. Bauchner said as top editor he was ultimately responsible for the incident, despite not having been involved in the production of either the podcast episode or the tweet. His departure is effective from June 30.

Dr. Livingston, who resigned as deputy editor of JAMA on March 10, couldn’t be reached to comment.

And no wonder. Defending yourself from charges of racism can get you fired. After you've lost your job, who knows what's next.