Posits are necessarily strident or extreme statements, intended to promote discussion. Posits are not polls, nor do they necessarily reflect the views of SSV Medicine, the Medical Society or Board of Directors.
February 2008
Disclosure of Medical Information:
1) It is unethical for a physician to disclose a patient's medical history for contractual or commercial reasons.
2) A physician is ethically obligated to withhold medical information except when required by law or the patient.
3) I never lie in the best interest of a patient. Read Comments
To read comments go to http://www.ssvms.org/articles/0803posit.asp
November 2007
A government mandate to provide medical interpreters for non-English speaking people is demeaning and counterproductive for patients, for medicine and for a coherent, cohesive society. Read Comments
To read comments go to http://www.ssvms.org/articles/0801posit.asp
October 2007
Whether humanity contributes significantly to global warming is a matter of no significance to health or to the practice of medicine at this time. Read Comments
To read comments go to http://www.ssvms.org/articles/0711posit.asp
August 2007
It is important for a representative body like the SSVMS Board of Directors to exercise its authority to endorse the candidate for political office who most clearly reflects the views of the majority of our members. Read Comments
To read comments go to http://www.ssvms.org/articles/0709posit.asp
June 2007
Primary care physicians have an ethical and professional obligation to inform women of childbearing age about 'Plan B' (the Morning After Pill), and to offer the prescription to be filled in an emergency. Read Comments
To read comments go to http://www.ssvms.org/articles/0707posit.asp
March 2007
If health care is a 'right,' like life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, it follows inevitably that a free and competitive market - or unregulated profit - is inconsistent with that right. Read Comments
To read comments go to http://www.ssvms.org/articles/0705posit.asp
December 2006
SSVMS/CMA should support legislation to: (1) Limit transfats and carbohydrates in school lunches and vending machines; (2) Ban smoking in all public entertainment, whether live, or as portrayed on TV and in movies. Read Comments
To read comments go to http://www.ssvms.org/articles/0701posit.asp
September 2006
In a free-enterprise system any 'non-contracted' physician has a fundamental right to directly bill patients when insurance does not pay that physician's usual and customary charge. Read Comments
To read comments go to http://www.ssvms.org/articles/0611posit.asp
June 2006
Given that we each have a constitutional right to life and the pursuit of happiness; and in that pursuit we inevitably use up, wear out, and risk our own bodies, therefore: "We should be free to sell an organ for profit." Read Comments
To read comments go to http://www.ssvms.org/articles/0609posit.asp
May 2006
We should follow the lead of Mexico, and cease making criminals of addicts and fools, to focus on producers and distributors of drugs of abuse. Read Comments
To read comments go to http://www.ssvms.org/articles/0607posit.asp
February 2006
Isolation or Participation?
The practice of medicine is now largely dictated by public policy. To be most effective in the public arena, physicians must abandon traditional isolated professionalism, and work together, regardless of affiliation or specialty. Participation in a local medical society is the most inclusive, democratic, and efficient way to do so. Read Comments
To read comments go to http://www.ssvms.org/articles/0603posit.asp
December 2005
Reviewing Peer Review
Peer review can be prejudicial, abusive, or self interested. To significantly improve medical care, it should become preventive rather than punitive, based on well documented measures of best practice. Where circumstances require privileges to be withdrawn or denied, the entire record should be available for litigation. Read Comments
To read comments go to http://www.ssvms.org/articles/0601posit.asp
October 2005
Motivating or Educating an "Underclass"
"The greatest threat to the health of Americans is not inadequate access to medical care. It is our failure to motivate or to educate a growing segment of society, an underclass without hope of upward social and economic mobility." Read Comments
To read comments go to http://www.ssvms.org/articles/0511posit.asp
August 2005
This topic generated a wide-ranging discussion by the SSVMS Editorial Committee, and the upshot was a "Triple Posit":
1) "It is morally and ethically justified for a physician to assist in obtaining information from a well documented terrorist, even if that can involve torture, injury, or unintended death."
2) "It is morally and ethically justified for a physician to assist in obtaining information from a suspected terrorist, even if that can involve torture, injury, or unintended death."
3) "Physicians should never cooperate with or tacitly condone the use of torture by anyone." Read Comments
To read comments go to http://www.ssvms.org/articles/0507posit.asp
June 2005
Over the counter sale of needles and syringes is an economical and efficient way to reduce the incidence of Hepatitis B, C, and HIV without condoning or encouraging drug abuse." Read Comments
To read comments go to http://www.ssvms.org/articles/0507posit.asp
March 2005
It is ethical for physicians to assist a mentally competent person to exercise a right to die by prescribing or administering lethal drugs." Read Comments
To read comments go to http://www.ssvms.org/articles/0505posit.asp
February 2005
Direct public marketing of medical procedures, technology and pharmaceuticals should be prohibited.
Direct physician marketing ("detailing") of drugs and technology is unethical and should be prohibited. Read Comments
To read comments go to http://www.ssvms.org/articles/0503posit.asp
December 2004
"In March, the CMA House of Delegates will consider a mandatory $50 dues increase that would go to the CMA's Political Action Committee (CALPAC) or the CMA political education fund. This is the wrong idea at the wrong time." Read Comments
To read comments go to http://www.ssvms.org/articles/0412posit.asp
November 2004
"Unlimited freedom to speak is not the same as unlimited freedom to buy votes. It is time to limit the financing of propositions." Read Comments
To read comments go to http://www.ssvms.org/articles/0411posit.asp
September 2004
"Hospital charges for supplies, medications, and emergency care are often many multiples of cost, directly impacting the working underinsured, and indirectly increasing the cost of care to all. Similar spiraling costs are seen in all areas of medicine. The major cause is not the development of expensive technology, but legislative manipulation and control of hospital and physician office practice." Read Comments
To read comments go to http://www.ssvms.org/articles/posit05.asp
July 2004
"Senate Bill 2, requiring employer-paid health insurance for employees, is another unfunded mandate, an irresponsible new tax on all Californians, that should be rejected by voters." Read Comments
To read comments go to http://www.ssvms.org/articles/0407posit.asp
September 2003
"Marijuana, cocaine, and heroin should be legalized and heavily taxed like cigarettes, with tax proceeds used for education and treatment." Read Comments
To read comments go to http://www.ssvms.org/articles/0309posit.asp
May 2003
"An embryo, defined as 8 weeks gestation or less, has no innate rights. A pregnant woman does have the right to abort or, with consent of the genetic father, to allow the embryo she carries to be used for research or medical treatment." Read Comments
To read comments go to http://www.ssvms.org/articles/0305edit.asp
March 2003
"All Primary Care Givers Should Have The Option To Take Smallpox Vaccination."
Read Comments To read comments go to http://www.ssvms.org/articles/0303edit.asp
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