A memo to bullying docs: Heal yourselves
For more than a year now, the Ontario Medical Association has been rocked by nasty scandals, internal coups and vicious, ongoing bullying attacks by some of its hardline members.
The chaos and rage among battling doctors is so widespread that it threatens the stability of the OMA — and could ultimately affect patients, who may be the big losers in this yearlong mess.
Indeed, this is the Dark Ages for the OMA.
This descent into disarray is destroying its credibility as bullying actions by a small, vocal group of activist doctors are smearing the reputations of all physicians and dragging the entire medical profession into serious disrepute.
Importantly, the chaos will only deepen unless the vast majority of doctors who are appalled by what they are witnessing don’t soon stand up and demand that the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario (CPSO), the province’s medical watchdog, gets tough with their bullying colleagues.
And more chaos will lead to increased suffering for patient care, which is negatively affected when doctors can’t work together as collaborative professionals in health-care teams. At the same time, experts say bullying contributes to doctors’ mental health problems and burnout.
Bad behaviour among doctors is believed to be carried out by a small fraction of physicians. Their actions, though, are aimed not only at other doctors, but patients and staff at hospitals and clinics as well.
The wave of bullying started in earnest in 2016 when a radical Tea Party-style faction of doctors, furious with the OMA over its failed handling of pay negotiations with the Ontario government, worked to oust the OMA leadership.
In February, the entire OMA executive team resigned, bowing to pressure from the radicals.
In May, the radicals won election to key seats on the OMA’s top governing council. Dr. Shawn Whatley, one of the outspoken leaders, became OMA president, promising to drain the swamp at the OMA.
In reality, this is an insider fight for power, personal glory and more money
But by August, several of Whatley’s former pals had resigned in disgust with his leadership, charging that the OMA was marked by “a culture of fear and intimidation and not one of freedom of speech.”
Throughout this turmoil, OMA staff and doctors were subjected to widespread abuse on Twitter and Facebook as well as in person, by email or on the phone. Even journalists, including myself, have been targets of abuse.
The bullying doctors insist they are fighting only for patients and that their sole purpose is to advocate for better health care. Let’s be blunt, though: That’s not true. In reality, this is an insider fight for power, personal glory and more money.
As documented recently by Theresa Boyle, the Star’s award-winning health reporter, the CPSO has started to reprimand some doctors for cyberbullying. But the actions amount to mere wrist slaps.
In one notable case, the CPSO ordered Dr. Oswaldo Ramirez, a family doctor at Stevenson Memorial Hospital in Alliston and at a Nobleton clinic, who posted “profanity-laced, derogatory comments” about a colleague on a Facebook discussion group, was told to get coaching on communications and to “engage in self-directed learning by reflecting on his use of social media and the unprofessional comments he made therein.” This is called “discipline”? Ramirez has since thumbed his nose at the CPSO on a Facebook forum for doctors.
For its part, the OMA has been working for almost a year on a new policy to deal with bullies. But insiders suggest the new leadership team has already watered it down.
On the national level, the Canadian Medical Association is looking to adopt a Charter of Shared Values, which directly addresses these issues.
At Queen’s Park, the government should consider removing the selfregulation role from the CPSO and the other 25 regulated health professions in Ontario and place it under a single regulatory body.
It’s not realistic to expect the CPSO leadership, a good many of whom are either doctors or were elected by doctors, to put their primary focus on the public rather than physicians. It’s particularly noticeable when patients who have allegedly been abused by doctors bring complaints to the CPSO, which in many cases seems to close ranks to protect the physician.
For health care workers abused by doctors, it’s just as tough to bring complaints forward for fear for their jobs and their careers.
Any moves to crack down on abusive doctors are welcome, given the ferocity of the attacks and the unrepentant attitude by these bullies.
In short, it’s time doctors started to heal themselves.