Maine, Maryland, & Washington

As the executive director of the Gay & Lesbian Medical Association just emailed out “Today, GLMA joins with supporters of equality from across the country to celebrate yesterday’s historic election results, which set the stage for a new era in the quest for LGBT equality.” On one hand I’m glad that 3 more states passed “marriage equality” yesterday.  Between these 3 states, Minnesota’s voting down on marriage discrimination, Tammy Baldwin’s win, and the re-election of Obama, yesterday was a big victory for queer rights. 

On the other hand, I am beyond angry and hurt.  How is it a victory when we are still letting other people vote on MY RIGHT to get married and have a family?!  How is that not, in it’s very essence, discrimination?  And while these amendments are being billed as “marriage equality”, we are still far from equal, even in states where gay marriage is legal. 

If I am to fall in love with someone overseas and get married in a country where it is legal, I have no rights to get them citizenship or protection in the US.  If I fight in the US military and live in a state where I’m legally married, I still cannot offer military partner benefits to my wife.  Even if I file my taxes as a married couple on the state level, my federal taxes will still be filled as single, creating a huge f*ing mess.   This isn’t even separate but equal… this is straight up inequality!

 

I think these state measures are a Band-Aid.  They are hiding the real problem and leading the general public to believe that the LGBT community is finally gaining equality.  But we are not!  As long as the public gets to vote on my personal rights, I am very much not equal and I will not be satisfied by placation of a few new state amendments.   I still have no national recognition of my love.  I still don’t have the ability to adopt my (theoretical) children if born to my (theoretical) wife in many states in this country.  Hell, I can still be fired from my job or openly discriminated against for my sexual orientation in some states.

The Supreme Court needs to finally rule on prop 8 (this mess has been going on for 4 years now).  DOMA needs to be overturned.  We need to stop letting the public vote on the rights of minority groups.  We need to expand anti-discrimination policies and regulations.  We need to give queer kids hope for their future… Come on people, we can do so much better.  

Let us reinvision institutional norms instead of simple reform

"In 2000, the British psychologist James Reason wrote that medical systems are stacked like slices of Swiss cheese; there are holes in each system, but they don’t usually overlap. An exhausted intern writes the wrong dose of a drug, but an alert pharmacist or nurse catches the mistake. Every now and then, however, all the holes align, leading to a patient’s death or injury. "

This quote is from The Phantom Menace of Sleep-Deprived Doctors which was published in the NYT magazine earlier this month. I finally got around to reading it today.  (dearest gf: sorry for letting it sit in my inbox so long)  I also happened to stumble across this video today, which is an awesome visualization of a powerful speech given by Sir Ken Robinson.  Read then watch, or watch then read.  Let the two sources simmer together in your brain.

When watching the video all I could think about is how relevant the issue is to medical education.  The standardized testing, the individualization, the pacified boring lectures- yep, that sums up my last 2 years.  Sure, schools now are going all out to include group sessions, simulation centers, case-based education; butt it isn't enough.  Overall though, they are still working within the old system of education, still limited by the boxed in ideology of our forefathers.  There are schools, programs, that are drastically different such as the Program for Integrated Learning (PIL) at Drexel, but they are few and far between.

Looking at the article in collaboration with the video, it illuminates the undertone that drastic change is needed.  Passing new work hour regulations may be helpful but it is not actually addressing the underlying problem and is actually causing all new problems with hand off.  So now the powers that be need to formalize hand-offs, need to expand the length of residency programs so budding doctors can see all they need to, need to come up with night-time formal curriculum so that those on extended night float don't miss out... and the list goes on.  But will filling these holes really solve the problem?  Or will it just expose other holes that already exist in the system and create new ones?

I'm enamored by medical education. This interest fueled my decision to do my clinical years at my school's satellite site.  We're learning in a new model, one that involves more kinesthetic and team based learning, one that reads more like an apprenticeship than traditional 3rd year clinical rotations.  This out-pouching of our medical school also challenges us to be non-traditional, to think outside the box, and to come up with innovative revisions to the medical community in this city. 

From being at the satellite site, from watching the video, and reading the article, I'm inspired to think outside the box.  I hope that others are too and that we can collaborate to create tangible change in the future. I want to challenge more divergent thinking for those involved in medical education, that is if they (if we) can tap into our inner-kindergartner.