I sent a long letter to my Department @BMCSurgery @The_BMC @BUMedicine about the @JVascSurg retracted article today. Too long for @Twitter. It's hard to express shame, sadness, regret, anger, gratitude, solidarity, and resolution in 64 or 128 characters.
Dear @BMCSurgery: This @JVascSurg #medbikini is not who we are. We stand for #ExceptionalCareWithoutException. We stand for justice. We advocate on social issues, including gun control and reproductive health. We assert that #BlackLivesMatter @The_BMC @BUMedicine
We are not quiet about who we are, and we have Pride 🏳️🌈in who we love. While we do scrub for operations that save & improve our patients’ lives, we do not “scrub” our professional lives of what we do for fun. And we love having full lives. We do not judge.
We are uniquely challenged right now. What has happened has shaken our self-image, our self-righteous belief that we are better than this, or potentially, that we are better at diversity and inclusion and social justice than others around the country or in our region. GOOD!
Thanks to #MedBikini #MedTwitter #SurgTwitter, we @BMCSurgery and all of us in the greater medical community now know the journey we need to take, which is a huge first step.
We must establish a research structure and a department structure that reflects our values, that asks the hard questions, that respects all voices. Who better than us to painfully and consciously remove the splinter of implicit bias from our own eye and then help our neighbors?
To all: we appreciate all your thoughts, your suggestions, your criticisms, and the shared work we have to do together to get to our goal of having our actions, including the unforeseen consequences of our actions, reflect our stated goals and aspirations.
There is no group with whom I am prouder to be associated, or would rather weather a crisis with, and come out together, stronger than ever @BMCSurgery @BUMedicine @The_BMC With gratitude, and looking forward to building a better tomorrow for all, with all of you. Jennifer
