The president of Thomas Jefferson University, who was also the medical school dean, resigned under pressure for liking politically incorrect tweets, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported.
Molecular immunologist Mark L. Tykocinski, M.D., age 70, who has been with the university for about 15 years and was president for a few months, will continue to teach.
Tykocinski left his leadership positions due to controversy over some Tweets he “liked” from his official presidential Twitter account that concerned COVID-19 vaccines, gender reassignment surgery for children, and a letter in The Wall Street Journal titled, “Diversity Czars Always Need to Find New Oppression.”
In an email, Tykocinski told the Inquirer he “liked” tweets to bookmark them in order to “learn more about the subject matter or the particular viewpoint,” though he did not endorse the tweets or the person tweeting those thoughts.
Doctor-Patient Trust Strained
Doctors should be able to communicate with their patients without fear of retaliation, says Marilyn Singleton, M.D., an anesthesiologist in California and visiting fellow at Do No Harm.
“Physicians now are hesitant to have honest conversations with their patients about fears and questions the patients brought to them,” said Singleton. “Hippocrates felt that the patient-physician relationship was sacred. Part of informed consent and good medicine, in general, is explaining all sides of an issue to patients.”
In California, sharing COVID-19 misinformation—that is, information inconsistent with what the state Medical Board deems to be the “scientific consensus”—is grounds for severe disciplinary action against physicians, says Singleton.
“While the proponents of the law say it only applies to COVID, once the politicians have their feet in the door of the confidential exam room, patients will lose trust in their physicians if they believe they are not going to receive all the available facts surrounding their condition,” said Singleton.
‘Questioning The Party Line’
Doctors have First Amendment rights like every other American, says Singleton.
“Outside of the patient-physician relationship, a physician should be free to speak his or her mind,” said Singleton. “Absent some contractual terms about specific unacceptable behavior, the physician-employee should be able to have open discussions about medical topics, even if contrary to the current ‘consensus.’ Science progresses by questioning the party line.”
Sharing politically incorrect thoughts has become dangerous for physicians, says Singleton.
“In this new age of the thought police, our every word is scrutinized to determine if we are on the socially acceptable side of the cause célèbre of the week,” Singleton said. “Engaging in social media or even cocktail party conversation has become a minefield.”
Undermines Public Confidence
The kerfuffle over Tykocinski’s “likes” highlights two problems, says Merrill Matthews, Ph.D., a resident scholar with the Institute for Policy Innovation.
“First, as the now former president and interim medical school dean, he should have known better,” said Matthews. “Just as corporate CEOs are beginning to realize it is better for them and their companies to stay out of the public woke battles and remain focused on their companies’ core business, university, and medical school presidents and deans should be doing the same.”
The second problem is that institutional leaders are being pushed by leftists, says Matthews.
“Woke activists, students, professors, and aligned associations (e.g., the American Medical Association) are spending less time on their primary mission of providing outstanding medical care and are, instead, pushing political agendas that are undermining the public’s confidence in medicine,” said Matthews. “Patients go to a doctor or hospital because they want competent health care providers treating them, not social warriors who focus more on curing perceived social injustices than real diseases.”
‘Complete Clean Up Required’
These are dark times for medicine, says Texas physician John Dale Dunn, M.D., J.D., a policy advisor to The Heartland Institute, which publishes Health Care News.
“Organized medicine and academic medicine have been highjacked by leftist ideologues with crazy and unethical, harmful ideas … that are nothing more than the wish list of socialist cranks and criminals,” said Dunn. “The best word to use is criminals, because what they advocate, they know is not just junk science, but their agenda is harmful in demonstrable ways.”
The health care establishment requires a thorough house cleaning, says Dunn.
“The misconduct of the organized medicine organizations, the medical specialty societies, and the state and federal medical licensure agencies that adhere to the unethical and harmful medical policies positions being advocated are now involved in actionable and criminally malevolent activities,” said Dunn. “Only a major tear down and rebuilding of the medical institutions, medical societies and professional organizations and their government enforcement colluders at the state and federal regulatory level will accomplish the complete clean up required.”
‘Defending Science and Reality’
Careers are now being put at risk, and in some instances, ruined in the medical arts due to saying or thinking the wrong thing, says Seton Motley, president of Less Government, a Washington, D.C-based non-profit organization dedicated to reducing the power of government and protecting the First Amendment from governmental assault.
“It’s 2023. There is now nothing ‘controversial’ about questioning the China Virus vaccines,” said Motley. “Quite the contrary: If you’re still a vaccine promoter—it is you who are anti-science. And it is quite obvious that surgically removing perfectly healthy sexual organs from minors—is child mutilation.”
“Tykocinski was dispatched for defending science and reality,” said Motley. “In 2023, that means he has no business in the woke wastelands that are today’s alleged medical schools.”
Kenneth Artz (KApublishing@gmx.com) writes from Tyler, Texas.
The president of Thomas Jefferson University, who was also the medical school dean, resigned under pressure for liking politically incorrect tweets, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported.
Molecular immunologist Mark L. Tykocinski, M.D., age 70, who has been with the university for about 15 years and was president for a few months, will continue to teach.
Tykocinski left his leadership positions due to controversy over some Tweets he “liked” from his official presidential Twitter account that concerned COVID-19 vaccines, gender reassignment surgery for children, and a letter in The Wall Street Journal titled, “Diversity Czars Always Need to Find New Oppression.”
In an email, Tykocinski told the Inquirer he “liked” tweets to bookmark them in order to “learn more about the subject matter or the particular viewpoint,” though he did not endorse the tweets or the person tweeting those thoughts.
Doctor-Patient Trust Strained
Doctors should be able to communicate with their patients without fear of retaliation, says Marilyn Singleton, M.D., an anesthesiologist in California and visiting fellow at Do No Harm.
“Physicians now are hesitant to have honest conversations with their patients about fears and questions the patients brought to them,” said Singleton. “Hippocrates felt that the patient-physician relationship was sacred. Part of informed consent and good medicine in general is explaining all sides of an issue to patients.”
In California, sharing COVID-19 misinformation—that is, information inconsistent with what the state Medical Board deems to be the “scientific consensus”—is grounds for severe disciplinary action against physicians, says Singleton.
“While the proponents of the law say it only applies to COVID, once the politicians have their feet in the door of the confidential exam room, patients will lose trust in their physicians if they believe they are not going to receive all the available facts surrounding their condition,” said Singleton.
‘Questioning The Party Line’
Doctors have First Amendment rights like every other American, says Singleton.
“Outside of the patient-physician relationship, a physician should be free to speak his or her mind,” said Singleton. “Absent some contractual terms about specific unacceptable behavior, the physician-employee should be able to have open discussions about medical topics, even if contrary to the current ‘consensus.’ Science progresses by questioning the party line.”
Sharing politically incorrect thoughts has become dangerous for physicians, says Singleton.
“In this new age of the thought police, our every word is scrutinized to determine if we are on the socially acceptable side of the cause célèbre of the week,” Singleton said. “Engaging in social media or even cocktail party conversation has become a mine field.”
Undermines Public Confidence
The kerfuffle over Tykocinski’s “likes” highlights two problems, says Merrill Matthews, Ph.D., a resident scholar with the Institute for Policy Innovation.
“First, as the now former president and interim medical school dean, he should have known better,” said Matthews. “Just as corporate CEOs are beginning to realize it is better for them and their companies to stay out of the public woke battles and remain focused on their companies’ core business, university and medical school presidents and deans should be doing the same.”
The second problem is that institutional leaders are being pushed by leftists, says Matthews.
“Woke activists, students, professors and aligned associations (e.g., the American Medical Association) are spending less time on their primary mission of providing outstanding medical care and are, instead, pushing political agendas that are undermining the public’s confidence in medicine,” said Matthews. “Patients go to a doctor or hospital because they want competent health care providers treating them, not social warriors who focus more on curing perceived social injustices than real diseases.”
‘Complete Clean Up Required’
These are dark times for medicine, says Texas physician John Dale Dunn, M.D., J.D., a policy advisor to The Heartland Institute, which publishes Health Care News.
“Organized medicine and academic medicine have been highjacked by leftist ideologues with crazy and unethical, harmful ideas … that are nothing more than the wish list of socialist cranks and criminals,” said Dunn. “The best word to use is criminals, because what they advocate, they know is not just junk science, but their agenda is harmful in demonstrable ways.”
The health care establishment requires a thorough house cleaning, says Dunn.
“The misconduct of the organized medicine organizations, the medical specialty societies, and the state and federal medical licensure agencies that adhere to the unethical and harmful medical policies positions being advocated are now involved in actionable and criminally malevolent activities,” said Dunn. “Only a major tear down and rebuilding of the medical institutions, medical societies and professional organizations and their government enforcement colluders at the state and federal regulatory level will accomplish the complete clean up required.”
‘Defending Science and Reality’
Careers are now being put at risk, and in some instances, ruined in the medical arts due to saying or thinking the wrong thing, says Seton Motley, president of Less Government, a Washington, D.C-based non-profit organization dedicated to reducing the power of government and protecting the First Amendment from governmental assault.
“It’s 2023. There is now nothing ‘controversial’ about questioning the China Virus vaccines,” said Motley. “Quite the contrary: If you’re still a vaccine promoter—it is you who are anti-science. And it is quite obvious that surgically removing perfectly healthy sexual organs from minors—is child mutilation.”
“Tykocinski was dispatched for defending science and reality,” said Motley. “In 2023, that means he has no business in the woke wastelands that are today’s alleged medical schools.”
Kenneth Artz (KApublishing@gmx.com) writes from Tyler, Texas.
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