The "Hypocritical Oath": Medical Schools' Support for the Status Quo

"Always remember the 'social determinants of health'" is a buzz phrase that I have repeatedly heard throughout my time in medical school. But I've rarely heard physicians really ask difficult questions about what leads our patients to become ill. Throughout the medical education process, we rarely discuss the powerful systemic structures that lead to poverty, inequality, environmental degradation and suffering. The medical school system does not teach us to confront the systems of power and the powerful who make decisions that affect millions. On the contrary, medical school functions as a highly efficient system of indoctrination to ensure that physicians are less likely to question or confront the systems of power.  Read more.