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I think of myself as a decent, reasonable person. I make it a point to respect individuals’ rights, and I try not to be judgmental about other people, their choices, and their behavior. And then comes the issue of health professionals who refuse to be vaccinated, and I see red. Every ounce of tolerance that I ever had simply goes out the window.
Take the case of UCLA anesthesiologist Christopher Rake who is has demonstrated that one is capable of graduating medical school (I’m embarrassed to say, Tufts Medical School) with an IQ of 72. Rake, when he is not providing anesthesia to sick patients, has found time to set up Citizens United for Freedom, whose reason for being is to rail against any policy that requires people to be vaccinated against COVID-19.
“They want to force a vaccination…into my body that I don’t want. So they’re telling me, ‘Take the jab or we take the job.’ And I’m here to say no. That’s not okay.”
Actually Dr Rake, it is okay. What you don’t realize, my good doctor, is that nobody much cares if you choose to be vaccinated. In fact, you have every right to choose not to take the jab. However, if that is your choice, it is also my choice to say that you have not met a requirement of the job, to assure that your patients and colleagues are at low risk to be infected by you.
You are free to sell insurance, you are free to repair automobiles. You are even free to run for high office. Except, you see, you are not free to be around patients at the UCLA hospital when you present a risk to them. Dr. Rake, you are even free to smoke cigarettes on the streets while you are picketing for your rights. Just don’t complain that you can’t smoke on the wards—even if you are totally obtuse when it comes to scientific evidence and believe that smoking is perfectly safe.
Thinking about the physicians, nurses, and therapists who provide care to patients but choose not to be vaccinated, I ask myself why I would want anyone on the staff of my hospital who does not respect the results of scientific evidence, who demeans the desires of every expert around them, whose actions undermine patients’ trust in everything that their physicians say.
I reiterate, Dr Rake and all of your ilk, that nobody is telling that you have to be vaccinated. You can put yourself and your family at risk for serious illness as long as you like. You just can’t work at my hospital. You might otherwise be a caring family man, kind to small animals, and a volunteer at the local soup kitchen. You have every right to make a choice, but so do I. You were pretty good at intubating patients, and we’ll miss those skills.
Nonetheless, good bye—and good riddance.
