TUCSON, Ariz., June 17, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- In a statement adopted on June 17, the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons calls for “urgent actions … to eliminate the destructive ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion’ ideology from every aspect of the medical profession before it is too late.”
DEI “is infiltrating the practice of medicine through medical schools, biomedical research, hiring practices, and government regulations. Intrusion of DEI ideology into medical education and medical care is dangerous for patients and compels AAPS to issue this statement.”
Harmful real-world examples of DEI in medicine, AAPS observes, include:
- potentially illegal race-based medical school admission requirements that minimize merit-based standards;
- Medicare rules penalizing doctors for not adopting race-based discriminatory policies that detract from treating patients as individuals; and
- States adopting policies that prioritize patient access to treatment based on their race.
The AAPS statement notes: “The ethical foundation of medical care dates back to the Oath of Hippocrates and obliges physicians to provide the best possible care individualized for each patient…. DEI dogma promotes false ideology and mandates that are antithetical to these obligations and requirements.”
“Patients must not be prioritized, or discriminated against, based on their race, gender or any other politically-favored, or disfavored, status,” AAPS states. In addition: “Standards for students selected for medical school and postgraduate training, or for any physician, must be the same regardless of race, gender or other social metrics, and include a level of competence measured by academic achievement and standardized tests.”
Ultimately, “patients’ lives depend on the reversal of harmful DEI-based rules,” AAPS concludes.
Founded in 1943, the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons is a pro-patient association of physicians in the practice of private medicine. Its motto means “all for the patient.”
Contact: Jane Hughes, M.D., F.A.C.S., AAPS President, president@aapsonline.org, (210) 393-6162; Jane Orient, M.D., AAPS Executive Director, jane@aapsonline.org, (520) 323-3110
