CAP TODAY Pathology/Laboratory Medicine/Laboratory Management
July 2021—It has been a long time since the American public has been so terribly divided by politics. So many topics seem polarizing in our country right now. As pathologists, we should not allow these forces to fragment us. I fear that if we are not careful, we could find our community pulled apart, and that would be detrimental to those we should most protect—our patients.
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the phrase, “United we stand, divided we fall.” It is well worn but still meaningful. It’s the official motto of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, where I was born.
Dr. Godbey
Within the CAP and each state’s pathology society—in my view, the two groups every pathologist should belong to—it is imperative that we stick to the topics that unite us to keep our organizations strong and inclusive. We are all pathologists or soon-to-be pathologists, and we are all physicians. We are united on measures that allow us to better serve our patients and protect our practices. We should not be divided by politics, and there is no room for that in the CAP or state-level pathology societies.
I am not saying that we should not individually be politically active or work peacefully in other politically active groups. We should. I am and I do. But when it comes to the CAP and state societies, the politics should be about pathology, the laboratories we direct, and most importantly our patients.
The CAP and our state organizations need to interact with elected officials to make our voice heard and protect our patients, whether they are officials for whom some of us would never have thought about voting or officials for whom we would have voted. The CAP and our state organizations need to be able to interact with the appointed members of any administration, no matter who appointed them. When you interact with judicial officials, federal or state, you must think about doing the right thing for your patients and your profession, not who appointed the judge. Ask me, I know.
As I consider the commonalities we share as pathologists, as physicians, I keep coming back to the beginning. At some point in our beginning, we all took an oath or pledge. It may have been the Declaration of Geneva, the Osteopathic Oath or, as I did, the Hippocratic Oath. It is perhaps the first thing that marks our journey as practicing physicians, and, give or take a few words, the principles are the same for each of us.