Heard a powerful story. A friend "H" was going in for a vasectomy around the time a new president was elected. From the moment he met the urologist on the AM of surgery, the surgeon spoke non-stop, complaining about the election results... Which H supported.

It gets much worse.

But first, a poll. Is it within the bounds of professionalism for a doctor to discuss politics with a patient?

Good discussion from @ChrisWorsham here-- as he puts it: there is a big difference between policy and politics. https://twitter.com/ChrisWorsham/status/1199469896314376193?s=19

Talking policy is important. It's appropriate to discuss issues that impact health care & specifically the health of our patients. But in this case, it was wrong because it was politics, not policy. It was personal, the timing was inappropriate, and... it was dangerous.

The surgeon never asked H about his political opinions - and shouldn't have needed to. He shouldn't have talked about it at all. It made H uncomfortable, but this is all happening during the procedure. With local anesthesia, H is wide awake.

H: sorry to interrupt but am I supposed to feel that?
Surgeon: no, not at all.
H: (now in serious pain) OK, I do!
Surgeon: Oh no. I got distracted and forgot to anesthetize that side entirely.
H: (furious) ...
<H passes out>

The procedure was completed and H was aroused post-op. The surgery was otherwise uneventful.

I consider this a major failure of patient safety, and it was entirely due to the surgeon being unprofessional. What do you think?

What kind of consequences should a doctor face for an instance of unprofessionalism that causes or has the potential to cause direct patient harm?

On the first instance or with repeated cases, either way- what's the appropriate consequence?

In reality, none of these happened. No one else knew about the urologist. Nothing changed.

Maybe he felt bad.

That's probably not enough.

/fin