DPC Journal | Doctors, Bullying and Impact of Negativity | Stories We’re Following

Posted on August 16, 2019 by Editor-In-Chief // 0 Comments

The ‘cruel irony’ of doctors who bully

Advisory Board

Bullying and its “pernicious, even tragic, repercussions” are well known among school-age children, but it’s also “far more common than we acknowledge” in the medical field, leading to problems such as burnout and depression, Mikkael Sekeres, director of the Cleveland Clinic’s leukemia program, writes for the New York Times.

When the Bully Is a Doctor

By Mikkael A. Sekeres, M.D.

Years ago, when I was a medical student trying my hand at a variety of specialties, I spent two months on the surgery service. The days were rigorous, starting before 5 a.m., when I was expected at the hospital to round on patients who had recently undergone surgery. I then scrubbed in to the first operating room case of the day, at 7 a.m. Depending on the complexity of the procedure, we wouldn’t emerge from the O.R. for hours, biologic needs such as going to the bathroom or eating be damned. Another case, more rounding, and I typically surfaced from the hospital at dusk, completely exhausted.

Physician bullying, as described by one Cleveland Clinic oncologist

By Megan Knowles

Bullying in healthcare is happening far more frequently than what is seen through the public eye — and for physicians, and medical students in particular, these behaviors can harm mental well-being, physical health and patient care, Mikkael Sekeres, MD, a Cleveland Clinic oncologist, writes in The New York Times.

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Bully for Us: Confronting Medicine’s Bullying Problem

By Tafari Mbadiwe, MD, JD

In 2017, the Ontario Medical Association — which represents the interests of the 34,000 or so physicians and medical students in Canada’s largest province — found itself locked in a heated negotiation with the government over their physician services agreement.¹ Physicians in Ontario had been working without a contract for nearly 3 years and patience was wearing thin. After seemingly endless discussion, the government presented an offer that had the support of the Ontario Medical Association executive council but that deeply divided the rank and file.

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