Editor of top US medical journal put on leave amid outcry over racism podcast

[Eugene]

Original report: JAMA Editor Placed on Leave Following Racial Controversy (New York Times)

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Source: The Guardian

Editor of top US medical journal put on leave amid outcry over racism podcast

Jama’s Howard Bauchner replaced by interim editor after ‘offensive’ remarks by deputy on podcast about structural racism

Martin Pengelly
@MartinPengelly
Fri 26 Mar 2021 17.28 GMT

The editor-in-chief of Jama, the Journal of the American Medical Association, has been placed on leave amid controversy over comments about structural racism made on a podcast by one of his deputies.

The New York Times reported that the American Medical Association told staff on Thursday Dr Howard Bauchner would be replaced by an interim editor while an investigation was carried out.

The comments at issue were made by Dr Ed Livingston in February, in conversation with Dr Mitch Katz on a podcast entitled “Structural Racism for Doctors – What is It?”

“Structural racism is an unfortunate term,” Livingston said. “Personally, I think taking racism out of the conversation will help. Many people like myself are offended by the implication that we are somehow racist.”

A tweet promoting the podcast said: “No physician is racist, so how can there be structural racism in healthcare? An explanation of the idea by doctors for doctors.”

-snip-

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/mar/26/medical-journal-jama-howard-bauchner-podcast-racism

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Source: New York Times

JAMA Editor Placed on Leave Following Racial Controversy

After a staff member dismissed racism as a problem in medicine on a podcast, a petition signed by thousands demanded a review of editorial processes at the journal.

By Apoorva Mandavilli
March 25, 2021

Following controversial comments on racism in medicine made by a deputy editor at JAMA, the editor in chief of the prominent medical journal was placed on administrative leave on Thursday.

A committee of the American Medical Association, which oversees the journal, said Dr. Howard Bauchner would be replaced by an interim editor pending results of an independent investigation. The decision was announced on Thursday in an email to employees.

JAMA is one of the world’s leading medical journals, publishing research that shapes the scientific agenda and public policy around the globe. The controversy began when Dr. Ed Livingston, a deputy editor, said on a Feb. 24 podcast that structural racism no longer existed in the United States.

“Structural racism is an unfortunate term,” said Dr. Livingston, who is white. “Personally, I think taking racism out of the conversation will help. Many people like myself are offended by the implication that we are somehow racist.”

-snip-

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/25/health/jama-bauchner-race-medicine.html

[hlthe2b]

1. Ugly, but do they have evidence that the editor in chief, Howard Bauchner likewise is aware/agrees

with the comments made by a deputy in a podcast?--(the latter, who clearly needed to go)

Something isn't adding up.

[Eugene]

2. Per the NYT article, the podcast was a symptom of larger institutional problems.

There is also a change.org petition to call Bauchner to account.

“It’s not just that this podcast is problematic — it’s that there is a long and documented history of institutional racism at JAMA,” said Dr. Brittani James, a Black physician who practices on the South Side of Chicago and who helped begin the petition.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/25/health/jama-bauchner-race-medicine.html

[hlthe2b]

3. thanks...

[Martin68]

4. No one this ignorant should be on the staff of a leading medical journal. "No physician is racist,

so how can there be structural racism in healthcare?" Is he really unaware of the research of the huge differences between medical outcomes in the case of Blacks vs Whites? The research that shows many doctors assume a higher pain threshold in Blacks than Whites? The enormous difference in rates of childbirth injury and death?

[wnylib]

5. And racism in medicine affects other

minorities as well as Blacks, e.g. Native Americans and Latin Americans. A serious systemic problem that reflects systemic racism in society as a whole.

[SharonAnn]

6. There definitely are some racist doctors. I know some.