Of Physicians and Politics

Abstract

Ten years ago at a scientific meeting, a chairman complained about impending cutbacks in government funding for research. He urged delegates to contact their congressmen so that their investigative integrity and independence might be preserved. Then the presiding officer was amazed to hear the highly intelligent, superbly educated researchers admit one after another, like dominoes falling, that they did not even know the names of their congressmen. In the late 1960s, psychiatry came under attack. It was the first medical specialty to be besieged by dissident consumer groups and coalitions of radicals who challenged its practices and policies. The nonpsychiatric medical community stood by, even judging some of the onslaught to be appropriate. Many physicians considered psychiatry outside the pale of medicine; they remained indifferent to the assaults, leaving psychiatry to fend for itself. In the mid-1970s, experienced, diligent obstetricians, insisting on maintaining high standards by not exposing newborns to