The chief editor of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) was put on leave on Thursday after the reaction to statements that denied the existence of structural racism in the United States’ health care system.
The American Medical Association’s Journal Oversight Committee announced that JAMA’s editor-in-chief, Dr. Howard Bauchner, was put on leave after an investigation of the controversial remarks made by a colleague on the JAMA Network podcast, followed by a tweet used to promote the podcast.
The chief editor of a JAMA, a highly respected medical journal, was put on leave on Thursday. (iStock)
The saga started in a February 24 podcast “Structural Racism for Doctors – What is it?”, When another JAMA editor, who is White, said that “structural racism is an unfortunate term” and continued to elaborate his point. by sight.
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“Personally, I think taking racism out of the conversation will help. Many people like me are offended by the suggestion that we are racist,” said vice editor Dr. Ed Livingston in the podcast.
JAMA then promoted the podcast on social media, writing: “No doctor is racist, so how can there be structural racism in healthcare?”
The tweet drew attention to the podcast, which caused an immediate reaction. Dr. Bauchner deleted it, removed the podcast and issued the following statement:
“The comments made on the podcast were inaccurate, offensive, harmful and inconsistent with JAMA standards. Racism and structural racism exist in the United States and in healthcare. After careful analysis, I concluded that the damage caused by the podcast outweighed any reason for the podcast to remain available on the JAMA Network, “wrote Bauchner.
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“Once again, I apologize for the damage caused by this podcast and the tweet about the podcast,” continued Bauchner. “We are instituting changes that will address and prevent such failures from happening again.”
Dr. Livingston later resigned, according to The New York Times.
However, the the reaction did not stop and a Change.org petition was created asking JAMA to “stop perpetuating racism in medicine”.
The petition had nearly 7,000 signatures on Friday afternoon. He called for a “formal review of the leadership displayed by Dr. Howard Bauchner as editor-in-chief, including actions suggesting a failure to diversify the editorial team and / or exhibiting clearly discriminatory patterns of behavior”.
Dr. Bauchner was placed on leave and replaced by Dr. Phil Fontanarosa, who will serve as interim editor.
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“The decision to place the editor-in-chief on administrative leave does not imply or exonerate individuals and is the standard operating procedure for such investigations,” the American Medical Association’s Journal Oversight Committee told Fox News.
“Consequently, the JOC initiated an investigation into how the podcast and associated tweet were developed, revised and finally published,” the statement continued. “The JOC hired outside independent investigators from the firm Zuber Lawler to ensure the objectivity and integrity of the investigation.”
Dr. Bauchner could not be reached immediately for comment.