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When Medical Workforce Grievances Lead to Strikes

  |  Issue: September 2016  |  

But strike? Where would that leave my patients? I have been there before, and it felt terrible being sent home from work, abandoning your patients—all to prove a point. That is vindictive behavior at its worst. There are lines that physicians should never cross, and this should be one of them.

Simon M. Helfgott, MD, is associate professor of medicine in the Division of Rheumatology, Immunology and Allergy at Harvard Medical School in Boston.

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References

  1. Jena AB, Sun EC, Romley JA. Mortality among high risk patients with acute myocardial infarction admitted to U.S. teaching-intensive hospitals in July: A retrospective observational study. Circulation. 2013 Dec 24;128(25):2754–2763.
  2. McCluskey PD. Brigham nurses to vote on one day strike. Boston Globe. 2016 Jun 2. https://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2016/06/01/brigham-nurses-vote-holding-one-day-strike/bJDtsfUXAGUpQ5BlifRZUL/story.html.
  3. Nurses at Brigham and Women’s Hospital to hold strike authorization vote Monday, June 13. Press release. Massachusetts Nurses Association. 2016 Jun 10. http://www.massnurses.org/news-and-events/p/openItem/10038.
  4. McCluskey PD. Brigham, nurses lay out key sticking points in contract talks. Boston Globe. 2016 Jun 20. https://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2016/06/20/brigham-nurses-lay-out-key-sticking-points/aI0gucE3bkrEx2tkca1peM/story.html.
  5. McCartin JA. The strike that busted unions. The New York Times. 2011 Aug 2. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/03/opinion/reagan-vs-patco-the-strike-that-busted-unions.html.
  6. Thompson SL, Salmon JW. Physician strikes. Chest. 2014 Nov;146(5):1369–1374.
  7. Kling-Levin E. A medical therapy that’s no therapy at all. Boston Globe. 2016 Jul 23. https://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2016/07/23/medical-therapy-that-therapy-all/wttF75QVPmvEXWJknhW6MO/story.html.
  8. Pollack A, Tavernise S. Valeant’s drug price strategy enriches it, but infuriates patients and lawmakers. The New York Times. 2015 Oct 4. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/05/business/valeants-drug-price-strategy-enriches-it-but-infuriates-patients-and-lawmakers.html?_r=0.

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