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Physicians overall are about half Democrats/half Republicans, but those in surgical specialties are 2/3 Republicans. About 88% of ortho surgeons in the US are fiscally conservative, including about 40% who are fiscally conservative but socially liberal. If you are searching for somebody to do your total knee, but also require that he/she supports Bernie Sanders, you'll be searching for a looong time :-). Politics are constantly discussed among the staff in the OR lounge, but discussing politics with patients is something that is "not done". It is considered totally unprofessional.
Again... bring it back to a level of trust. I don't care about - what is that Monty Python phrase from Holy Grail? - I am interested in whether YOU would place trust in a person with views diametrically opposed to you.
OK, this has a slight political twist to it, but the thrust of the question is NOT political.
Let us say that you have a bad bippy (Rowan and Martin watchers unite!)
You go to a surgeon, and that surgeon has wildly different political views than you.
"I voted for Kermit the frog."
"You WHAT?!?! I would NEVER vote for Kermit! Now, what was that about wanting your bippy removed?"
How much do you trust your life with health care providers that have wildly different political views than you do?
Are you comfortable that the person who will have you under anesthesia will treat you professionally and with all their skill, or do you have a sneaking feeling that they might go "That Kermit voter doesn't deserve best care! I will do what is required to keep my license to practice, but no more than that."
PLEASE! This is NOT about politics. It is about trust in health care providers and how much their personal bias might affect your life.
I know that I have gone to doctors who have wildly different political views than I do. Has never been an issue, we discuss the health matters I'm there to see him or her for, not politics. And sure, if I've checked out a doctor, have enough experience with this doctor to know he's good at what he does, and is interested in helping me resolve the problems I consulted him for, is professional, I'd trust his judgement and yes, with my life.
I'd say for most of the doctors I've ever seen, I have no idea what their political views are. It has never come up, and it doesn't matter.
I know that I have gone to doctors who have wildly different political views than I do. Has never been an issue, we discuss the health matters I'm there to see him or her for, not politics. And sure, if I've checked out a doctor, have enough experience with this doctor to know he's good at what he does, and is interested in helping me resolve the problems I consulted him for, is professional, I'd trust his judgement and yes, with my life.
I'd say for most of the doctors I've ever seen, I have no idea what their political views are. It has never come up, and it doesn't matter.
Thanks. This is the type of response I am curious about - whether the trust is there or not.
Again... bring it back to a level of trust. I don't care about - what is that Monty Python phrase from Holy Grail? - I am interested in whether YOU would place trust in a person with views diametrically opposed to you.
Me as a patient? I couldn't care less. It would never cross my mind to think about something like that.
I find it sad that the fundamentally, and currently extra-ugly business of politics should be presumed to press its' fugly snout into the deepest crevices of our physical well-being and health. Yuck.
I have never had, in my >50 years of existence, any single practitioner of health, ever mention one word of politics to me; which is as it should be. If anyone had done so, whether or not I agreed with their opinions: democratic, republican, freemasons, alchemists, satanists, or jesuits... I would be out the door, never to return.
Hippocratic oath should trump (no pun intended) all personal belief.
The only exception I would make for a sort of 'personal identification' visible to the public would be something along the lines of the vanity plate for the proctologist on 'Seinfeld,' which was "As*man." No harm in that public disclosure...
Why "leave it at that"? I think its a valid reply. I can't say I've ever known any of my doctor's political views....
We've gotten so brainwashed over the past few years into thinking that 'different views'=bad person. We're all fellow americans.
I have about 10 doctors and specialist s.
I've NEVER had a political statement from any of them. Don't even know what party.
Right now, Drs ate under pressure overworked, overwhelmed with the COVID.
They are also under pressure from the insurance companies, and as (at least some) hospital s are bought up/bought out by large health profit companies, I HAVE seen the best mild mannered Drs turn into nasty individuals.
And I've then sought alternative Drs to replace them.
We are working on leaving completely one hospital system, going to another, because that hospital USED to best in area. It is now given a "D-" rating. Mostly because it was bought out by a conglomerate.
But political views? NEVER been discussed, EVER.
BEST
As teacher Terry said, they are all professional s.
There ARE good/bad Drs, mostly a few how missed "Bedside Manner" 101 class, and I've fired those.
Rude or insulting.
I don't know if this counts but a decade ago my PCP very gently let me know he is gay. He had already been my PCP for seven or eight years at that point and I trusted him completely. I still do. I can't say I know the specifics of his political views but there are certain common generalities. I tell him things I would never confide to anyone else, so it goes both ways.
Wish I could get his family unit to move to Phoenix. We need terrific doctors.
I've spent the majority of my life around doctors. If I saw my doc wearing a white robe and hood during off hours, I'm done. If I hear that the doctor believes that there are predators out there drinking the blood of children, I'm gone. IOW, if he (or she) is a nutter, I'd not only leave the practice, I'd spread the word.
Learned to ask how many procedures the doc has done the last time he performed the procedure . The first surgery, after a year, at the insistence of the insurance company, the 1st doc operated on my husband, having done the procedure 4 years before, not knowing the current procedure. Fortunately, after being in the hospital 2 weeks, he was leaking spinal fluid, transferred to another hospital, another doc. Correct surgery performed.
Ask questions, any question . Seek a second opinion if you do not like the answer. Take notes; as a caregiver of the patient, ask how you may assist in the recovery. Get to know all the nurses attending the patient, they invaluable !
12 years later same procedure done to my husband (he had a shunt to keep the spinal fluid flowing) in a different city. That doc was FURIOUS what had been done by the 1st surgery!
Top neurosurgeon had cut the nerves to his sense of taste, smell.
Pray this is on topic; never discussed anything other than medical.
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of our physical well-being and health. Yuck. 
