Unlike the first, Donald Trump’s second campaign was not focused on the Affordable Care Act or health care policy. An Associated Press poll found that most voters did not consider health care very motivating, with only 8% of voters surveyed ranking it as a top issue.
Nevertheless, the results of this election will damage the medical profession. In the past four years we have seen an incredible erosion in the ability of physicians to set the norms and standards for their practices. Instead, judges, politicians, and activists — many without any medical training — have substituted their own judgment for what is appropriate medical care. The legal erosion of the medical profession will only accelerate under the second Trump administration.
Historically, law, medicine, and divinity have been self-regulating. Medical professional organizations, specialty societies, and organizations run by physicians are the ones who develop both standards of care and standards of practice, including who may become a physician. And the self-regulation of the medical profession allows physicians and patients broad latitude to make the appropriate decision in each case.
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