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Covid-19 has amplified moral distress in medicine

BMJ 2021; 372 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.n28 (Published 08 January 2021) Cite this as: BMJ 2021;372:n28

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Re: Covid-19 has amplified moral distress in medicine

Dear Editor

Powerful article and spot on. COVID-19 is globally disastrous &, as expertly evinced in the foregoing, is having a disastrous impact on patients and physicians. I believe though that it may be the straw that broke medicine’s back as for at least the last 5 years the joy of practicing medicine has been slowly eroding to the point that I personally had a nervous breakdown & was forced to quit a career that I adored for 35 years. Modern, corporate medicine is a travesty & it benefits no one but the big players; corporations, insurance companies, the legal system: it certainly is not better neither for patients nor physicians & health care providers.

COVID will eventually be controlled, though it may be a while. What has no fix is our current system which has taken a proud great profession, and converted it into one which is saddled with meaningless, useless constraints & forced its practitioners to lose their autonomy & their love for their great career. It is truly tragic.

Competing interests: No competing interests

20 January 2021
Rene M Loyola
Surgeon
Palm City FL 34990