The Journal of the American Medical Association’s (JAMA) decision to put politics at the forefront evidently cost them big as details have emerged about the roughly half a million dollar payout one Boston University professor received after taking the fall over comments about systemic racism.
Spanning the decade from 2011 to 2021, Dr. Howard Bauchner, a professor of pediatrics and public health at BU, had served as the 16th editor-in-chief of JAMA. But a suspension led to a resignation after a deputy editor had defended the reputation of the medical community by challenging the leftist paradigm around racism in America.
Now, according to a report from The Chronicle of Higher Education, Bauchner was none too worse for wear after getting forced out as federal filings indicated the “contractual separation payments” he received for his trouble amounted to $496,934 by the end of the year.
“Bauchner earned an additional $582,000 from base pay in 2021, plus $16,000 in unspecified, but still taxable compensation,” the outlet detailed. “The AMA’s filings with the IRS do not specify the exact terms of its agreement with Bauchner, and so it is unclear if he was owed additional separation payments in the years after 2021.”
As previously covered, in Feb. 2021, deputy editor Ed Livingston had said during a podcast, “Structural racism is an unfortunate term. Personally, I think taking racism out of the conversation will help. Many people like myself are offended by the implication that we are somehow racist.”
In a tweet promoting the discussion, JAMA had written, “No physician is racist, so how can there be structural racism in health care?” which Bauchner ultimately shouldered the blame for. That March he was suspended over the tweet before submitting his resignation in June, despite an apology that contended, “The language of the tweet, as well as portions of the podcast, do not reflect my commitment as editorial leader of JAMA and JAMA Network to call out and discuss the adverse effects of injustice, inequity, and racism in medicine and society as JAMA has done for many years.”
Second resignation this year at prestigious medical journal after editor questions woke anti-racist narratives https://t.co/2hjUmhgAmr pic.twitter.com/VVurnwC1CT
— Conservative News (@BIZPACReview) June 13, 2021
The podcast episode was pulled and AMA’s CEO James Madara asserted with all the touchstones of The Scienceâ„¢ being “settled”, “The AMA’s House of Delegates passed policy stating that racism is structural, systemic, cultural, and interpersonal and we are deeply disturbed–and angered–by a recent JAMA podcast that questioned the existence of structural racism and the affiliated tweet that promoted the podcast.”
Commenting on the matter to The College Fix, Dr. Stanley Goldfarb, former associate dean of University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and chairman of the watchdog group Do No Harm said, “there is absolutely no question that Dr. Bauchner left his position at JAMA because of his association with an interview that merely stated that when people speak about racism, they really are talking about an economic situation and not actually speaking about truly racist behavior.”
He further argued, “the proponents of so-called structural racism have created a linguistic trap” where “all disparities are immediately relegated to the result of some oppressive activities.”
As Goldfarb concluded, “…medicine should be devoted to treating and preventing illness,” not “a vehicle for creating social change.”
Native of Brooklyn, NY, Kevin Haggerty is a graduate of Hunter College where he studied Cultural Anthropology and Geography. An avid reader and truth seeker, he currently resides in Texas with his wife and their dog and, when he isn't researching current events and their impacts, you'll find him spending time with friends and family or working on his next novel.
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