An Indelible Stain: The Conspiracy of Silence
2019; Lippincott Williams & Wilkins; Volume: 18; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1249/jsr.0000000000000572
ISSN1537-8918
Autores Tópico(s)Nursing Education, Practice, and Leadership
ResumoAthlete A is the daughter of one of my colleagues. Her grandfather lived in my neighborhood. I remember the feeling in my gut when I watched her parents being interviewed on the local television news after she revealed her identity. Thirteen hundred miles to the southwest, my daughter started up a conversation at a social function for local athletes with a woman around her age who seemed to be alone and apart from the group; shunned for being among the first gymnasts to go public with her story of abuse. Both athletes were part of the more than 150 gymnast victims involved in “the scandal,” a stain on our profession that we cannot erase, but must work to prevent in the future. Trust is the foundation of our profession; without trust we are ineffective physicians. Medicine has long been an admired profession, and we enter the field with an assumption that we will “do good,” and like the clergy, people trust us to provide care without causing harm. The series of disclosures revealing the unbelievable, but very real behaviors, of some sports physicians has weakened our foundation and cast doubt in the eyes of the public on our ability to police our own. How does a sexual predator working as a physician fly under the radar for so many years and abuse so many young athletes? To become physicians, we run a gauntlet of processes and live under the microscope to enter the profession. We are evaluated as premeds, med students, residents, and practicing physicians at every turn. It is clear from recent events that the process does not cull out individuals with abhorrent behaviors. One thing that is common to sexual predators from all walks of life is the ability to hide in plain sight. We are going through a patient safety education program to reduce medical errors at the University of Minnesota. All staff who work in our buildings in any capacity are required to complete the training. In a nutshell, the process is to call out unwanted behaviors, correct the behavior, declare you have a safety concern (hard stop the process if needed), and immediately take the concern to the next level if the issue is not corrected. This may be part of the solution to sexual predators. Sexual predators do not come with labels, they hide in plain sight behind medical diplomas, clerical collars, and positions of power. As I approached the airport this morning, I read the security sign, “If you see something, say something.” Many of the young women athletes reported their experiences to adults; the people in charge, the people they trusted to help, and were ignored. Some adults who did report further up the administrative chain were ignored by their supervisors who seemed to forget that athlete safety is more important than institutional reputation. Bias plays a role in the root cause of undetected sexual abuse; that doctor is too good to do something like that, it must be your imagination, he is too respected to risk his career, and other excuses for not calling for a hard stop. Young people are vulnerable, and we, in sports medicine, are surrounded by young athletes who depend on us to do our best and do it right. Where did the system break down for the athletes involved and what can we do to prevent current and future athletes from abuse? Safety first suggests that making a difference means not only reporting but also believing. Trusting the individual making the report more than the status of the person being reported. Are there guarantees a sexual predator will never again become a part of our sports medicine ranks? Unfortunately, no, but trust up and down the chain of responsibility and authority will go a long way to stopping a problem before 20 years of unconscionable acts play out before our eyes. See something, say something! Call for the hard stop and break the conspiracy of silence. Postscript: Athlete A, Maggie Nichols, won the NCAA All-Around Title in 2018, just a few weeks after going public with her identity. She was recently named the Star Tribune (Minneapolis, MN) 2018 Sportsperson of the Year and has had several other honors for her courage to bring out the truth. The sexual predator is in prison.
Referência(s)