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-Great Cultural Revolution

Duke dumped doc who exposed lack of evidence 'racism is a public health crisis'

2024-07-10

[JustTheNews] ER doctor Kendall Conger objected to Duke Health "acting politically under the guise of medical science" and shared administrator's email admitting no clinical evidence backs its pledge against "racism, bias, and hate."

Two years ago this month, the University of Pennsylvania law school stopped accusing a tenured professor of making up statistics about black student performance, which she called defamatory, after ignoring requests for the supposedly correct statistics going back four years.

Dean Ted Ruger still sought "major sanctions" against Amy Wax for "intentional and incessant racist, sexist, xenophobic, and homophobic actions and statements," and disgraced ex-President Liz Magill approved a hearing board's recommended one-year suspension, slashed pay and mandatory scarlet letter in her public appearances.

As Wax awaits a decision on her final appeal of the sanctions, Duke University's health system faces similar accusations of retaliation against a doctor for calling out the admitted lack of clinical evidence behind its claim that "racism is a public health crisis" in a May 2021 pledge against "racism, bias, and hate" that was purportedly "guided by science."

Duke Health notified Raleigh emergency room physician Kendall Conger his contract was not being renewed after June 30 under "termination not for cause," because his behavior is "negatively impacting the emergency physician team, which could jeopardize the care of patients" and undermines its "respectful and collegial work environment."

Administrators commonly use perceived lack of collegiality to circumvent academic freedom promises, and at least two federal appeals courts upheld its invocation against race-related speech at public universities in the past year, although the private Duke isn't affected by them.

Asked if Duke Health's action following Conger's public speech could be investigated as a violation of its accreditation terms, its accreditor The Joint Commission told Just the News it "works with healthcare organizations to identify potential risks to patient safety and improve quality of care" but didn't say whether violation of academic freedom is grounds for a probe.

"Based on the nature of the complaint, a number of actions may result, including the potential for an immediate, for-cause survey by The Joint Commission, the state of jurisdiction, or other agencies," but it does not disclose "complainant identity and details of complaints," spokesperson Maureen Lyons said.

Conger exposed Duke Health's lack of clinical evidence for its pledge claim in an article for the North Carolina-based James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal in May 2023, posting the top of a redacted Feb. 18, 2022 email from a person Conger called a "senior administrator."

The person said "I have looked" without success for a "randomized blinded trial that proves implicit bias is the cause of worse health outcomes for African Americans," but insisted there's "ample causal inference data in the social sciences that link the two" and "undeniable trends" show that "people of color" have worse clinical outcomes in America, "even at Duke."

Conger said he responded that Duke Health is not supposed to rely on such "inherently political" data. "Duke was presuming to make a political assertion on behalf of its employees, who were in no position to push back … acting politically under the guise of medical science," he wrote.

Though Duke Health's May 12, 2021 internal announcement of the new pledge invited staff to share "any experience or perspective contrary" to the pledge's statements, Conger said it didn't respond to his first general or second more detailed query on whether it promotes "equal outcomes for groups, or the equal treatment of individuals?”

He threatened to go public two months later,, if it ignored his third query, with his concern that Duke Health will spark "a real public-health crisis … from favoring a race-based ideology over evidence-based care."

Conger shared his "farewell address" with online publication American Thinker July 2, accusing Duke Health of "leading us away from the successful melting-pot vision to the dreadfully unsuccessful socialist vision" based on the dogma that "whites are unconscious racists."

"I have social science data Duke probably doesn’t want to hear," he wrote. "Of course there was no clinical data. It’s not a scientifically provable hypothesis but a failed political ideology."

Posted by:Skidmark

#4 ^At least they fail some.

Posted by: Grom the Reflective 2024-07-10 15:15

#3 Take a look at

2023 Medical College Grad Data
vs.
Enrollment
and draw your own conclusions.

Posted by: NN2N1 2024-07-10 15:09

#2 Sounds like timeliness and individualism.

I'll put this out there - using racism to get rid of competent operators will be a public health crises, as planes start colliding and the injured are taken to incompetent ER personnel, health conditions misdiagnosed, that's Prog Supremacy Culture.

Posted by: swksvolFF 2024-07-10 14:13

#1 He did science. Nobody wants that.

Posted by: Super Hose 2024-07-10 10:26

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