Attacks on Osteopathic Medicine Are Attacks on All Physicians

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By Joshua Lenchus, DO, RPh, SFHM; Bradley Flansbaum, DO, MPH, MHM |  October 15, 2020 |  11 

It was distressing to hear and read recent and ongoing disparaging comments about osteopathic medicine, attacking one of our own, from remarks by Rachel Maddow to tweets by Cher and a derogatory video, since removed, portraying a female DO by Figs Scrubs.

Navy Commander Dr. Sean Conley, DO, serves as the Physician to the President. This emergency medicine-trained combat veteran graduated from the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine and is well-qualified to serve in his current capacity.

One may question the president, or even statements made or withheld by his physician. Still, when someone challenges the validity of a legitimate medical degree, the entire house of medicine is under attack. It is essential to separate politics from the allegation that an osteopath, a term we do not use to classify ourselves, is not a real doctor. Or the assumption that another doctor should somehow lead the team rather than Dr. Conley, comments made by those with no medical background, training, or clear understanding of even the degree he holds.

Osteopathic medicine was founded nearly 150 years ago by an allopathic physician (e.g., medical doctor, MD) and is focused on evaluating the entire person in a holistic approach. In addition to the generally recognized medical school curriculum of anatomy, physiology, and biochemistry, among others, osteopathic students undergo additional training in manipulative medicine. This tool is used to prevent, diagnose, and treat illness or injury using joint and muscle techniques and may be used in place of, or supplementary to, the use of medications and other interventions.

More than 25 percent of all U.S. medical students are enrolled in osteopathic medical school. Like their allopathic counterparts, osteopathic medical students complete four years of medical school in nationally accredited institutions of higher learning. They then pursue post-graduate training (e.g., residency) in their selected specialty field. In fact, DOs and MDs practice side-by-side during and after this training, in every specialty, including the military. Osteopathic physicians are fully licensed to practice medicine and surgery in all fifty states and currently comprise more than 10% of the US physician workforce.

Aside from the prestigious position held by Dr. Conley, a few other notable DOs include Dr. Ronald Blanck, the 39th Surgeon General of the United States Army and only physician ever appointed to this position; Dr. Richard Scheuring, NASA’s Flight Surgeon; Dr. Barbara Ross-Lee, the first African-American woman to be named dean of a US medical school; Dr. James Weinstein, senior vice president for Microsoft Healthcare, former chief executive officer and president of the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health System and a member of the National Academy of Medicine; and Dr. Kevin O’Connor, physician to former Vice President Joe Biden. Osteopathic physicians have served as leaders of national, state, and local medical societies, recognized in nearly all facets of the field, been interviewed, and even elected to state legislatures and the US Congress.

We, MDs and DOs alike, must stand together to inform the public, media, news outlets, and our patients around the country that side by side we have cared for them before, do so today on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic, and will continue to thereafter. We cannot, and should not, allow the ill-informed to disparage the medical profession.

This post originally appeared on KevinMD.com.

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11 Comments

  1. Hemant Gupta October 15, 2020 at 9:37 pm - Reply

    Well said!!!

  2. Ngozi J Achebe October 19, 2020 at 11:27 am - Reply

    I found the attack on DOs truly baffling. I’m an MD that trains DO’s who rotate through my service and they turn as extremely well trained physicians with no difference with MDs except for the extra training they get that we do not. Maybe the AMA should make a statement to educate the populace especially during this pandemic when we need all hands on deck.

  3. John O’Neill October 19, 2020 at 11:29 am - Reply

    agree, well stated! Thanks, Dr. Lenchus and Dr. Flansbaum.

  4. Michael Reitz, D.O., SFHM October 19, 2020 at 11:44 am - Reply

    Thank you to both of you for a well written piece.

  5. Sonia George October 19, 2020 at 2:40 pm - Reply

    Agree! This was very well written. We need to stand together, now more than ever.

  6. Alia Sharif October 19, 2020 at 2:44 pm - Reply

    What are we doing about the attack on medical / osteopathic doctors from NP’s and PA’s? Where does SHM stand on the current replacement of MD’s/ DO’s with Np ‘s and PA’s all over USA ?

    • Jason Prevelige October 19, 2020 at 5:36 pm - Reply

      Can you please provide evidence of these “attacks” on medical/osteopathic physicians? PAs are trained in part by MDs and DOs, and our profession was founded by an MD, rooted in the tradition of excellent military training. The AMA helped develop our first certification exam. PAs are doing nothing more than work to provide the care that we have been well-trained to provide, alongside the others of the healthcare time, while being free of administrative burdens that other professions are not forced to endure. PAs value the teamwork of the healthcare system. Not interested in engaging a mud-slinging debate as we often see on some of these message boards, just offering facts and asking for evidence before the beginning of some ugly bash-fest occurs.

    • David Mittman, PA September 13, 2021 at 4:27 pm - Reply

      I am waiting on any literature that will show PAs attacking Dos or MDs. Any?
      If wanting to change our title because it is confusing and pejorative to us and confusing to patients is an attack on you-you may need to talk to someone. Where have we said anything negative about general skills or specific clinicians, some with whom we work and are not very good. We have not attacked anyone. Still waiting and it’s almost a year.

  7. Dave Mittman, PA October 19, 2020 at 4:37 pm - Reply

    I would ask Dr. Sharif to post any attacks from PA organizations. Please post them. PAs are excellent and we just finished reading an article that refused to look at the research before besmirching a group of providers, Let’s not do this again. Where is there an attack on DO training?
    In fact DO Medical Boards license PAs, DO medical schools have postgraduate doctorate programs for PAs and many, many PA programs. Where is the problem? Please everyone, let’s actually ask what is going on?
    Dave

  8. LL Young, MD October 19, 2020 at 7:36 pm - Reply

    It is character that makes the physician, not the specific degree Disparaging any one of us due to a specific degree is disparaging to all of us.

  9. David Crasto, MD October 28, 2020 at 8:58 pm - Reply

    I graduated from a US MD medical school 35 years ago and have been mentoring osteopathic medical students for nearly 10 years.
    What I have learned is that DOs receive a much more comprehensive medical training than MDs.
    Example, a woman has been the victim of marital abuse that led to alcoholism that led to alcoholic hepatitis that led to liver failure.
    The MD is taught to focus on diagnosing and treating the liver failure.
    The DO is taught to consider the whole patient, from counseling on marital abuse to support for alcoholism to diagnosing and treating the liver failure.
    Quote attributable to both Mark Twain and Abraham Lincoln,
    “Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and to remove all doubt.”
    How do you spell ignorance? M-A-D-D-O-W (Stanford graduate…what a joke.)

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About the Author: Joshua Lenchus, DO, RPh, SFHM; Bradley Flansbaum, DO, MPH, MHM

Joshua D. Lenchus, DO, RPh, SFHM, serves as chief medical officer of Broward Health Medical Center in Ft. Lauderdale, FL. He is board certified in internal medicine and has physician leadership experience, serving for six years as chief of staff at Jackson Memorial Hospital. He previously served at Miami Veterans Affairs Medical Center, University of Miami Hospital and Jackson Memorial Hospital as an internal medicine physician. He was also a former associate program director for the UM/Jackson Internal Medicine Residency Program. He is an active member of SHM, including as part of the Public Policy Committee. He received a pharmacy degree from the University of Florida and graduated from Nova Southeastern University College of Osteopathic Medicine. He completed his internal medicine residency at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami.

Bradley Flansbaum, DO, MPH, MHM works for Geisinger Health System in Danville, PA in both the divisions of hospital medicine and population health. He began working as a hospitalist in 1996, at the inception of the hospital medicine movement. He is a founding member of the Society of Hospital Medicine and served as a board member and officer. He speaks nationally in promoting hospital medicine and has presented at many statewide meetings and conferences. He is also actively involved in house staff education. Currently, he serves on the SHM Public Policy Committee and has an interest in payment policy, healthcare market competition, health disparities, cost-effectiveness analysis, and pain and palliative care. He is SHM’s delegate for the AMA House of Delegates. Dr. Flansbaum received his undergraduate degree from Union College in Schenectady, NY and attended medical school at the New York College of Osteopathic Medicine. He completed his residency and chief residency in Internal Medicine at Long Island Jewish Medical Center in New York. He received his M.P.H. in Health Policy and Management at Columbia University. He is a political junky, and loves to cook, stay fit, read non-fiction, listen to many genres of music, and is a resident of Danville, PA.

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