Medical treatment should be focused on treating all patients

Dear Editor:

I am writing regarding an email written by Sherita Hill Golden, PhD. Chief Diversity Officer at Johns Hopkins Hospital. Dr. Hill is the Director of the Diversity Equity and Inclusion office at Johns Hopkins. The email was sent to all Johns Hopkins faculty and was also shared online. In the email Dr. Hill Golden discusses “privilege.”  She says “privilege” provides advantages and favors to those in the dominant group at the expense of those in other groups. She says privilege is characteristically invisible to people who have it. She goes on to say privilege is granted to people who have membership in one or more of the following groups such as white people, heterosexuals, males, and Christians, to name a few. 

Her definition of “privilege” and her list of all those who are “privileged” causes concern. I would not want to be a patient in a hospital where faculty and staff, when treating patients, are taught to discriminate and put people into groups.

As the director of DEI, she has ranked people into separate groups. Inclusion should be her goal, not exclusion. A hospital is in business to treat all people who are ill, regardless of rank or status as determined by the office of DEI. 

Are Dr. Hill Golden and the employees of the DEI department “equity” hires or are they “merit” hires? I would not want a physician, nurse, or any staff member providing care to me if they were hired based on any reason other than qualifications. Claudine Gay from Harvard is an example of an “equity” hire. Things can go wrong quickly when hiring is based on “equity” instead of merit. 

I am very disappointed to see that it appears that Johns Hopkins is going down the wrong road of Diversity Equity and Inclusion by ranking patients based on “privilege” and taking the focus away from treatment for all. 

Consumers will make their choices, just as they have with Bud Lite and Disney. It is much more difficult to do that when it concerns medical care. I would not want to be in a facility where I could be viewed as “privileged” by the attending staff, and possibly have that influence my medical treatment. 

Damon Cable

Purcellville