Tim Worstall

Medical Elitism

Wondrous. Alex Turner thinks that doctors have to be too clever.

Far from widening access these additional requirements represent a move
towards previously unprecedented levels of elitism, with medical
schools bestowing medical student status on exactly the same type of
applicants as before, except that instead of being 18, they are three
or four years older.

Well, quite. Such elitism is scandalous. Such a highly paid profession should of course be open to anyone with a Desmond or a Douglas in Media Studies, I mean obviously so. There simply aren’t enough jobs that include the phrase "You want fries with that?" to emply them all now are there?

In

9 responses

  1. dearieme Avatar
    dearieme

    Admitting on A levels does depend on the mild fiction that a grade “A” in chemistry from one exam board is equivalent to the same pass from a different exam board. But admitting on class of degree depends on the preposterous fib that a first in biochemistry, or whatever, means the same thing irrespective of the Uni from which it was earned.

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  2. Andrew McGuinness Avatar
    Andrew McGuinness

    I don’t know – I think he might have a point. Obviously, we would all like our doctors to be the brightest and the best-trained, and the “elitism” Turner laments can be defended on those grounds. But the reality, as we are told, is that doctors are scarce and expensive and people are receiving medical treatment from nurses. Would relaxing the requirements for medical school be “dumbing down”, or would it be attacking protectionism?
    It’s a big question, with parallels in other predominately public-sector professions.

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  3. dsquared Avatar
    dsquared

    Andrew has a point, doesn’t he, Tim? I mean, as an anti-statist libertarian, you are, in fact, committed to the view that the profession of being a doctor ought to be opened up to people with a Desmond in media studies, rather than having its wages kept high by a government-imposed cartel.

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  4. Anthony Avatar
    Anthony

    Given the known levels of medical error using medical treatments now, I think any attempt to dumb down medicine in order to break some kind of cartel, or implement a misguided equal opportunity programmes is rather missing the point of what Doctors are for. They are people who diagnose complex diseases, prescribe complex treatments, have to put across increasingly complex health messages about relative risks, and occassionally have to delve into your body with sharp instruments.
    I’d prefer to be treated by one of the elite, thank you very much. Just as I prefer my large buildings to be designed by elite architects and my nuclear reactors to be designed by elite engineers who can do the maths.

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  5. ajay Avatar
    ajay

    You’ve misread the article again. Try harder. Let me help:
    His argument can be summarised as “The GEP let people become doctors who normally wouldn’t have, and they made quite good doctors. But now it’s so popular that the medical schools are having to be really selective, and they’re being selective in the wrong way, and so shutting out these non-traditional types from getting in. This is a pity because a) that was the whole point of the GED and b) as I said, they made quite good doctors.”
    Now go and think about that.

    Reply
  6. Bob B Avatar
    Bob B

    With this in today’s news, don’t we need clever GPs who won’t be duped by the pharmaceutical companies?
    “PHARMACEUTICAL companies are systematically creating diseases in order to sell more of their products, turning healthy people into patients and placing many at risk of harm, a special edition of a leading medical journal claims today. . .
    http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-2128371,00.html
    http://society.guardian.co.uk/health/news/0,,1751361,00.html

    Reply
  7. dsquared Avatar
    dsquared

    [I’d prefer to be treated by one of the elite, thank you very much. Just as I prefer my large buildings to be designed by elite architects and my nuclear reactors to be designed by elite engineers who can do the maths.]
    admirable motives, but rather dragged down by the fact that in context “elite” means “got the best A-levels”.

    Reply
  8. Andrew Zalotocky Avatar
    Andrew Zalotocky

    That’s the key point. Turner is confusing attainment with privilege.

    Reply
  9. james C Avatar
    james C

    I am not sure what point he was making, apart from saying that original scheme for graduate entry is not working as intended because there are huge numbers of very well-qualified applicants.
    Why this is a problem escapes me, unless you are one of the candidates fighting for a place.
    I don’t follow his argument about entrance examinations:surely making the applicants take an examination is a better way of selecting candidates.
    I suppose, there is a subtext to his article that selecting medical students by academic performance is wrong. This is a novel argument, which he could have explained in more detail.
    James

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