UnMuted episode 3, featuring "Dr. Lewis"

Dr. Lewis (not his real name) is both a practicing clinical physician and a professor of medicine. He works with an important advocacy group called Do No Harm, which we discuss here, and also with a group of volunteers who deliver screening care to poor communities where certain preventable diseases are epidemic. It’s worth noticing that an MD with a resume’ this impressive and praiseworthy requires a cloak of anonymity to discuss any topic related to healthcare. By contrast, I can speak openly because I don’t have a credentialed position of authority, nor any of the accompanying vulnerabilities that force so many of the most knowledgeable people to stay silent on this singular topic. This deranging upside-down mode of discourse was cynically engineered by the activists, of course, to enforce a culture of silence and prevent the best-qualified minds from sitting down together and applying their collective wisdom to a problem that is well within their ability to understand and solve.The culture of silence does feature in our conversation, but it wasn’t until I sat down to write this note that I stopped to contemplate its reach. When this is all over, one thing I’ll marvel at is the strange reordering of everything-we-thought-we-knew, such that a prominent physician and professor gets interviewed by a mom with an Etsy shop about a medical scandal threatening both their families; but only under condition of his anonymity. I ask at least one dumb question and probably fail to ask several smart ones in this conversation. Happily, next week I’ll be speaking with another brilliant (anonymous) academic scientist — because, of course! — so I’ll have another chance. With that in mind, you can school me in the comments on what to ask next time.Huge thanks to William A. Ferguson, the Substack writer, composer and musician extraordinaire for the killer theme music; and to another Substack talent, artist/cartoonist Anne Gibbons for designing the UnMuted logo. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jennypoyerackerman.substack.com