Moral Distress and the Corruption of Power

Andrew Jameton in his book published in 1984 Nursing Practice: The Medical Issues, described the conflict that nurses experience during medical dilemmas. “Moral distress arises when one knows the right thing to do, but institutional constraints make it nearly impossible to pursue the right course of action”. These words were written forty-eight years prior to the political Covid pandemic. The concept as it specifically pertains to the management of Covid patients, and Covid mitigation public health strategies has received little consideration by the mainstream media or in the scientific and medical literature.

Much attention has been given to health care workers losing their jobs because they refused the jab, but a far greater number have either resigned or had their ability to practice threatened by their employers or in a few cases by colleagues because they have openly dared to reject the status quo as manifested by a political narrative that was different from their own opinions based on compelling scientific evidence. In the case of the many health care providers that I have interviewed the issue goes beyond opinions. Rather an open distrust of the process that their employers initiated by asking for executive “emergency orders” whereby protocols called “clinical standards of care” were deployed. If these directives that were promulgated from templates generated from the CDC and CMS were not followed, reimbursement for services was severely impacted.

If you are a doctor or a nurse who feels that you can provide better care to your patients than what has been directed by hospital administrators more concerned with revenues than with the ramifications of deploying one size fits all protocols, then the “moral pickle” described by Andrew Jameton becomes a reality. The conditions of “institutional constraints” created by Covid protocols created “moral distress” in a far greater number of providers than the number who refused the jab. Across the country doctors, nurses and technicians, people of conscience, have been disillusioned because the principles found in their own professional codes of ethics, have been supplanted by a business philosophy that conflicts with their conscience and principles.

Political leaders, business executives, and “medical experts”, and a media who thought they knew what was best for us, all demonstrated a lack of humility for their own limitations and fallibilities. They exerted a coercive authority over We The People that was well known to our Founding Fathers. Edmond Burke, John Locke, Thomas Jefferson all commented on THE CORRUPTION OF POWER. The Enlightenment Fathers were two centuries ahead of the scientific community in describing these pathologies. In 1910 Karl Jepps in his publication entitled GENERAL PSHYCOPATHOLOTY, DEFINED A “DELUSION AS AN INACCURATE BELIEF HELD BY INDIVIDUALS (it may or may not be a manifestation of mental illness) regardless of the validity of logical evidence that may or may not disprove their belief”.

There are many types of delusions but the person holding the delusion is characterized by their 1. Certainty, 2, incorrigibility, and 3. The inability to entertain alternative possibilities—sound familiar? Opinions published in newspapers across our State, written by members of the Governor’s Health Care advisory board need to be reviewed in retrospect. Only Dr. Hahn was accurate with her words. It has been recently documented that only N-95 masks work (last week Dr. Fauci confirmed what many clinicians believed 2 years ago about masks). We know that “the poke” has limited efficacy and is of short-term value—me and my family are all vaxed and boosted. WE know that natural immunity is better and longer lasting than the “mini-vaxes”. We know that clinical interventions like monoclonal antibodies help at all stages of the disease. We know that reverse isolation was of limited value. Isolation of at-risk individuals was far more successful. Social distancing had little impact on the spread of the disease. Elementary children were harmed not helped by mitigation strategies. Only 1 child under the age of 12 died in Idaho from Covid, compared to over 20 who died from seasonal flu in 2019. Vaccinating elementary school children is of limited value. We know what we knew before the pandemic that in the 15,000-year history of modern man an airborne upper respiratory tract virus has never been able to be contained. As of today, there has never been a successful long-term vaccine against an RNA virus like the Covid-19 and all its variants. The so called “mini-vax” worked in the short term, but the immunologic effects are short lived, unlike true vaxes.

Artists, writers of great literature often have insight into “existential truths” many years before “the science” catches up to the reality. Another student of The Enlightenment Lord Acton famously opined: “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely”. Two hundred years later John Steinbeck stated more accurately what happened in our “Crises of The Covid”. “Power does not corrupt—fear corrupts…..perhaps the fear of a loss of power is what corrupts”. Delusions of authority manifested by “experts” in medicine, education, media, and politics and government, created a narrative based on “fear”. What was needed was leadership based on scientific fundamentals and prudence and a respect for citizens to make decisions that are best for themselves and their families. Moral distress created by those harboring “delusions of authority” filled a hole in the hearts of many who needed having their spiritual needs fulfilled by something. Only the HOLY SPIRIT can fill that hole. Not a doctor—Dr. Fauci, or a politician—Dr. Fauci, or a government bureaucrat, or an “info babe or guy”.