I objected to this characterization of my College and my colleagues by the ACS leadership in a post in the online discussion forum. This led to the largest comment thread in the history of the ACS. I was invited to a private conference with several ACS leaders, including the new Director of Diversity. It all seem very civil and respectful. A few weeks later I was banned for life from any further access to the discussion forums. The leadership went further in banning me from acccess to the members directory and my own private messages. They clearly saw me as a threat of some sort that needed to be silenced.
The proximate reason for my ban was that I allegedly used disrespectful language and posted non-clinical material on clinical forums, i.e. I objected to the racialization of surgery. The ACS leadership has refused to provide me with a single example of what I have posted that justifies a lifetime ban.
When I appealed to the Board of Regents, my ban was upheld. I appealed to the Head of the Central Judiciary Committee, which is responsible for disciplining Fellows of the ACS and was informed that my ban was never brought before the committee, a clear violation of the bylaws of the ACS. I was further told that, since this was not done, my lifetime ban was not truly a discipline and therefore my request for a hearing was denied, another violation of the bylaws. Think about it. A lifetime ban as punishment for alleged infractions on the discussion forums is not a disciplinary action according to ACS leaders!!!
I have exhausted all options for seeking reinstatement within the ACS. Now, I have a petition out seeking reinstatement that I hope will be signed by enough people, especially other physicians and Fellows of the ACS to prompt the ACS to reinstate my rightful privileges.
A professional organization supposedly dedicated to excellence, such as the ACS, should not be banning and silencing surgeons who speak up and express opinions contrary to the party line of the leadership especially when that party line is divisive and controversial. If there is truly racism in the ACS, in surgeons, and in surgery itself, let us identify this objectively and engage in debate and discussion on how to deal with this, openly and transparently, not behind closed doors and by banning surgeons who disagree.
I and my fellow surgeons should be free to discuss such a controversial issue among ourselves. Our patients deserve no less.
Please sign the petition at https://www.change.org/ACS-petition-reinstate-Bosshardt . If you are an ACS Fellow, please indicate this when you sign.
Thank you.
Richard T. Bosshardt, MD, FACS
I support Dr Bosshardt.
Thank you for stepping up & speaking out. If changes aren’t made our healthcare, hospitals, medical Procedures, surgeries, doctors, nurses, will fail us all.
Stay strong; most people are on your side.
I support Dr. Bosshardt
Stay strong! Thank you for speaking the truth!!
I read your guest posting on Sensible Medicine today and could only say loudly…finally. Finally someone has the intestinal fortitude to speak out against the insanity of which you have been an apparent casualty. I refuse to use the word ‘victim’ due to current connotations and baggage associated with it…and we have never lived in a culture that so values what words we use to express ideas. I would be happy to contribute in anyway that I can to the cause.
Stephen,
Thank you for the kind words of support. They mean a lot. Like you, I refuse to view myself as a victim. Instead I am simultaneousy outraged and saddened. Outraged that the leadership of the ACS has taken this illiberal, unjustified action to silence me using a trumped up set of charges and saddened that a venerable organization like the ACS has been captured by ideologues and descended to this level of censorship of its members. The erred in assuming that I would just slink away with my tail between my legs or even quit the ACS. While I might have considered this early on, I am now determined to remain a constant thorn in the side of the leadership until they are called account for their actions and ACS membership at large is aware of what is happening within the College. My substack was not started for the purpose of making any money. I am near retirement and comfortable. My time is valuable as I am sure yours is. If I pursue litigation, this will be expensive and I am willing to spend some money and a great deal of time in this, but not to the extent of jeopardizing my retirement. For this reason, I am happy to accept any contributions. I do not have anything formal set up yet for such. You may become a paid subscriber to my substack richardbosshardtmd.substack.com if you wish. For the present, all I can do is assure you that I will keep this set aside for expenses accrued in fighting the ACS. Also, please sign my petition at https://www.change.org/ACS-petition-reinstate-Bosshardt and pass this on to as many people as you can.
Thank you again. Regards. Rick
Amen and thanks
I say that as someone silenced by the accusation of being a racist for question the woke equity mob at the American Pediatric Surgical Association (APSA).
Jack Coughlin
Tampa, Fl
Pedsurg56@gmail.com
Jack,
It seems I keep learning of new medical organizations that have been captured by the critical race theory ideologues pushing DEI and antiracism despite the intolerant, divisive, and frankly racist nature of this ideology. It is astounding to me how this has happened within one generation. We are now in the fight of our lives. Even though I believe all of these initiatives and the ideology that promotes them will eventually self-destruct due to their toxicity, if we do not fight back, we will allow them to last longer than they ever should and possibly permanently destroy the liberal order and all the advances of western enlightenment such that we will be not be fixing our institutions and social structure; we will have to start fresh. I believe that is the plan with the leftist hoping to building some ill-conceived, tired version of utopia. We know how those attempts have ended in the past.
Rick