I am in my first year of A-levels at college and have always wanted to study a medical or scientific course at university. I have excellent GCSE grades and have been told by my tutors that I am capable of A/A* in college [am doing chemistry, biology, maths and English.] If my grades are this good I am thinking of going all the way to Medicine or Pharmacy. The application date nine months away, I would like to have an idea which course to set my heart on out of those two.
My problem with Medicine is that it is full of snitches and busybodies. The GMC, along with government, promulgates endless "safeguarding" guidelines and orders doctors and medical students to report any child abuse concerns, even without proof. I cannot do this in good conscience as Social Services snatch children from innocent families in private courts. (Yes, I have evidence of this and am not just a conspiracy theorist, but cannot say much on a public forum.) Instead I would keep my suspicions to myself to avoid being an active part in state sponsored child abduction.
Is it possible for me to get through the course and into a medical career working with no or few children, without becoming a snitching apparatchik? If there is evidence- yes, evidence, a word family justice treats with as much seriousness as a burlesque or the works of Feydeau- of abuse I would act appropriately. But I have no intention of reporting bruising patterns that have a dozen possible explanations other than non-accidental injury, "precocious sexual behaviour" (what is precocious? I know there are guidelines but these fail to take the difference between children into account), nebulous abstractions such as "withdrawn affect" or perverse anti-medical nonsense such as "Factitious illness." I would treat the families of sick children with compassion, never suspicion; between observing so much human misery and being required to maintain a degree of detachment from the patient, misanthropy can easily become the deformation professionelle. I would not write reports in support of the SSD position in section 47 matters or in the family courts. I would certainly not stand up for social services' prejudices at case conferences. And as for overturning ancient Hippocratic principles and opening my files at the drop of a hat because someone has "concerns"? No way on earth.
I would probably like to be a paediatrician, not only to treat children medically but to wage war against the overzealous post-Climbie approach to work with children and families, refusing to cover the backs of "professionals" around me. But the age for a young idealistic practitioner is not the present one, with its tomes of written guidance and convoluted discipline procedures,where a well-respected consultant saying your actions are "inappropriate" can end your career while blatant law-breakers soldier on. Eliot's Ladislaw and Chekhov's surgeons, rightly derisive of the pharmacopoeia available to them, were subject to a much less rigid code based on honour and ancient principles that cannot be so easily twisted into technicalities; for this reason, I am not seriously considering specialising in paediatrics and the matter of post-MBBS specialisation is years away for me.
Based on the above, do you think the GMC would ever allow me to practice with my old-school code of honour intact, or would they be finding an excuse to remove me? I do not want to spend six years on the most difficult university subject only to be barred or restricted from practicing because an abused child presented themselves and I did not report. I could probably find a respectable justification for not doing so, such as an opinion backed by medical papers that an organic illness or injury was the correct diagnosis, but this may not save me if the snitching mentality gets any worse than it already is.
If not, pharmacy is a much better bet for me. I am aware pharmacists earn much less than doctors and have fewer opportunities for career progression but this is a small compromise for the preservation of my integrity. I am aware some safeguarding-based rules affect pharmacists, but I have spoken to experienced ones and they have said they have never been in a position of being required to report suspected abuse/neglect. As they dispense medication rather than examining patients this is not a surprise. Pharmacy has always been one of my more significant interests within medical science, in any case.
All advice is appreciated, particularly if you are anti-reporting as I am, or are already in medical school.