In a few weeks, we will be celebrating our 249th Independence Day, which brings celebratory vibes but concerns about how the Constitution is being ignored. Who will stand to defend it? In today’s America—where civil liberties are too often dismissed as inconvenient and the Constitution is treated like a museum piece rather than a living covenant—we are called to remember the physician patriots who helped birth this nation. Not only with words, but with scalpel and scripture, with medicine and manifesto, they shaped the foundation of the republic. They are forgotten no more.

Let us speak their names.

• Dr. Benjamin Rush
• Dr. Josiah Bartlett
• Dr. Lyman Hall
• Dr. Matthew Thornton
• Dr. Oliver Wolcott

Five of the fifty-six signers of the Declaration of Independence were practicing physicians. Men of science. Men of healing. Men of vision. They risked everything—their homes, their practices, their reputations, and their lives—to proclaim a truth that would reverberate through the centuries: That all men are created equal and endowed with unalienable rights.

Today, as physicians find themselves persecuted, silenced, indicted, and humiliated for practicing medicine in a corrupt and politicized system, we must draw strength from those who came before us. The physician-patriots. The original defenders of liberty. We must reclaim that legacy and declare boldly: We will come back.

The forgotten flames of the Revolution

Dr. Benjamin Rush was more than a signer. He was the conscience of the Pennsylvania delegation. A professor, physician, and moral philosopher, he penned essays against slavery, advocated for universal education, and reformed American psychiatry. He believed that medicine and morality were inseparable. It was he who convinced a fractured Pennsylvania delegation to ratify the Constitution. It was he who envisioned a nation guided by public virtue and personal freedom.

Josiah Bartlett, physician and governor of New Hampshire, was the first to vote for independence after John Hancock. Lyman Hall brought the spirit of liberty to Georgia, where he also founded a college. Matthew Thornton healed the wounded in the fields before writing his name in ink. And Oliver Wolcott, Connecticut’s surgeon-soldier, later helped negotiate peace with the British.

These were not men seeking titles. They were doctors defending their people.

From stethoscopes to shackles

Fast forward 250 years. Today, physicians are more likely to find themselves in a courtroom than in a Congress. We are accused for prescribing, condemned for speaking out, and shackled by the same government that once exalted our profession.

Where once a physician could help birth a nation, now he risks prison for treating pain. Where once a doctor could shape constitutions, today she must navigate Kafkaesque regulations. The Hippocratic Oath is not a shield anymore—it is a target on our backs.

The Constitution we once helped ratify is used against us. Our emails are read. Our prescriptions are audited. Our judgments are questioned not by colleagues, but by bureaucrats with no medical training. Prosecutors with political ambitions drag doctors through the mud, casting them as criminals rather than caregivers.

And yet, we do not give up.

We are not criminals. We are the daughters and sons of Benjamin Rush. We are physicians, patriots, and defenders of the human soul.

The betrayal of constitutional liberty

The First Amendment guarantees free speech. Yet physicians have been gagged.
The Fourth Amendment protects against unlawful search and seizure. Yet doctors have had their practices raided without warning.
The Sixth Amendment guarantees a speedy trial and the right to confront one’s accuser. Yet many of us are forced into guilty pleas because the cost of trial is too great.

What happened to justice? What happened to liberty? What happened to the republic these physician-patriots fought for? When Dr. Rush signed that parchment in Philadelphia, he did so knowing he might be ordered hung by the British monarch. Today, we fear loss of license or a DEA number. But the courage must be the same.

The white coat is still sacred.

Despite the assaults, the white coat still means something. It is a symbol of trust. Of wisdom. Of mercy. We must never allow the government—or the cowards who enable it—to steal that symbol from us.

• We must organize.
• We must speak.
• We must fight.
• We must teach the nation that doctors were among the first defenders of democracy, and we are still willing to be the last.

As I write these words, I do so as one who has stood trial. As one who has felt the cold breath of injustice. As one who knows what it is to be stripped of dignity by a system that has forgotten who its real enemies are. And I say this not in bitterness, but in resurrection:

We will come back.

Physician-patriots, then and now

We are entering a new era of physician activism. No longer content to operate quietly in clinics, a new generation of doctors is rising. We are reclaiming the roles our predecessors played. We are building organizations. We are exposing corruption. We are filing lawsuits. We are telling our stories. And we are writing a new declaration. One not of independence, but of interdependence. One that says:

• A physician who heals must be free to do so without political interference.
• A prescription written with compassion must not be treated as a crime.
• A voice raised in protest must not be silenced by fear.

We call on the spirit of Rush, Bartlett, Hall, Thornton, and Wolcott. We call on the ghosts of Valley Forge and the shadows of Independence Hall. And we promise them: We will not let their legacy fade.

This is our revolution.

Today, the battlefield is not Lexington or Concord. It is the clinic. The hospital. Out on the internet addressing the public and in the courtroom. Today, the redcoats are not British soldiers but federal prosecutors and unelected administrators. Today, the declaration we sign is not on parchment, but in our courage to speak and act.

Yet the struggle is the same.

• If they jail us, we will write from the cell.
• If they silence us, we will speak louder.
• If they indict us, we will defend ourselves not just with lawyers, but with the truth.

Because we are not just doctors. We are the inheritors of a sacred duty: To defend life, liberty, and the dignity of every patient.

The torch has not gone out.

In his final years, Benjamin Rush wrote extensively on mental health, believing that the soul, like the body, needed healing. He believed in the divine potential of every human being. That is what we fight for now. For every person shamed by addiction. For every child with no access to mental health care. For every physician afraid to prescribe the right medicine. For every healer dragged through the mud.

This is not just a profession.
It is a calling.
It is a revolution.
And it is just beginning.

Conclusion: We are still here

The Constitution is not dead. The Declaration of Independence is not obsolete. They live in us. In our hands. In our clinics. In our hearts. To those who seek to silence us: Know this. We are descendants of physician-patriots. We are not afraid.

To our patients: We will not abandon you.

To our fellow doctors: We call you now to stand up. To reclaim your voice. To remember your power.

And to Benjamin Rush, wherever your soul rests: The fire you lit still burns.

We are coming back.

Muhamad Aly Rifai is a nationally recognized psychiatrist, internist, and addiction medicine specialist based in the Greater Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania. He is the founder, CEO, and chief medical officer of Blue Mountain Psychiatry, a leading multidisciplinary practice known for innovative approaches to mental health, addiction treatment, and integrated care. Dr. Rifai currently holds the prestigious Lehigh Valley Endowed Chair of Addiction Medicine, reflecting his leadership in advancing evidence-based treatments for substance use disorders.

Board-certified in psychiatry, internal medicine, addiction medicine, and consultation-liaison (psychosomatic) psychiatry, Dr. Rifai is a fellow of the American College of Physicians (FACP), the American Psychiatric Association (FAPA), and the Academy of Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry (FACLP). He is also a former president of the Lehigh Valley Psychiatric Society, where he championed access to community-based psychiatric care and physician advocacy.

A thought leader in telepsychiatry, ketamine treatment, and the intersection of medicine and mental health, Dr. Rifai frequently writes and speaks on physician justice, federal health care policy, and the ethical use of digital psychiatry.

You can learn more about Dr. Rifai through his Wikipedia page, connect with him on LinkedIn, X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, or subscribe to his YouTube channel. His podcast, The Virtual Psychiatrist, offers deeper insights into topics at the intersection of mental health and medicine. Explore all of Dr. Rifai’s platforms and resources via his Linktree.