Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey was more than just a tale about a man’s long journey home. It is ultimately a warning about what happens when society abandons its shared obligations. I found his modern interpretation helpful for framing a recent shift in attitudes toward public health and medicine.
In the film, the actions of the Greeks at Troy violated one of their wider society’s most foundational social norms: Zeus’ Law. It required all people to offer food and shelter to strangers, treating them as though they might be gods in disguise. We might call it “The Golden Rule.” Influential men, kings, violated this norm and were seemingly rewarded for it. Subsequent widespread flouting of this shared obligation leads to societal collapse.
America saw one of its shared obligations challenged during the pandemic: that public health institutions and medical experts deserve deference during public health emergencies. During the COVID pandemic, canny political actors and social media personalities assaulted that norm when they saw the confusion around initial public health recommendations.
Yes, the CDC’s recommendations changed as they learned new information. No, humanity didn’t handle a once-in-one-hundred-year pandemic as perfectly as it could. That doesn’t stop the unethical from sowing distrust years later for personal gain. And, pathogens don’t care what our attitudes are.
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Public health, science, medicine, health care: These are our areas of expertise. We are responsible for them. Should we abandon our position just because politicians have discovered it?
I am grateful to societies like the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (among others) who continue to lobby our elected leaders. How are health care organizations responding when their sacred duties are challenged? I see children’s hospitals shuttering evidence-based, gender-affirming care clinics. I see health care administrators and executives clamping down on physician speech. Are we tacitly endorsing this abandonment of our shared obligation?
Troy is already burning. Our current presidential administration has slashed funding to our federal public health agencies. Millions of Americans have lost health care coverage. It’s only a matter of time before the United States gives up its “eliminated” measles status.
Societies depend on shared obligations. I get the feeling that many of us in health care are hoping this will just blow over. Is keeping our heads down to avoid attention really in keeping with the oaths we took when we became physicians? Is quietly allowing our society to become sicker the best way to serve our patients?
Sean Gallagher is a pediatrician.
