Credibility
the Cure?
Daily Observer
“Here
Harry,” S.Q. Lapius commanded as he tossed the
magazine into my lap, “read this.”
I
picked up the magazine and started to read the lines that Lapius
had demarcated with a red marker.
“Well?” Lapius said,
impatiently.
“Well
what?” I answered.
“Read
the piece.”
“I
am reading the piece, Simon.”
“But
you are not reading it out loud,” S.Q. Lapius
complained.
“But
you have already read it.”
“Of
course, but I want to hear it again.”
I
read aloud, from the Talk of The Town column of the
New Yorker Magazine,
“…Credibility
is the modern version of candor. Candor
entails truthfulness, but credibility does not.
Credibility is the public relations version of truthfulness. It is truth’s ‘image’. And, like any other image, it can be
manipulated and faked. Probably none of
us should be surprised when politicians offer us credibility instead of the
truth. What is odd is that audiences
sometimes seem to be satisfied…”
“A
nice distinction, eh, Harry,” Lapius said, after I
had finished.
“Very
nice,” I agreed.
“I
always like The New Yorker,” Lapius confided, as if I
didn’t know, since he had me read excerpts such as this from the different
issues of the magazine almost weekly.
“It’s sort of a cerebral decongestant.
The New Yorker does to the mind what Dristan does for the nose. Clears away congestion.”
I
found myself reluctantly forced to agree with Lapius. I enjoyed the distinction drawn between
candor and credibility, between the truth and believability. It is what I had been trying to put my finger
on for months. The nation and its
institutions, for a long time now, from the presidency down, had been floating
trial balloons of credibility.
Advertising agencies had been creating images of credible products to the
extent that we have become used to the appearance of truth in place of truth
itself.
I
mentioned this to Lapius. “Yes, Harry, of course. You understand the point. We have become overly concerned with the
representation of truth. I see this in
hospitals all the time. Weekly I am
called to the medical records library to sign out charts. While doing this I must affix my signature to
orders that I neither gave nor sanctioned at the time that a resident on duty
ordered a drug for one of my patients. This
is because some higher accrediting authority has proclaimed for reasons
unknown, that the orders of all resident physicians must be countersigned. This is obvious fraud, sanctioned by the
hospital administrator, the board of trustees, the state and federal
authorities.
“I
must also sign all justifications for prolonged utilization of the beds by
patients and back date my signature. Again, a fraud, sanctioned by the powers that be.”
“The
fact is,” Lapius sighed, “that we have become
hypnotized by the appearance of records and charts, as if, in fact, they
represented reality, and we have been coerced to commit minor perjuries in
writing to confirm a demand by authorities that dole our accreditation, or
other inspection agencies. Everyone in
the hospital conspires to perpetrate this type of deception. The end result is that more money is spent
taking care of patient’s charts, than of the patients themselves.”
“Have
you any suggestions?”
“Yes,
of course. To thine
own self be true.
The doctors should stop being accessories to the trickery.”
“But
when there is the possibility that accreditation will be withheld, that third
party will withhold funds.”
“Sheer
blackmail, isn’t it Harry. We are asked
to yield ground on our morality and ethics to satisfy our leaders and
bankers. Physicians should decline to
become partners to this chicanery.”
“But
Simon, be reasonable. If we don’t
countersign resident physician’s orders, then we will be called at all hours of
the night for minor things that the house physician can take care of.”
“Wouldn’t
it be better to admit the truth of things. That the resident physician is empowered to
treat hospitalized patients in an emergency.”
“But
if you don’t countersign an order, then the physician may be held liable if a
patient succumbs, not necessarily because of treatment. Your signature is admission of your
responsibility in the case.”
“And
if I do sign, than I am taking responsibility for an act over which I had no
authority. Actually, the system is a
fraud. It should admit the truth of
things. That on occasion a resident
physician will have to take responsibility for patient care. That is the bald fact, and no amount of post
dated countersigning alters it. It only
alters the appearance of fact.”
“In
other words, come what may, you opt for candor in place of credibility.”
“Precisely.”
“Then
how come you’ve adjusted our scale so it is shy about three pounds?”
“That’s
different,” said S.Q. Lapius.