“Strikes and other collective action may reduce access to care, eliminate or delay necessary care, and interfere with continuity of care. Each of these consequences raises ethical concerns. Physicians should refrain from the use of the strike as a bargaining tactic.”
“Physicians should not engage in strikes, work stoppages, slowdowns, boycotts, or other organized actions that are designed, implicitly or explicitly, to limit or deny services to patients that would otherwise be available.”
“Physicians who take part in collective action are not exempt from their ethical or professional obligations to patients.”
NWMU has already led its members in Oregon on a record-long strike that forced patients to seek alternative care. Would you be willing to be put in the same situation?