The Dichotomy Of Compassion 

Author: Lara Kenney, MD

I shed no tears for Brian Thompson.  That man made tens of millions off of the suffering of others, of my patients.  Every penny of the 22 BILLION dollars in profit made by UHC in 2023 was at the expense of a patient and a physician caring for them.

There are so many memes out there already: I hope the ER was in network?  Did the trauma surgeon have to stop to get prior authorization?  Will UHC only cover part of the ER visit and deny the rest?  

It is easy to sit back and take some pleasure in the death of a man whose company led to the untold suffering of hundreds of thousands of our patients. 

But I’ve got some things in common with this guy.  He was my around my age (I’m 45).  He had a family, kids, parents, loved ones.  I can only hope his kids thought he was a great man.  That his parents loved their son and were proud of him and his success.  Right now as they grieve, they’re getting threats to their home, watching social media celebrate the death, and speak of hate towards the man they loved. 

I hate EVERYTHING that this man’s salary and management stood for.  I hate everything that his company stands for and they will continue to stand for, delivering profits over people.  I know in my soul that their PR will spin this, use this, pervert this and find a way to come out with even better regulatory favor and higher profits.  Another CEO will step right into those shoes and the shareholder meetings will go on, not missing a beat.

And yet, I find myself troubled by the outpouring of hate.  He was a human being.  Physicians are often tasked with the challenge of separating personal beliefs from professional obligations. The principle of compassion—treating every individual with dignity, regardless of their past actions or affiliations—is at the core of medical ethics.  We treat criminals, politicians, teachers and innocent’s, caring for them all.  What allows us to do that is the compassion we have for people.  It’s what has kept us committed to caring for our patients, despite the actions of companies like United Healthcare and people like Brian Thompson and whatever businessman or woman to replace him.  

As a profession, we need to remember that we are the good guys in the fight.  We have morals and ethics as physicians. We are supposed to be better than companies like United Healthcare and their corporate suite.

Let’s take this moment to mourn the loss of another human life to anger, to violence, to hatred.  Lets show compassion to the loved ones and hold space for their grief.  Let’s speak up and clearly say that we wholly, condemn the actions of UHC as strongly as we condemn the actions of his murderer.   

But, this is going to continue to happen until companies like UHC, BCBS, Cigna, Anthem, and the rest put their customers , the patient, above that of their shareholders.  The public is angry.  Physicians are angry.  We don’t know the killer just yet, and perhaps it will turn out to be entirely unrelated to the business practices of UHC.  Maybe it will be a scorned lover or similarly trite circumstances, but the outpouring of frustration and rage is genuine.

We as physicians need to speak clearly and purposely at this moment.  The media and the general public are now engaged and people are listening.  We can create change that improves medical care, benefits our patients and lifts up our profession and morale.  We are the good guys and we are better at that than anyone else in this world.