From Isolation to Organization

How healthcare workers can build collective power for patient advocacy beyond the ethical imperative of the individual.

Author

BJ Ferguson
July 17, 2025

Last month, I argued in KevinMD that healthcare professionals have an ethical obligation to resist harmful policies targeting LGBTQ+ patients. While many readers agree with the moral imperative, I realize that when it comes to speaking out in a professional setting, maintaining hard ethical positions is a lot easier said than done. So today we’re going to talk about how to make that easier.

The gap between knowing what's right and having the power to act on it isn't a personal failing—it's a systemic feature of how healthcare operates. Individual ethics matter deeply, but expecting healthcare workers to shoulder advocacy burdens alone is both unrealistic and unsustainable. Real change requires collective action, strategic community-building, and systems that protect rather than punish those who speak up.

Dr. Jenny Shields knows this intimately. A healthcare ethicist turned advocate, she now supports clinicians across 43 states who are grappling with moral distress and the fallout from speaking truth to power. Her insights reveal why individual heroism fails—and what actually works when healthcare workers organize together to protect their patients and themselves.

Photo by Mat McDermott

Upgrade to read the rest.

Become a paying premium subscriber today to get access to weekly original reporting, along with all our other premium subscriber-only content.

Already a paying subscriber? Sign In.

More stories you can expect in the coming months:

  • • Dysphoria, Dysmorphia, and Disordered Eating (oh my)
  • • Nonbinary in a Binary Healthcare Data System
  • • Virtual Health and Trans Care Bans: what you need to know
  • • 3 Questions to Stop Asking Trans Patients, and What to Ask Instead
  • • Beyond WPATH: developing client-centered care protocols

Reply

or to participate.