Canceled Boston U. professor received $500,000 payout after being laid off
The editor-in-chief of the Journal of the American Medical Association who resigned after an organizational tweet promoting a podcast questioning whether systemic racism exists in medicine received a $500,000 payout.
Dr. Howard Bauchner left his job at the end of June 2021 after ten years at the helm of the prestigious journal and its network of publications managed by the doctors’ organization.
He was forced to resign after angry backlash over a position in the organization that discussed structural racism in healthcare, which other medical professionals have labeled “insane” and “appalling.”
Bauchner said he didn’t write the controversial tweet or play a role in the creation of the podcast that caused the uproar.
A federal filing filed by the IRS shows he received “contractual divorce payments” worth $496,934 by the end of 2021, according to The Chronicle of Higher Education.
Dr. Howard Bauchner, editor-in-chief of the Journal of the American Medical Association, resigned after a tweet promoting a podcast that questioned whether systemic racism exists in medicine and received a $500,000 payout
He quit his job at the end of June 2021 after ten years at the head of the prestigious journal and its network of publications managed by the organization of doctors
Bauchner resigns after a February 2021 tweet promoting a podcast asking if systemic racism exists in medicine sparked harsh reactions on Twitter
The professor of pediatrics and public health at Boston University had signed a separation agreement with the American Medical Association.
Bauchner earned an additional $582,000 through his base salary and another $16,000 in unspecified but taxable compensation in 2021.
The American Medical Association’s filings with the IRS do not contain the specific terms of the agreement with the professor. It is not clear whether he was entitled to more benefits after 2021.
On Feb. 24, 2021, a tweet from the magazine’s official report titled “JAMA” read, “No doctor is racist, so how can there be structural racism in healthcare?”
The tweet promoted a podcast episode in which two white doctors discussed how structural racism is deteriorating health outcomes and what health systems can do to address it. Bauchner oversaw the content of “JAMA.”
The chief equity officer of the American Medical Association, Dr. Aletha Maybank, who is black, called the tweet and podcast “absolutely horrific.”
Dr. Brittani James, a black Chicago physician who co-founded the Institute for Anti-Racism in Medicine, accused the magazine of “whitesplaining racism.”
Billed as a discussion for skeptics, the podcast featured two white doctors: a deputy magazine editor, Edward Livingston, and Dr. Mitch Katz, a physician who runs a health care system in New York City.
Livingston argued that racism is illegal and a term to be avoided because it evokes negative feelings.
“Structural racism is an unfortunate term,” Livingston, the deputy editor, said on the podcast.
“Personally, I think it helps to take racism out of the conversation. Many people like me are offended by the suggestion that we are somehow racist.”
The episode comes from the Journal of the American Medical Association networking website, where the podcast was originally posted. Bauchner posted an audio clip of less than a minute in which he apologized.
American Medical Association CEO James Madara had said: “The AMA House of Representatives has passed policies stating that racism is structural, systemic, cultural and interpersonal and we are deeply troubled – and angered – by a recent JAMA podcast exposing the existence of structural racism and the associated tweet promoting the podcast.”
Billed as a discussion for skeptics, the podcast featured two white doctors: a deputy magazine editor, Edward Livingston, (pictured) and Dr. Mitch Katz, a physician who runs a health system in New York City
The CEO of the American Medical Association, James Madara, had said: ‘We are deeply disturbed – and angered – by a recent JAMA podcast that questions the existence of structural racism’
Livingston then resigned at Bauchner’s request, and a new associate editor position was created for someone with expertise in healthcare racism.
Bauchner later said in a statement, “I remain deeply disappointed in myself for the mistakes that led to the publication of the tweet and podcast.
“While as editor-in-chief I didn’t write or see the tweet or create the podcast, I’m ultimately responsible for it.”
He was replaced as editor-in-chief in 2022 by Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, a female doctor of color.
Dr. Stanley Goldfarb, president of the medical watchdog Do No Harm, described the situation as an example of cancellation culture.
He told The College fix“There’s no question that Dr. Bauchner left his position at JAMA over his involvement in an interview that only claimed that when people talk about racism, they are really talking about an economic situation and not actual racist behavior. ‘
The former deputy dean of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine added, “the proponents of so-called structural racism have created a linguistic trap” in which “all inequalities are instantly relegated to the result of some oppressive activity.”
Goldfarb believes that “drugs should be aimed at treating and preventing disease” rather than “a means of bringing about social change.”
Do Not Harm describes itself as a diverse group of doctors, healthcare professionals, medical students, patients and policymakers who want to protect healthcare from a radical, divisive and discriminatory ideology.
Dailymail.com has contacted Bauchner and the American Medical Association for comment.