Medical professionals truly are obligated to commit themselves to involvement in medical policy changes. Without that commitment, they will be as vulnerable as their patient to the effects of those changes on the practice of medicine. I have other things I need to be doing with my time. Every one of us, at one time or another has had this kind of a reaction. The reality is, however, that every moment of every day we are advocates.
Good citizenship requires advocacy.
Most people choose when they want to expand their advocacy efforts and which causes are worthy of their time and energy. This ability to decide where to direct advocacy efforts is not available for individuals facing genetic testing or counseling, or who now have a genetic diagnosis. The world we thought we had is no longer under our control. The advocacy of physicians on behalf of both individual patients and the system is absolutely crucial. Policy about the direction and role of genetics is also being made by public opinion and private entities without the input of the public scientific community such as those research groups funded with federal dollars and individual practitioners.