The head of my country’s sole provider of funded medicines, Pharmac, has resigned suddenly after being told that the Treaty of Waitangi would no longer have a place in our health sector.
The Treaty is New Zealand’s principal guiding document (much like the Declaration of Independence) and gives our indigenous population the right to, among other things, adequate healthcare.
Because they are over-represented in the poverty statistics, Maori are often in high need of medical treatment.
But our relatively new right-wing government has stripped away factoring the Treaty into Pharmac’s decision. Upon which the head of Pharmac abruptly resigned saying he could not with good conscience continue to work for the agency.
It takes courage to do that. It takes high ethical values and a commitment to standing by them.
Would we, if faced with the same choice, make the morally right choice or the politically expedient one?
I’m sure we would like to think we would stand up for what we believe, but when the chips are down, would we actually do so?
I was reflecting on this recently when a close connection, colleague and friend was badly trolled on LinkedIn™ by another connection. Because I am connected to the troller, my friend thought she would make a good connection for her too. And it’s true, she has some good ideas.
But the troller took exception to the tone of the messages exchanged between them and published a highly unpleasant, derogatory and downright libelous post. A post in which I was tagged demanding that I take the troller’s side in the matter.
I untagged myself and hoped the problem was over. It was not.
I then became the object of abuse in a mini post that was tantamount to race-baiting. The volley of invective continued.
Our team made numerous attempts to get the original post removed. These were rejected as the post was not seen to contravene the platform’s community policies. Despite the fact that if it was said in public an arrest would be warranted.
At this point it became a matter of principle. Despite the troller being a regular attendee at our events and her having included (credited) content of mine on her profile, there was no choice but to disconnect, report and block her. Others caught up in the drama did the same.
Not only is trolling unacceptable but I was not prepared to take the risk of her behaving in the same manner toward other connections of mine who might also believe her to be a good addition to their own networks.
While I believe that when faced with bad behaviour of whatever kind, we need to make a stand. I will happily take criticism of me on the chin, especially when it is deserved. But I do not tolerate undeserved bad behaviour toward my team and have fired more than one client for crossing this line.
I would like to believe that if I were in Dr Anthony Jordan’s shoes I would have resigned as head of Pharmac too.