Our Mission
Colorado Principled Physicians works to apply the principles of evidence-based medicine and classical liberal values to the practice of medicine in Colorado.
Our Values
We are non-partisan
We follow the principles of evidence-based medicine
We promote and apply classical liberal values to issues in medicine
Why do we promote Classical Liberal values?
We believe that some classical liberal values are especially important, even necessary, for good medical science and practice. Indeed, the history of medicine (and its current trajectory) cannot be understood without grasping the essential role of adherence to classical liberal values. Our professional customs, ethics, and law depend on a set of shared values. Some of those historically foundational values appear to be losing traction with some parts of our society.
We believe that it’s best to be clear and open about the values on which medicine is built.
What is Evidence-Based Medicine?
The most common definition of evidence-based medicine (EBM) is Dr. David Sackett’s.
He says that EBM is "the conscientious, explicit and judicious use of current best evidence in making decisions about the care of the individual patient. It means integrating individual clinical expertise with the best available external clinical evidence from systematic research."
Practicing EBM requires:
1) awareness of the best available evidence,
2) understanding how to rank the quality of evidence and its limits,
3) recognizing and accounting for biases among decision makers,
4) understanding the trade-offs, risks and benefits of each alternative, and
5) applying this to a clinical decision that addresses the patient’s unique situation and values.
Expert opinion may be helpful in the absence of high-quality evidence but never supplants it.
Appeals to authority are insufficient.
Even when evidence appears sufficient, we must be humble enough to recognize our limits, learn from our mistakes, and reconsider our decisions.
What Classical Liberal Values Matter in Medicine?
All people are of equal and inestimable value. Everyone’s voice matters. Every person should be treated with care. The authorities in government, society, and medicine must respect each individual.
EQUAL DIGNITY
No one can compel the belief, speech, and action of others. The primary mechanisms used to compel others to belief, speech, or action are through credible threats to life, liberty, and livelihood. These have no place in medicine.
RIGHTS OF CONSCIENCE
Human beings have reasonable expectations that others should not kill or harm them. Hippocrates advised that physicians should practice two things: either help the patient or do not harm him.
INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS TO LIFE AND SAFETY
Human beings should receive equal and fair treatment by structures of authority, especially in the public sphere. Professional organizations in science and medicine must not abuse power or demonstrate favoritism for reasons good or bad.
FAIRNESS, OR EQUAL TREATMENT UNDER THE LAW
Human beings have the right to practice a religion or worldview of their choice, and the government or other authorities must not interfere with or establish such practice. This affects everyone, since every human being believes and practices some philosophy of life or worldview (e.g. humanism, materialism, hedonism). This secular or spiritual faith guides the ethical and moral dimensions of medical decision making.
RELIGIOUS FREEDOM AND CHURCH-STATE SEPARATION
The expression of the rights of one person may be justly limited at the point such expression injures others or limits their rights. This principle recognizes that freedom must be matched with order and morality. Governments and authorities must exercise their power to limit rights with great humility and restraint.
THE HARM PRINCIPLE
We understand that we don’t know everything, and the best way to learn is to listen to others who see things differently. Individuals must have the right to speak and associate freely. In medicine, open discourse is particularly important to research and determine optimal treatments. Although we find some speech wrong or even detestable, we believe the best way to combat bad speech is with good speech.
FREE SPEECH, ASSOCIATION, AND PRESS
Tolerance respects the freedom of those who think differently. It does not protect opinions and ideologies, but the persons who hold them, and their freedom to hold them—even if one considers their convictions wrong.
TOLERANCE
This is simply assumed in the Classical Liberal worldview. Science and clinical decision making depend entirely on this reality. Discovering the truth can be difficult, especially in medicine. This calls for honesty, humility and caution where uncertainty reigns.
TRUTH EXISTS
Classical Liberal values begin with the recognition that:
1) the inherent dignity and value and
2) the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family are the foundation of freedom, justice, peace and flourishing in the world. This is so well accepted that the United Nations used nearly identical words in their Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), drawing on principles dating back thousands of years. In the Western world, these values were distilled during the Enlightenment, profoundly influenced by the Judeo-Christian and Greco-Roman traditions, but other secular and religious traditions and philosophies recognize similar fundamental principles.
Classical Liberal values form the basis for the ongoing American experiment.
These are expressed in the rights to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” and the Bill of Rights. They provide a legal, moral and ethical foundation for our diverse population to pursue individual and group flourishing despite tremendous variation in cultural, social, and religious behaviors. Of all the value systems employed by all human cultures and societies, none can claim the practical and enduring success of the Classical Liberal values.
The most basic of the classical Liberal values are civil rights.
These rights include peoples' right to physical and mental integrity, life, and safety; protection from discrimination; the right to privacy; the freedom of thought, speech, religion, press, assembly, and movement. These Civil Rights provide the best foundation for human flourishing. Our profession cannot serve humanity well when civil rights are impaired or ignored by government or social and institutional pressures.
