Heads-Up for Moral Injury

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PSYCHIATRIC VIEWS ON THE DAILY NEWS

To conclude this current series on moral injuries for all, there are a few things that the Physicians for a National Health Plan (PNHP) has shared with members to keep in mind for the near future.

1. Members of PNHP are putting on a Zoom program on October 7, 2025, to present the findings from their year-long project to understand and address moral injury in physicians and other health care workers. (I do not know if picking that date was related to the second anniversary of the invasion of Israel by Hamas, but it is apparent that moral injuries have been extensive among both Israeli and Gaza physicians and, secondarily, out to concerned physicians anywhere).
2. As helpful as wellness programs are for our general health, they are unlikely to have beneficial repercussions for moral injuries. The values of the systems of care are the main culprits. Wellness officers generally have the same limitations.
3. For all the good that patent satisfaction surveys can do, they likely prevent us from more clearly telling patients about the problems of the system.
4. Keep your heads up and eyes open to spot moral injures in demoralized colleagues and yourself.
5. The essential basic structure for the prevention of moral injuries (and burnout) in health care is still likely to require a change in our entire system to a single payor, not-for-profit national system like most other major countries have, and that the PNHP has long advocated.

Dr Moffic is an award-winning psychiatrist who specialized in the cultural and ethical aspects of psychiatry and is now in retirement and retirement as a private pro bono community psychiatrist. A prolific writer and speaker, he has done a weekday column titled “Psychiatric Views on the Daily News” and a weekly video, “Psychiatry & Society,” since the COVID-19 pandemic emerged. He was chosen to receive the 2024 Abraham Halpern Humanitarian Award from the American Association for Social Psychiatry. Previously, he received the Administrative Award in 2016 from the American Psychiatric Association, the one-time designation of being a Hero of Public Psychiatry from the Speaker of the Assembly of the APA in 2002, and the Exemplary Psychiatrist Award from the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill in 1991. He presented the third Rabbi Jeffrey B. Stiffman lecture at Congregation Shaare Emeth in St. Louis on Sunday, May 19, 2024. He is an advocate and activist for mental health issues related to climate instability, physician burnout, and xenophobia. He is now editing the final book in a 4-volume series on religions and psychiatry for Springer: Islamophobia, anti-Semitism, Christianity, and now The Eastern Religions, and Spirituality. He serves on the Editorial Board of Psychiatric Times.