Should we really be surprised when a leading doctor suggests unvaccinated people with Covid-19 should not receive medical treatment? 

The idea that doctors would deny treatment just because they disagree with the life choices of a patient is shameful. But is it really so shocking that some doctors are talking this way?

The medical profession in Australia has already nodded approvingly at widespread mandatory vaccination.

And if doctors agree that the state can use coercion to undermine valid consent then everything is suddenly up for grabs, and nothing can be taken for granted.

The Australian Medical Association’s Victorian branch caused consternation when it suggested last week that unvaccinated people who get Covid should “not disturb the public health system, and let nature take its course”.

The message – though not explicitly stated – seemed to be that if you’re unvaccinated and fall ill, tough luck. It’s your own fault and so you’re on your own.

Thankfully the AMA President, Dr Omar Khorshid, quickly clarified the peak medical body’s position. But that he needed to remind his members of basic ethics shows how troubling the current situation really is.

Dr Khorshid fired off a series of tweets Thursday stating that the AMA’s code of ethics meant “doctors will always provide care to patients considering their right to make their own decisions, even bad ones like not getting vaxxed”.

What a pity Dr Khorshid didn’t tweet the AMA’s code of ethics months ago when politicians and business leaders were injecting the idea of ‘no jab, no job’ into the national conversation.

If the AMA believes patients have the “right to make their own decisions, even bad ones like not getting vaxxed”, what do they make of Victoria, let alone Western Australia, where workers in virtually every occupation — pet shop employees — will have to be jabbed before they have a guarantee they can work.  

And what of Woolworths staff in NSW, for example, who have been told they will be terminated if they are not jabbed by the end of January? Does the AMA really believe these people are being given the “right to make their own decisions, even bad ones like not getting vaxxed”?

Why has the AMA been mute?

How can the AMA be comfortable with its members injecting a substance into perfectly healthy people when they know those people are being coerced?

And how many times are they willing to ignore their own code of ethics? Once? Twice? Three times? Would they draw the line at the fourth booster shot? The tenth?

I know of one person who told his doctor: “I don’t want this shot. I’m only doing it to keep my job”.

The doctor paused for a moment before replying: “I can only give you this if you want me to.”

“I have to have it, or I lose my job. So go ahead.”

And so with just one injection, two people were violated.

That story could be repeated a thousand times. How can the country’s peak medical body be okay with this? 

Overwhelmingly the vaccinated people I talk to throw up their twice-jabbed arms and say with a sigh: “I want to be able to travel” or “I don’t want to lose my job” or “the sooner we do this the sooner we get back to normal”.

Consent seems so 2019.

While doctors are busy administering injections to reluctant patients, politicians are telling anyone who will listen what inspiring leaders they are.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison tweeted last Wednesday: “We did it! 70% of Australians aged 16+ are now fully vaccinated against COVID. Thank you Australia.”

Well, sure Prime Minister. It’s amazing what you can achieve when you threaten people with loss of livelihood.

And as for getting back to normal – the reason so many of the people I speak to give for having got the jab — we now have branches of the AMA suggesting straight-faced that people who don’t submit to pharmaceutical blackmail should not be treated if they fall ill.

That’s not normal. It’s sick.

People with their eyes open will realise that an ethical line has been crossed. Pandora’s medical box has been opened. 

Or maybe I just wear a tinfoil hat.