Getting political: The role of politics in physician advocacy

While medicine has often encouraged physicians and trainees to remain politically neutral to preserve the patient-physician relationship, this is becoming an increasingly difficult task as the world grows more divided. This commentary outlines the effects of the spill-over of politics into medicine and explores the role of political advocacy in medicine, including the conflicting role of physicians to foster a safe and trusting physician-patient relationship while also acting as advocates for system-level change.