Boston Children’s Hospital Goes Woke

A children’s hospital should be concerned with one thing and one thing only: Helping children. But Boston Children’s Hospital, one of America’s top pediatric care providers, is obsessed with something else: Woke ideology, which has nothing to do with the health and well-being of kids.

The problems began in 2020, when BCH adopted a “declaration on equity, diversity, and inclusivity.” One of its key goals is to “comprehensively educat[e] employees on the impact of racism on child health, unconscious bias, [and] bystander-upstander awareness.” This language has subsequently affected much of what the hospital does.

We received a tip from a concerned citizen about BCH’s continued descent into radical ideology. The person sent us a series of emails sent by the hospital’s president and CEO. Lo and behold, they focus on things like federal gun control and “incidents [that] are rooted in hatred and racism.” The people at the top of the hospital are setting a tone of partisanship and identity politics, when the focus should be on improving care for children.

The hospital’s research is also being subjected to layers of woke review. Researchers studying “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusivity” – or as Boston Children’s calls it, EDI – must go through a special review to make sure EDI research is being “conducted using equitable research processes” among other things. The equity researchers, in other words, need to be audited according to woke standards.

The concerned citizen also sent us some recent communications from BCH’s CEO. Earlier this month, the CEO sent an email detailing everything the hospital is doing to advance equity – from creating an “Institute for Pediatric Health Equity and Inclusion” to establishing employee groups focused on race.

What’s more, hospital leadership often end their emails by saying: “Support Health Equity / End Racism.” The tone at the top couldn’t be more clear, and it sets a tone of politicization at every level.

It’s a sad day for healthcare when a prominent institution like Boston Children’s Hospital loses sight of its mission of helping the youngest and most vulnerable among us. It’s even sadder when that vision of helping children is replaced by the hateful and divisive ideology of anti-racism.

Are you concerned about a pediatric hospital or other prominent healthcare institution? If you’ve seen anything similar to what’s happening at Boston Children’s Hospital, please let us know.