I have been trying to change a decision by the local Arthritis Foundation (now called Arthritis and Osteoporosis WA) I disagreed with. Initially I was concerned I may be alone in my belief, especially as George Orwell said a lunatic might just be a minority of one. I am not sure whether he meant that to stand alone implied lunacy, or it would be perceived so. I suspect the latter because he also said it is one thing to be a lunatic, but to be a lunatic and wrong was entirely different.
I like to think George would have agreed with me - he was devoted to the proper use of language. Had he agreed with AOWA that a Professor of Rheumatology should be called a Professor of Musculoskeletal Medicine, I probably would have stopped my campaign because I regard him as one of the finest minds of the 20th century and a man whose opinions should inform action.
Although he possessed a great mind and considerable integrity he was still a man, and like most men capable of being a rat when it came to women. George, while happily married, attempted by mail to arrange a liaison with an old friend while he was visiting London. She did not share his interest and at the appointed time contrived to be out.
Imagine George, the future author of Animal Farm and 1984 standing on the step dressed as usual in a shabby tweed jacket, hair hanging over his forehead, dark eyes and skinny. Just above his shirt collar was the scar left by a Spanish fascist bullet that had penetrated his neck between the larynx and the carotid artery, bruising the brachial plexus before exiting at high velocity out the back. He knocked. No answer. What to do? Had she just stepped out to get some fresh milk or biscuits, the better to entertain him? Eventually he left, virtue intact, but no doubt temporarily reduced to the status of any other anxious and sweaty palmed would-be lover.
Fortunately, regardless of what George would have thought, the overwhelming majority of WA rheumatologists agreed with me and AOWA was asked to change the name of the proposed new academic position to Professor of Rheumatology. Although correctness has been established the question of lunacy remains problematic! Perhaps the more rational course would have been simply to leave things as they were and avoid the criticism that follows attempts to change the status quo.
AOWA has named the position Professor of Rheumatology/ Musculoskeletal Medicine.
Paddy Hanrahan is a rheumatologist in private practice in Perth. He founded the Goatcher Clinical Research Unit at Royal Perth and Sir Charles Gairdner Hospitals and has held several executive positions on the board of the Australian Rheumatology Association.