When asked why he robbed banks, the legendary bank robber Willie Sutton said, “Because that’s where the money is.’’
That’s also why the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute holds fund-raisers at Mar-a-Lago, the posh Palm Beach resort that serves as President Trump’s Florida home. It’s where the money is. The most recent gala, held over the past weekend, raised $2.2 million.
All for a good cause. But at what cost?
Some Dana-Farber staff members and a group of Harvard Medical students protested the connection with the Trump brand, and an online petition calling for a change in locale garnered more than 2,700 signatures. In response, Dana-Farber said it was too late to change destinations this year, but would avoid “controversial venues’’ in the future.
Perhaps that means Dana-Farber will stay away from Mar-a-Lago as long as a Trump presidency is controversial. But staying away isn’t enough. Hospital leaders should also be speaking out against Trump policies that run counter to fundamental precepts of the medical profession. The most well known, from ancient times, translates to: First, do no harm. A more modern oath calls upon physicians to remember “that I am a member of society, with special obligations to all my fellow human beings.’’
In declining to relocate this year’s event, Dana-Farber said it wanted to “stay out of politics.’’ So much for that goal. Trump showed up, to cheers and applause. And with the president in the house, the juxtaposition between his agenda and the medical mission couldn’t be more stark.
Trump is promising to repeal the Affordable Care Act and replace it with a yet-to-be-determined plan, which will have broad consequences for patients everywhere. Massachusetts is not immune, even with the old Romneycare model to fall back on. The plan, implemented under former governor Mitt Romney, relied heavily on federal aid, and there’s no guarantee of what will happen to the flow of money under Trump and a Congress dominated by Republicans. A plan pushed by Speaker of the House Paul Ryan would reportedly take away the current Obamacare-related incentives for states to provide health insurance to low-income people.
Trump’s revamped executive order on immigration could also affect patients and the medical-research universe. After Trump’s first executive order, Colleen Farrell, a Harvard medical student and one of the Mar-a-Lago protest organizers, wrote in STAT that the president’s immigration mission “clashes with a core value of medicine, that all patients are welcome and deserving of medical care.’’ She called upon Dana-Farber to take a moral stand against Trump’s policies.
Dana-Farber is not alone in facing this challenge. The American Red Cross and Cleveland Clinic, among other nonprofits, have run into similar controversies over fund-raisers scheduled to be held this winter at Mar-a-Lago. They all stuck with the venue.
In the long run, a willingness to speak out against Trump’s policies is more important than changing locations. No one wants to be added to Trump’s enemies list, especially with so much at stake in the health care field. But if the best and brightest are too afraid to challenge Trump, who will? Speaking up for the poor and the displaced from around world isn’t about mere politics. It’s about life and death.
The willingness of wealthy people to donate big money to causes like cancer research is admirable. But as they celebrate one another’s generosity, surely they can savor their herb-marinated filet of beef someplace other than Mar-a-Lago. And if they really care about the health of the nation, they can urge the leaders of great institutions like Dana-Farber to speak out against policies that hurt the weakest and poorest.
That costs nothing but courage.
Joan Vennochi can be reached at vennochi@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @Joan_Vennochi.
