If you were to judge the state of our union solely by the headlines or the latest data from The New York Times/Siena College polls, you would see a nation fractured by ideology.^1,2 However, I believe we are not actually divided by these beliefs as much as we are being influenced by an echo chamber that distorts our reality. Algorithms and isolated feeds convince us that our values are radically different from one another, painting our neighbors as aliens or enemies. My experience as an emergency physician rejects this division and supports a different reality. When political noise is stripped away, we share the same longing for the safety of our families and the health of our communities, just as we share the pain of loss and injury.

As emergency physicians, every day we witness pain, fear, love, and mortality as the great equalizers, exposing the universality of our human experience when faced with life’s most stressful and challenging crises.

We are far more similar and connected than we believe ourselves to be.

This unique perspective is not just a byproduct of our job. It is rooted in the ethical framework of our specialty. ACEP has long held the position that emergency medical care is a fundamental right. ACEP’s principles on health care reform emphasize that care must be provided based on the urgency of the medical condition, not on the patient’s social status, ability to pay, or personal beliefs. This nonnegotiable mandate of universal care creates a sanctuary of neutrality.

A core clinical discipline of emergency medicine is separating ideology from the person. As emergency physicians, we are trained to walk into a room and treat an individual marked with gang-related tattoos with the exact same dedication and clinical rigor as we would a celebrated community leader. We focus solely on the human crisis at hand, not the offensive symbol or the fringe belief. This is a profound ethical stance that is woven carefully into the core of what it means to be an emergency physician.

This stance acts as the crux of the lesson we can offer society, grounded in our profound understanding of the human condition. In the emergency department, we have the privilege of engaging with humanity in its rawest reality, stripping away the social and political veneers to see the person underneath. We meet every conceivable type of person, yet time and time again, we discover that when the defenses are down, every individual possesses an inherent dignity that demands our respect. By translating the medical imperative of unconditional care into a demonstration of unconditional human worth, we model what civic reconciliation should look like. We demonstrate that disagreement must never escalate into contempt.

In 2014, Dr. Catherine Thomasson wrote regarding “Physicians’ Social Responsibility,” arguing that our duty extends beyond the biological management of disease.³ We have a responsibility for the health of society itself. Today, that responsibility requires us to act as intermediaries in an ideologically polarized world. We possess wisdom gained by our understanding of the universal human condition. We know, because we have seen it in the eyes of our patients, that the “united American” core still exists beneath the current political noise.

Therefore, this is a call to action for emergency physicians to voice this reality. We cannot remain silent observers of this false narrative of division. We are uniquely positioned to be a voice of unity in our hospitals and communities and a tool to combat the tribalism that has hurt our greater society and democracy. We must remind our communities that despite what the polls say, we are not “at war with each other.”

We must take the moral high ground we occupy, the ground of unconditional care, and use it to heal more than just injured bodies. We must help heal our broken civic trust. We have evidence that when the pretenses are stripped away, people bleed the same, cry the same tears, and care deeply for one another. It is time we share that evidence with a world desperate for unity and a path forward.

Let us lead by example, showing that while we may vote differently, we survive together. In the end, what divides us pales in comparison to what unites us.

Dr. David Benaron is assistant professor and vice chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine at the University of Nevada, Reno.

References

1. Cross-Tabs: October 2025 Times/Siena Poll of Registered Voters. The New York Times. October 2, 2025. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/10/02/polls/times-siena-poll-registered-voter-crosstabs.html.
2. Peters JW, and Igielnik R. Most Voters Think America’s Divisions Cannot Be Overcome, Poll Says. The New York Times. October 2, 2025. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/02/us/politics/times-siena-poll-political-polarization.html.
3. Thomasson C. Physicians’ Social Responsibility. Virtual Mentor. 2014;16(9):753-757. doi:10.1001/virtualmentor.2014.16.9.oped1-1409.