Doctors Strike - Standing on the Brink?

My working life was as a Primary teacher & headteacher, so I know what it's like to work in one of the "caring" professions. I understand the issues around unreasonable expectations & goodwill. I experienced the erosion of my personal life & the constant pressure. If teachers strike, & they did during Mrs Thatchers premiership, that lost education cannot be recouped. But no one dies. 

Primum non nocere is a Latin phrase that means "first, do no harm". Non-maleficence, which is derived from the maxim, is one of the principal precepts of Bioethics. So I find it extremely difficult to support the Doctors strike. How can the junior doctors possibly say that effective cover can ensure that no one will suffer or, worse still, die, as a result of their strike action? If such cover can be arranged it means that the NHS is massively overstaffed, & we all know that is not true, or service provision is seriously curtailed.

There is a real risk of the loss of respect from the public, as happened with teachers. It took years to turn that around. Workers are not all the same. Some have the onus of expectation of professional behaviour & they know that when the take up the vocation. In losing respect the doctors lose the fight.

Conversely, I think the Conservative government, yet again, has handled this very badly.

A contract is a voluntary arrangement between two or more parties that is enforceable at law as a binding legal agreement. Something freely entered into by both parties. The key words here are "voluntary" & "freely". By definition a contract cannot be imposed. By threatening to impose this contract using "bully boy" tactics the government themselves have lost respect & lost the fight.

There are no winners here. All parties are tainted by the same brush. Possibly irreperable harm is done to both sides. But the real harm is to patients. Thousands have already suffered. The possibility of deaths is very real. Where does each side go from here? What is the next step? 

If a so-called civilised democracy cannot solve this problem by negotiation what hope is there for the world at large? Society is complex. We already have terrorism & wars on several fronts because men cannot agree through discussion & consensus. 

A strike, by anyone, shows that there are serious problems between employer & employee. When systems rely on goodwill to keep operating, (excuse the pun), employees are working unreasonable hours or in unreasonable conditions & moral is low people do things they would normally not consider.

I think we are standing on the brink. Everyone needs to step back. Now. Lets also stop using the misnomer "junior" doctors. These are highly qualified , dedicated, people who do a difficult job in trying conditions. A little respect would not go amiss.