Outgoing U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy offered a “parting prescription” to the U.S. in a document released Tuesday.
“As I finish my tenure as Surgeon General, this is my parting prescription, my final wish for all of us: Choose community,” Murthy said in the document, which People magazine first reported on.
“It won’t always be easy. It will require rethinking and, in some cases, rejecting the conventional wisdom that tells us what defines success and a good life,” Murthy added.
Murthy has served as the surgeon general in the Obama, Trump and Biden administrations, but he was fired by President-elect Trump in 2017. At the time, the firing of Murthy sparked an accusation from Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) that then-President Trump was politicizing the surgeon general position.
President-elect Trump has picked former Fox News contributor and medical doctor Janette Nesheiwat as his nominee for surgeon general in his next administration. In a press release from November, the Trump said Nesheiwat has “an unwavering commitment to saving and treating thousands of American lives.”
In his parting prescription, Murthy said from community comes “a powerful source of life satisfaction and life expectancy,” later adding that community’s “core pillars—relationships, service, and purpose—are powerful drivers of fulfillment.”
“They can also significantly influence health outcomes, including premature mortality, heart disease, depression, and anxiety,” he added.
Despite Murthy’s urging for Americans to choose community, a recent Gallup poll found that most Americans are anticipating a year of political conflict and economic hardship in 2025, two factors that could very easily drive a wedge in the process of community-building.
In Gallup’s poll, 76 percent of respondents said they foresee a year of political conflict over cooperation, and 56 percent said the new year will bring economic hardship instead of prosperity.
