Senate Majority Leader and physician Bill Frist claims to be confident that Terry Schiavo is not in a persistent vegetative state from viewing a digital video of her. It is a relief that he is in the Senate where the ethical standards are far more lax than they are with respect to diagnosing sight unseen in the practice of medicine. Here is a proposal to compile readers’ digital pictures or videos of their medical problems and send them to Frist to diagnose and recommend treatment. He could single-handedly contain the nation’s healthcare cost crisis with his far more thrifty manner of practicing! Aren’t there some other physicians in Congress who could pitch in and finally fulfill the civic duties they took on when they ran for office? ‘Howard Dean might have brought us the “ah-ha!” moment in politics and the Internet. Dr. Frist is now pleased to present us with the “Kodak” moment.’ [via boing boing]
Day: March 27, 2005
New Details on FBI Aid to Saudis After 9/11
“The episode has been retold so many times in the last three and a half years that it has become the stuff of political legend: in the frenzied days after Sept. 11, 2001, when some flights were still grounded, dozens of well-connected Saudis, including relatives of Osama bin Laden, managed to leave the United States on specially chartered flights.
Now, newly released government records show previously undisclosed flights from Las Vegas and elsewhere and point to a more active role by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in aiding some of the Saudis in their departure.” (New York Times )
For Army Recruiters, a Hard Toll From a Hard Sell
“The Army’s recruiters are being challenged with one of the hardest selling jobs the military has asked of them in American history, and many say the demands are taking a toll.
A recruiter in New York said pressure from the Army to meet his recruiting goals during a time of war has given him stomach problems and searing back pain. Suffering from bouts of depression, he said he has considered suicide. Another, in Texas, said he had volunteered many times to go to Iraq rather than face ridicule, rejection and the Army’s wrath.
An Army chaplain said he had counseled nearly a dozen recruiters in the past 18 months to help them cope with marital troubles and job-related stress. ” (New York Times )
Just as GIs are starting to opt out, so I think should recruiters, for the good both of their physical and emotional health and that of their country.
Diagnose Me, Dr. Frist!
Senate Majority Leader and physician Bill Frist claims to be confident that Terry Schiavo is not in a persistent vegetative state from viewing a digital video of her. It is a relief that he is in the Senate where the ethical standards are far more lax than they are with respect to diagnosing sight unseen in the practice of medicine. Here is a proposal to compile readers’ digital pictures or videos of their medical problems and send them to Frist to diagnose and recommend treatment. He could single-handedly contain the nation’s healthcare cost crisis with his far more thrifty manner of practicing! Aren’t there some other physicians in Congress who could pitch in and finally fulfill the civic duties they took on when they ran for office? ‘Howard Dean might have brought us the “ah-ha!” moment in politics and the Internet. Dr. Frist is now pleased to present us with the “Kodak” moment.’ [via boing boing]
Follow Me Here... 