Doctors angered at Supreme Court ruling

[cal04]

Medical experts speak out about the court’s ruling upholding what the right wing terms “partial birth” abortion:

At Bellevue’s Reproductive Choice Unit, for example, unnerved residents circulated stories about the hospital’s sordid past, when floors were once full of women who attempted termination on their own. “I don’t think many of us know what partial birth is — it’s not a medical term at all,” said Kiran Chawal, a third-year resident there. “We’ve all looked it up to figure out what they’re talking about. It’s difficult to understand or interpret.”

The legislation of medicine is what angers doctors most, regardless of their political leanings. “It’s not a pro-choice issue as much as it is a medical issue,” says Chawal. “You’re telling doctors how to perform a procedure. Are they going to tell me next week that I can’t use a speculum to do a Pap smear?” Jessica Salas, one of the chief OB residents at Bellevue, doesn’t perform abortions because of her own moral concerns, but she is nevertheless opposed to the ban. … “It’s a sad day for practitioners in general. They’re telling us how to do our jobs and to do something that’s not safe for the patient.”

http://thinkprogress.org/2007/04/23/doctors-angered-at-supreme-court-ruling/

Abortion Ruling Causes Worries, Confusion for Angry City Docs
http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2007/04/abortion_ruling_causes_worries_confusion_for_angry_city_docs.html

[Nite Owl]

1. I am under the impression that doctors

vote mostly repuke, not all but a majority. How many voted for * and if they did how can they be surprised now? They like their tax breaks and the promise of tort reforms but this is part of the package.

[yellowcanine]

8. I think that is probably an unwarranted assumption. Doctors are pretty much a cross section of the

population. The doctors that I know are mostly Democrats. But then most of the people I know are Democrats so that is not a good measure.

[The Backlash Cometh]

18. I think doctors went to the dark side when Repubs dangled that

trial lawyer reform legislation pork chop in front of them.

[The Backlash Cometh]

19. Deleted for duplication.

[karlrschneider]

11. I think that was true a few years ago but I know quite a few doctors

and I've been surprised how many of them have tilted leftward recently.

[Skidmore]

20. I used to work at a major teaching hospital and before both

of the last elections you could hear the MDs coming in and out of that place loudly talking about how much better things would be once * was installed as president. They talked about donations and campaign activies they participated in themselves. It's about time some of this came back to slap them. Unfortunately, to date it has just hit the patients.

[Bjornsdotter]

2. I've said it before

....Where did these 5 justices attend medical school? Seems like they are practicing medicine without a license.


Cheers

[Kagemusha]

4. Licensing is a privilege tolerated by democracy

I think this ruling sucks too, but let's not elevate the practice of medicine above the rule of law. This is where law should butt out, not where law has no power.

[Bjornsdotter]

14. They may know the law

...but they do not have the medical training to make a decision across the board for all women in the US.

Cheers

[Kagemusha]

16. It's not knowing the law, it's being the law.

Calling it practicing without a license sounds good as a soundbyte.. I'm just saying, don't mistake that for the notion having any supremacy over the right of Supreme Court justices to be the bull in the medical clinic if that's what they want to be. Licensing only has power because judges, Congress and prosecutors allow it to have power.

[Bjornsdotter]

17. Step aside from the license

...they do not have the medical education to state which medical procedure a woman needs or doesn't need.

Bottom line they are not doctors.

Cheers

[Selatius]

3. If you approach it from Jessica Salas' point of view, the Republicans are in favor of big gov't here

They favor Big Brother intervening between the doctor and patient and dictating to the doctor what can or can't be done.

[C_U_L8R]

5. OUR Supreme Court is no place for ignorant fools

Hippocrates would be ashamed

[terip64]

6. kick and recommend

[PDJane]

7. The US is becoming

more and more misogynist. I attribute that to the swing to the right.

[SharonAnn]

12. Absolutely, the Right-wing authoritarians are racist, misogynist, xenophobic, etc.

It's part of what makes up a right-wing authoritarian.

Other characteristics:
Submissive to authority
highly religious
moderate to little education
prejudiced
mean-spirited
narrow-minded
intolerant
bullying
zealous
dogmatic
hypocritical
inconsistent and contradictory
highly self-righteous
moralistic
severely punitive
little self-awareness

"Conservatives Without conscience", John Dean, page 69
based on "The Authoritarians", Robert Altemeyer, http://home.cc.umanitoba.ca/~altemey/

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

9. Doctors. They are trained to suspend judgement and do what is best for the patient.

For the great ones, it's a vocation. For the mediocre, a means to an ends.

The great ones are Democrats, the far right of the great ones are Independents.

The mediocre are Republicans.

MKJ

[Maat]

10. I agree with the doctors ... and I have a law degree.

I don't believe that Congress should prohibit medical procedures NATIONALLY based upon its commerce power (that's the only power that they have that justifies their intervention). Only the states are permitted to regulate for health and welfare, particularly when the vast majority of its members have no idea exactly what they prohibited. That tells me that this is PURE politics, victimizing the most vulnerable in our society - the pregnant women carrying a defective fetus who will die in utero or shortly after birth.

Sickening.

My daughter will have less rights than I have in her lifetime.

[UTUSN]

13. & Anthony KENNEDY & Clarence THOMAS should listen to DOCTORS ----why???11! n/t

[tyedyeto]

15. Why not? The medical insurance industry...

is constantly telling doctors how to practice medicine, so why shouldn't the Supreme Court?

:sarcasm: