Leave Medical Comments Out Of Politics

Many years ago, Paul J. Fink, M.D. was head of the American Psychiatric association, and made a
remark in a speech which I have never forgotten, although I cant find the text of the original
speech.
He said something to the effect that prostitution and psychiatry had the same problem the
amateurs think they are as good as the professionals.
I cant give any kind of a reasonable assessment of how this would apply to professional
prostitutes. It seems to me as if there is a tremendous amount of information available to anyone
who seeks it with assiduity. Besides, I am unaware of structured training, university degrees, or
licensure or any kind of proof of skill for professional prostitutes.
As for psychiatrists, I am constantly amazed by how many people are unaware of what we really
do. Misinformation abounds in the media, films especially.
From Michael Caine in Dressed to Kill (Without giving away the ending, lets just say I am
neither criminal nor crazy a word I never use clinically)
To Barbra Streisand in Prince of Tides, Aside from being female and Jewish lets just say I do
not believe an affair with a first degree relative of the patient is required for healing they could
not be less like me.
Other media do not give psychiatry proper respect either.
Some people do not understand the difference between a psychologist and a psychiatrist and ask
me if I am like Bob Newhart was on his television show.
I was on the radio myself for a while. Most notably, I was on during the Oklahoma City bombing,
in Oklahoma City, trying to comfort a shaken populace. Another radio personality, who was in
the studio with me, actually said people should just talk to their bartender because they didnt
need all that psycho-babble.
Oy!
I am a medical doctor with multi-specialty experience including orthopedic surgery and brain
surgery and this did not sit particularly well with me.
But Im not complaining (and I dont have a bartender) I am just trying to establish context.
I mean, I am actually planning some public talks to explain what a psychiatrist is and does
because the only thing most people know is either from comedy routines or misguided conspiracy
theories.
I am not an analyst, who encourages people to come several times a week and lie on a couch
(never owned one for my office proper) and ask about how it felt to be breast-fed.
One of the things I do often is evaluate folks with head injuries. After a fellowship in
neurology and a residency in neurological surgery, I feel that I might be more qualified to do this
than say
Karl Rove
Yes. Mr. Rove an obviously amateur psychiatrist was offering his expert opinion (as a Fox
News commentator) about Mrs. Clintons alleged brain damage.
(Media note: The NY Post and Fox News are both owned by Rupert Murdoch. Non-Murdoch media
seldom reports some of the more sensational and biased stories mentioned in these news
organs.)
I hit the ceiling, enough to threaten my vigorously apolitical stance on life in the universe.
Rove is quoted as saying she was wearing glasses that are only for people who have traumatic
brain injury.
Although only the basics of optics are covered in any medical school, I am reasonably sure no such
glasses exist.
As a matter of fact, just to make sure I wasnt missing anything, I looked them up online, and
found essentially nothing except references to Karl Roves remarks.
I did find a good page on vision with traumatic brain injury that is accessible to the
layperson. There have been many reactions to this latest declaration by Karl Rove, the first wave
of which are generally summarized in this piece from The Huffington Post.
There have been general rants on pages such as the aptly titled crooks and liars.
Here, Karl Rove apparently has attempt to deny that he said what he said never a good move
for people who make speeches in public or the media.
HEADLINE: Rove on Hillary Clinton: Of course she doesnt have brain damage. The Huffington
Post actually re-posted their report from 2012 when the apparently mild head injury happened.
Me, I certainly have no doctor/patient relationship with Mrs. Clinton, but from this and any or all
circumstantial evidence I can find in any reports, simplysounds very unlikely to be serious enough
to compromise the ability of this woman to hold public office.
If anyone seems compromised from this story, it seems to be Karl Rove.
It is and was totally inappropriate for this man to discuss the presence or absence of brain
damage in a possible presidential candidate from the opposing camp.
I am especially angry because in an era when many precepts of mainstream medicine are under
fire, this man should not be weighing in on a tough subject which he is wholly unqualified to
discuss.
This is political mudslinging at its lowest and most despicable level.
I am not saying anything about the merits, or lack of them, on either political side. I am simply
talking about an individual who has exhibited irresponsible opinions in public.
The American system of politics has been alarmingly oversimplified. America has plenty of
troubles, and there are plenty of possible ways to solve them. I have long had trouble with the
two-party system. Not that it isnt better than having one party for it is. But I am concerned
that despite many other attempts to start and grow political parties, we have only two that seem
to powerful enough to provide serious presidential candidates, and that this man is considered
to be a key spokesperson for one of them.
Make the political decision you believe in, but it is much better to do it without information that
has been provided by Karl Rove.
I love to go back to the Founding fathers, whose wisdom continues to blow me away.
Thomas Jefferson seems to have believed that only the intelligence of the American populace
could keep wild or radical or marginal factions from becoming powerful.
The kind of irresponsible comments and wholesale lying expressed by Karl Rove go way beyond
impersonating a(n) (admittedly amateurish) psychiatrist.
This is no marginal faction. This man is a powerful representative of one party in our two party
system.
We are forced to depend on the intelligence of the American populace.
Please dont let me down.
Choose he candidate you believe in.
At the very least, do not eliminate Hillary Clinton because of Karl Roves remarks.