Rand Paul's Bill Frist Moment

[babylonsister]

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2011_01/027459.php

RAND PAUL'S BILL FRIST MOMENT.... For those of us covering Saturday's events in Tucson, it's almost unavoidable to engage is some armchair psychology. Very few people in media have professional training in mental health issues -- and I certainly include myself in this media group -- but we nevertheless feel comfortable characterizing Jared Lee Loughner as obviously being a deeply sick young man.

Of course, when we say this, we're not making a medical diagnosis or claiming any kind of professional expertise. We haven't met Loughner or conducted any first-hand psychoanalysis. We've just seen the publicly available information and made a commonsense judgment -- this guy looks like a madman.

At a minimum, then, it's annoying to see Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) weigh in on the subject, not as a political observer, but as a medical doctor. (thanks to reader V.S. for the tip)

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said Sunday that, based on Internet writings attributed to a 22-year-old accused of shooting Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.), he believes Jared Lee Loughner is a paranoid schizophrenic. <...>

"I looked at some of the writings of this young man, and from a medical point of view there's a lot to suggest paranoid schizophrenia and a really sick individual," Paul said on "Fox News Sunday."

Look, for all I know, Loughner is a paranoid schizophrenic. This isn't my area of expertise, but from what we saw over the weekend, that hardly seems like a stretch.

But what rankles here is Rand Paul's comfort with offering his "medical point of view" on national television. With due respect to the freshman senator, he's a self-accredited ophthalmologist. He's worked as a medical professional, but has treated patients' eyes not their mental health, and as best as I can tell, he has no background as a psychiatrist.

Rand Paul, in other words, isn't qualified to diagnose mental disorders by reading some stuff on the Internet. He shouldn't pretend otherwise.

If this sounds familiar, it's because we saw a similar situation six years ago. Sen. Bill Frist (R), at the time the Senate Majority Leader, weighed in on the Terri Schiavo matter on the Senate floor. Relying on his background as a surgeon, Frist said he'd watched Schiavo videos in his office for about an hour, and felt comfortable telling his colleagues that the woman may not have been in a persistent vegetative state, despite the judgments of medical professionals who actually treated the patient.

I'm entirely comfortable with physicians seeking elected office, but I wish they wouldn't do stuff like this.

—Steve Benen

[rfranklin]

1. "Self-accredited ophthalmologist?"

How do you do that? Is that one of those internet MEdical Degrees?

[Narraback]

3. He formed his own Board

http://www.aolnews.com/2010/06/15/rand-pauls-medical-certification-challenged/

But those medical credentials are in question after a report from The Courier-Journal in Louisville, Ky., found that Paul is not certified by the American Board of Ophthalmology, the most well-known group in the profession. Instead, Paul is certified by the National Board of Ophthalmology, a group he formed in 1997 to protest a policy disagreement with the ABO. His group is not recognized by the American Medical Association.

[tosh]

7. "policy disagreement"...??

Perhaps he couldn't pass the board exam??

[leftofcool]

8. bingo!

[blm]

2. and thanks to GOP, Rand, MORE mentally unhealthy people will be ON THE STREETS carrying GUNS

or machine guns to aim at those people on the left who you have falsely demonized for decades.

GOP mantra - LESS healthcare for mentally ill and those in need, MORE guns.

[Greybnk48]

4. He's a phony eye doctor, acting as a psychiatrist?

LOL:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[femrap]

5. Too bad Katie Couric won't

say that....

[Jennicut]

6. I have a psych degree and even I can't say this guy has schizophrenia. An "eyedoctor" that certified

himself can not say crap about a medical point of view.

[unblock]

9. in fairness, there is a big difference.

a LOT of evidence of a psychiatric condition is available through the actions and communications of the patient, and diagnoses are made routinely based on nothing more than that. more extensive and structured interviews than are available to paul rand via television or the internet, true enough, but still.

as a former emt, i often made quick diagnoses of patients and others on the scene. i wouldn't announce my diagnoses (except to my partner or the police at the scene), nor would i think that they should take me as an expert. but the point is that i had a useful insight, gleaned only from moments of behavior or communication, and it served a useful purpose in terms of guiding our actions as emergency workers.

bill frist, by contrast, gave a diagnosis and prognosis of something that is never done without extensive LAB tests, including cat scans and so on. there is NO WAY he could possibly have had any great insight into her condition or prognosis just from seeing the patient on television.

if i had had an emergency call to terry schiavo's, i wouldn't dream of diagnosing her as anything other than unconscious. i wouldn't even declare her comatose, let alone opine on whether or not she'd could ever come out of it or anything like that. on what did frist even think he was basing his statements on?

[Jello Biafra]

10. Maybe Rand should....

have his eyesight checked again before making that opinion....

[BlueMTexpat]

11. by an opthamologist who is actually certified ... nt

[rasputin1952]

12. After listening to Rand Paul, and Iam not a trained psychologist,

psychiatrist, I don't play one on TV and I didn't stay in a Holiday Inn last night...but I can easily say that Rand Paul has a serious problem with reality in any form.

I wouldn't allow Rand Paul to get within 50 yards of me with a thermometer, much less take anything he has to say with less than a a ton of sand. Regardless of his "degree", he's an idiot.

[mtnsnake]

13. Sorry Rand, but people with paranoid schizophrenia don't usually commit violent crimes

People with paranoid schizophrenia, the most common form of the disorder, mainly experience hallucinations. They tend to believe that others are poisoning, harassing, or plotting against them. They may also hear voices, which order them to do things. Contrary to popular belief, people suffering from this type of schizophrenia are actually not prone to violence; in fact, they generally prefer to be left alone.

http://schizophrenia.emedtv.com/paranoid-schizophrenia/paranoid-schizophrenia.html