Doctors holding picket signs at Doctors Tea Party rally
(Andrew L. Schlafly)
Hundreds of doctors and their patients filled a pavilion in Buccleuch Park in New Brunswick on Saturday afternoon as part of New Jersey's participation in the National Doctors' Tea Party.
Republican Congressional candidate Anna C. Little addressed the rally, which took place between 4 p.m. and 7 p.m.. Also addressing the rally, mainly to talk about the devastation that President Obama's massive health-care bill would wreak for patients everywhere, were Grace-Marie Turner, head of the Galen Institute in Washington, DC; Lou Keeler, former head of the Medical Society of New Jersey; Alieta Eck, director of the American Association of Physicians and Surgeons; Lois Copeland, the AAPS' past president, and Andrew L. Schlafly, the AAPS' general counsel.
According to Schlafly, one speaker mentioned the failure of the medical system under government control in Canada. As has been documented often elsewhere, hundreds of thousands of patients sit anxiously on waiting lists before they can obtain the care they need (and some of these patients die on those lists). The speakers made the inevitable comparison with the semi-socialized system in Massachusetts, where some patients already must wait perhaps a year merely to obtain a simple physical and other patients must settle for group visits lacking the privacy of individualized care.
Physicians appeared in their distinctive white smocks to make the point that even professional people can get fed up enough to participate in a public demonstration.
Schlafly also said that discussion of the passage of Missouri's Proposition C, which effectively nullifies the individual mandate to buy government-standard health insurance, drew some of the loudest applause. Proposition C passed with 71 percent of the vote, on a primary day when participation in the Democratic primary totaled far more than the 29 percent of voters who voted against the proposition. The crowd was also pleased to hear a mention of the recent ruling by US District Judge Henry Hudson in Richmond, Virginia, saying that the lawsuit brought by Virginia's attorney general could proceed to discovery. In rejecting a federal motion for summary dismissal of the matter, Judge Hudson told the parties that the federal government had never before done anything comparable to compelling people to buy a project, and thus the issues would require resolution at trial, not in a mere motion hearing.
This event, sponsored by the American Association of Physicians and Surgeons, was the "Eastern Venue" among several such events taking place across the country. The "Western Venue" was Spanish Landing Park in San Diego, California. Sharron Angle, candidate for Senate in Nevada, and radio personality Roger Hedgcock were two of the speakers at that rally. Similar rallies took place in Kansas City and in Valparaiso, Indiana.
Tellingly, apart from this Examiner and reports appearing in the San Diego Union-Tribune and in scattered blogs and blog comment spaces, media coverage of this event was lacking. This Examiner did not ask for an exclusive, but appears to have one anyway.
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Comments
It's frightening that these right wing extremists have a license to practice medicine.
Shelly, you must be young and healthy. Commie Care is Cheap Care. No more expensive care for you. Commie Care killed Princess Diana. She could have survived her injuries in the worst slums of the United States. No EMT. No jaws of life. No trauma supervisor at the scene. No telemetry back to the ER. She was conscious and talking for half an hour. Then no helicopter. They drove 1 and 1/2 hours the 4 miles to the academic center. No trauma center. If Princess Diana had no chance under Commie Care, what chance will ordinary people like us have?
Under Commie Care, not enough money for dialysis for everyone. Come some birthday, in England, no more dialysis. Happy Birthday, Dad. You will be dead in a week off dialysis.
You guys should stop complaining cuz one the health care we have now isnt as good as it was supposed to be. also the law has just been signed give it a try u guys are too hard on democrats they went to college and we voted for most of these people.so if u want to say u have the right to choose tell that to ur congress men or state official. as for obama people are just tryin to make it look like america made a mistake he has done things to help us and we had a full 8 years of a terrible president and i will be so as happy as ever when a obama fixes bush's mistakes. You can find full medical coverage at the lowest price from www.bit.ly/chE6zp . obama has to put up with the world judging his every move and trying to fix the mess we are in we are lucky anyone wants to be our president. STOP COMPLAINING AND GIVE HIM A BREAK. i wanna see one of yall do what he has done. some people are just so ignorant.
As a doctor, I am extremely disappointed by President Obama’s statement that physicians perform unnecessary procedures/surgeries out of greed. My patients come first. When I made the decision to become a physician, I wanted to dedicate my time and life to providing the best and most compassionate care possible. After receiving a bachelors in science (4 years), I went to medical school (4 years) and residency (5 years). These 13 years of my life was dedicated to developing my mind so I could provide the best care possible. So how does our President describe my physician colleagues and I? He states that instead of doing what’s best for the patient, we look at reimbursements to decide patient care. He states we do unnecessary tonsillectomies for a “sore throat” to make money (youtube video: Obama- Doctors taking tonsils out for money).
Again, my patients come first and I am dedicated to their best interest. I would never perform an unnecessary surgery.
Also, the President stated we make $50,000 for an amputation. For an amputation for diabetes, medicare will reimburse $879.21. No surgeon makes $50,000 as the President stated (youtube video: Doctors Choose Amputations because Surgeons Get Paid More). In fact, malpractice insurance can be 50K, sometimes more.
It’s embarrassing that our own President does not have correct information on how the billing in our health care system works. Does he even understand our health care system? If we truly want health care reform, why are we not focusing on tort reform or adjusting malpractice insurance rates? These factors make significant contributions to the cost of health care.
I understand the President’s point- prevention of medical complications is important, but I do not agree with his slander of physicians and the misinformation he gives the American people. I strongly oppose Obamacare because I do not want the government interfering in my relationships with patients.
When I look at government run systems (inefficient DMV and Postal Service, mismanaged funds of Social Security), I cannot trust the government to manage something so important as healthcare. Do you?
If you want to learn more about over 500,000 doctors against Obamacare and the healthcare reform we hope to achieve, please search “Docs4PatientCare.”
No Marcus Welby -- Andy Griffith -- speaking up for the healthcare manglers!
Thankfully, these are real medical people with information and the truth to tell. Hopefully this will help move the whole nightmare toward repeal.
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