Reply #58: So what? He's also a SENATOR [View All]

[pursuivant]

Last I counted, there were 100 senators and something like 1,000,000 (?) physicians in the US.

The nation doesn't need one non-practicing cardiologist in NOLA a week after the fact. It needed 10,000 emergency medicine and public health specialists ready to go last Friday.

As a senator, Frist could have made that happen, but he didn't. As a senator, he could keep a catastrophe of this sort from ever happening again by galvanizing government and the medical community using his position and the remnants of his medical training. He could also be coordinating government medical relief efforts for the refugees. (Hint: Free government medical care, medicines and public health measures for the destitute, to prevent the spread of infectious disease into the general population.)

I'll bet you dollars to doughnuts that Dr. Frist hasn't touched a scalpel or medical textbook in years, that he isn't up on his continuing medical education (required to maintain an MD license), and he sure as hell isn't qualified to provide the sort of medical care the refugees need.

This is just a cynical PR move on his part.