Women's Health Deserves More Than Prayers

[brooklynite]

FDA needs to lose doc who wrote the book on Bible therapies

By LION CALANDRA

Imagine this: Cindy and her charming prince ride off into the sunset. They marry. They have a baby. Cindy gets depressed. At the advice of her godmother, she goes to a doctor, who prescribes a healthy dose of ... Scripture.

A fractured fairy tale? In "Stress and the Woman's Body," a book written by Dr. W. David Hager with his wife, Linda, women are advised to read specific Scriptures to treat such ailments as headaches and PMS. For headaches, it's Matthew 13:44-46. For PMS, Romans 5:1-11. Such suggestions would normally be enough to have someone branded a quack. But when the Food and Drug Administration's Reproductive Health Drugs Advisory Committee meets next week, Hager will be one of its members. He was appointed by the Bush administration in 2001 and will have the gig until June. That is, of course, unless Bush taps him to run the FDA, an appointment that would not require congressional approval.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ideas_opinions/story/255329p-218646c.html

[mcscajun]

1. This guy's been flying under the radar for some time...

...I'd heard about him a couple years ago, and used him, along with Tommy Thompson, as my personal "poster boys" for the coming theocracy when talking to folks on the right. Most had never heard of Dr. Hager, what post he had, or why he was dangerous. Sheesh.

[rodeodance]

2. "This doctor has checked the Hippocratic Oath at the church steps,

"This doctor has checked the Hippocratic Oath at the church steps, choosing to ignore hard-won scientific gains and opting for a sort of therapeutic nihilism.

The advisory panels of the FDA often have near-final say. ......"