Frist Flip-Flopping

[Voltron87]

[ QUOTE ]
Bill Frist (R-Tenn.), a renowned heart surgeon before becoming Senate majority leader, went to the floor late Thursday night for the second time in 12 hours to argue that Florida doctors had erred in saying Terri Schiavo is in a "persistent vegetative state."

"I question it based on a review of the video footage which I spent an hour or so looking at last night in my office," he said in a lengthy speech in which he quoted medical texts and standards. "She certainly seems to respond to visual stimuli."

His comments raised eyebrows in medical and political circles alike. It is not every day that a high-profile physician relies on family videotapes to challenge the diagnosis of doctors who examined a severely brain-damaged patient in person.


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[ QUOTE ]
Some medical professionals questioned the appropriateness of Frist challenging court-approved doctors who have treated Schiavo. Laurie Zoloth, director of bioethics for the Center for Genetic Medicine at Northwestern University, said she was surprised to hear Frist weigh in, given that he has not examined Schiavo. "It is extremely unusual -- and by a non-neurologist, I might add," Zoloth said in an interview.

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Washington Post

[Felix_Nietsche]

"She certainly seems to respond to visual stimuli."
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You call this a medical diagnosis?!
I'll ask the question again: Do you even know what a medical diagnosis is?
Frist has the right to express his opinions like everyone else. The fact that he is a medical doctor gives his opinions more weight...

"Some medical professionals questioned the appropriateness of Frist challenging court-approved doctors..."
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You claiming "appropriateness" equates to a violation of medical ethics?! Where does is say he violated "medical ethics"?
Again I challenge you to back up your statement. This is your most silly claim.

You certainly like to exaggerate...
It is OK to disagree with Frist and the other Republicans interfering in this case (I DISAGREE WITH THEM!). The assertion on Frist making a diagnosis can be chalked up to semantics on what a diagnosis actually is. Most people are not word smiths so the your first claim is a minor foul.

BUT...attacking the medical ethics of Frist for expressing an opinion is at best an ignorant exaggeration and shows you have no clue about what constitutes a breach of medical ethics....

[bholdr]

yes, dumb politics. I personally think that the republican hyping of the schrivo case was more PR motivated than ideologically so, esp since, as you mentioned, it's a pretty clear violation of some of their other ideological stands.

they are paying back their debts to the religious wing of the party, IMO.