What's the Uproar, Docs?
by Jeff Woods
What's the Uproar, Docs?
Some Nashville physicians are outraged at U.S. Rep. Jim Cooper and circulating an email accusing the congressman of "arrogance, disdain and disregard" for the healing profession. They say Cooper treated them rudely during a private meeting about health care reform.
According to the email, Cooper unleashed his inner Don Rickles, throwing one insult after another at physicians representing the Anesthesia Medical Group. A sampling of his remarks, all of which his office confirms he made:
* "Your Washington lobbyists are obviously doing a very bad job for you or you wouldn't be so misinformed."
* "[I] never cease to be amazed at how poorly informed physicians are about the health care system."
* "Since the '60s, real wages have remained flat. But physician reimbursements have grown 2-3 percent above the rate of inflation for the last 40 years. That's a transfer of about $800 billion. And you're not even grateful for it. Don't recall ever getting a thank you note for that...."
* "It's fine if you don't like my plan. Where is your plan? Physicians don't have a plan. You can't always be against something. You need to be for something."
* "You probably don't know this either, but did you know that a couple of Tennessee counties have the highest narcotic prescription use in the nation? Doctors passing out pills like candy. And you guys don't do anything about it."
* "[It's] almost impossible to get rid of bad doctors."
* "Wouldn't you think you'd be a little more educated about your own profession?"
* "Medicine used to be a profession. You've lost that. Now you just want to be employees."
* Lastly, to the group's CEO David Whitten: "You've obviously forgotten most of what you learned in business school."
"The meeting was an amazing display of arrogance, disdain and disregard," Whitten responds in the circulated email. "It would have taken some extraordinary effort for Mr. Cooper to have been any ruder than he was to us. His utter and complete lack of respect for physicians was completely and unapologetically evident. He clearly believes himself to be far better informed on health care than any of us."
Pith isn't sure what to make of all this, but it seems likely that if Cooper's pissing off doctors, he's probably on the right track here. Cooper's flack, Peter Boogaard, defends his boss for his honesty, saying it's not unusual for the congressman to speak candidly with players in the health care debate.
"Jim went to their offices, at their request, and asked him to speak frankly," Boogaard said via email. "He did. When the pharmaceutical people and the health insurance companies want to meet, he's equally as frank with them. He thinks the whole system is screwed up, and that EVERYONE has a role to play in fixing it. There are a lot of vested interests, and a lot of people don't want change. He even faults many already-insured patients, because so many people have no 'skin in the game' or price-sensitivity for all of the treatment that they receive that they often don't need, costs a lot, and can harm them. Shannon Brownlee's book Overtreated is one of the books that he recommends to anybody who wants to understand the whole system, because she sort of blames everyone." JEFF WOODS
Who let this moderate in the GOP?
As he travels around the state in his campaign for governor, Bill Gibbons experiences a lot of little Sister Souljah moments. Like Bill Clinton calling out the rapper in that famous speech in 1992, Gibbons is repudiating an extremist element within his own party. He's telling the GOP's Second Amendment freaks they've gone too far with their guns-in-bars law.
"He's been outspoken about it, that it just didn't make any sense," says campaign aide Joe Hall.
Gibbons isn't afraid to bring up the new law and cites cases from his own experience as Shelby County DA to prove his point, "including a sheriff's deputy in Shelby County who got in trouble for it and just got 20 years in state prison for it," campaign manager Josh Thomas says. "He went in [to a bar] without the intention of drinking and it got the better of him, and he shot and killed actually the wrong guy. He killed the DJ."
The Gibbons' spin is this: His position may be controversial, but it shows he's a stand-up guy and unafraid to tackle tough issues. It's definitely a way for a Tennessee Republican to set himself apart. Zach Wamp and Ron Ramsey would jump off a cliff if that's what the NRA wanted and, incredibly, Bill Haslam isn't absolutely certain what he thinks about guns in bars. But will it help Gibbons' campaign? His aides insist most Tennessee Republicans aren't as extreme on the gun issue as the NRA claims.
"We're definitely a pro-Second Amendment party," Thomas says, "but I do think the majority of our party has some concerns" about the law.
Comments (4)
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I think that maybe he could have phrased things a little differently. At the same time, some of what he said was true. I think that there's a major problem as far as people not telling it like it is. Everyone is so afraid. It's time to wake up people and see things for what they really are. I do think it will hurt his campaign because people don't know how to react to those kind of things. Everyone is kind of robotic. There's too many people out there who are afraid to be so honest. They take it wrong.
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You probably don't know this either, but did you know that a couple of Tennessee counties have the highest narcotic prescription use in the nation? Doctors passing out pills like candy. And you guys don't do anything about it" Jim Cooper That's because most physicians are busy seeing and caring for patients, returning phone calls, and catching up paperwork for the insurance companies and the GOVERNMENT. When we get done with that, some of us like have dinner with our families or play with our kids. We do not know what sort of prescribing practices other doctors have. Do you know who does? The FEDERAL GOVERNMENT in the form of the DEA. If problem doctors are writing bogus prescriptions and getting away with it, it's not because I'm not doing my job, it's because YOU and the DEA aren't doing yours. How about you get your own house in order before jumping down our throats.
"Since the '60s, real wages have remained flat. But physician reimbursements have grown 2-3 percent above the rate of inflation for the last 40 years. That's a transfer of about $800 billion. And you're not even grateful for it. Don't recall ever getting a thank you note for that...." Jim Cooper Is Jim Cooper the head of an insurance company? Has he been in congress since the 1960s? Why on earth does he think think doctors should be thanking him for earning a living? I don't know a single doctor who ONLY works 40 hours/week. I think Jim Cooper has lost touch with what his role is as a congressman and public servant and is enjoying all this new found attention.
"Wouldn't you think you'd be a little more educated about your own profession?" Jim Cooper I spent 12 years getting educated about my profession. 4 years of college, 4 years of medical school, and 4 years of training and residency prior to private practice. Much of that time was 60-90 hour weeks. And it wasn't like those tv shows either. In addition to the 12 LONG years of education, physicians in Tennessee, myself included, do at the MINIMUM, 20 hours of continuing medical education a year, but honestly, most of do more. We subscribe to and read our specialty journals and attend meetings and conferences throughout the year. And before anybody starts talking about luxury trips to Hawaii, I'm talking about meetings in hospital conference rooms and lecture halls. You do have the option of combining family vacation with out of town medical education, but I'd rather devote my vacation time to friends and family. But enough about me, tell me about YOUR education about my profession, Jim Cooper.
