Politics

"He was the kind of man that would bend over backwards and then give you the shirt off your back."

Sorry guys. I meant to say "He was the kind of man that would bend over backwards and then give you the shirt off his back."

Kaz, as long as he does not refuse his services based on his beliefs then I personally have no problem, but the moment he refuses service or does not treat a patient with the very same care he should based on their beliefs or opinions then I have a VERY big problem with that. Like I stated before he can believe and think as he wishes. That's his right as an American citizen. The moment it affects how he deals with his patients it crosses the line and steps should be taken to correct that situation. My family doctor years ago was a Republican. He and I used to talk about things all the time. He knew I was a democrat, and we had the best conversations whenever I visited. He was the kind of man that would bend over backwards and then give you the shirt off your back. My mom and I adored him and thought he was the BEST doctor either of us had ever known. When he passed away we went to his funeral. You'd have thought half the city of Athens was there. One of the things that always stuck in my head that he and I discussed was the fact that regardless of whether he and I agreed or disagreed on a particular matter he always said "Rick, I'm a republican. I don't budge, and I'm very old fashioned, but when I see you I'm not a republican, I'm not even an American, I'm a doctor. My job is to take make you better." I'll always think the world of that man. He was a good man, and a wonderful doctor. I'd give anything to find a doctor like him again.

1) Who you voted for is a private matter that no one will have to prove anyhow so this guy basically just looks like an idiot.

2) Yes he has the freedom to say stuff that makes him look like said idiot - unless there's a law against that kind of stuff for lawyers and attorneys. I personally don't know if there is so I'm just saying.

I do think the sign is kind of funny though.

Actually he does not have the right to do this. He does have every right to speak his mind on health care. He also has every right to post a sign stating his own beliefs, but what he does not have the right to do is to tell his patients that if they are supporters of Obama that they should go somewhere else. He's a doctor for God's sake. There are two professions in the United States in the private sector that do not allow for this type of behavior. An attorney and a doctor. Why? Because both professions require that the attorney or doctor remain unbiased toward their clients and patients. So sacred is the relationships between clients and attorneys, patients and doctors that both professions are required to take oaths of their office.

I swear to fulfill, to the best of my ability and judgment, this covenant:

I will respect the hard-won scientific gains of those physicians in whose steps I walk, and gladly share such knowledge as is mine with those who are to follow.

I will apply, for the benefit of the sick, all measures [that] are required, avoiding those twin traps of overtreatment and therapeutic nihilism.

I will remember that there is art to medicine as well as science, and that warmth, sympathy, and understanding may outweigh the surgeon's knife or the chemist's drug.

I will not be ashamed to say "I know not," nor will I fail to call in my colleagues when the skills of another are needed for a patient's recovery.

I will respect the privacy of my patients, for their problems are not disclosed to me that the world may know. Most especially must I tread with care in matters of life and death. If it is given me to save a life, all thanks. But it may also be within my power to take a life; this awesome responsibility must be faced with great humbleness and awareness of my own frailty. Above all, I must not play at God.

I will remember that I do not treat a fever chart, a cancerous growth, but a sick human being, whose illness may affect the person's family and economic stability. My responsibility includes these related problems, if I am to care adequately for the sick.

I will prevent disease whenever I can, for prevention is preferable to cure.

I will remember that I remain a member of society, with special obligations to all my fellow human beings, those sound of mind and body as well as the infirm.

If I do not violate this oath, may I enjoy life and art, respected while I live and remembered with affection thereafter. May I always act so as to preserve the finest traditions of my calling and may I long experience the joy of healing those who seek my help.

This is known as the "Hippocratic Oath", and is a long time tradition that doctors are supposed to honor in order to practice medicine with the highest ethics and best of intentions.

Doctor Jack Cassell should be reprimanded for his lack of ethics. Perhaps it would remind him of his responsibility to not only his patients, but his colleagues, and to the office for which he holds. I would personally ask him "Have you no decency?"