I just heard the president of the AMA speak today, at Charity Hospital in New Orleans.  Donald Palmisano, MD, JD, talked about "Medicine at the edge of the abyss."  It was about medical liability reform, and other things.

Since there have been discussions in the diaries about this topic, I thought I'd let y'all know what he said.

...it's pure republican spam, sent to me by an aquaintance who knows my politics.  (She has sent me s**t like this before, and I've called her on it).  Here is the email, and my response to it.  Warning:  quite long.

Get the facts straight.

The Facts

The following appeared in a local paper as a letter to the editor.  Please forward to all on your list as this will put things in perspective:

Some claim President Bush shouldn't have started this war. They complain about his prosecution of it. One person recently claimed Bush was the worst president in U.S. history.

Let's clear up one point:   We didn't start the war on terror. Try to remember. It was started by terrorists on 9/11. Let's look at the "worst" president and mismanagement claims.

FDR led us into World War II.   Germany never attacked us:  Japan did. From 1941-1945,  450,000 lives were lost, an average of 112,500  per year.

Truman finished that war and started one in Korea.  North Korea never attacked us.  From 1950-1953, 55,000 lives were lost, an average of 18,333 per year.

John F. Kennedy started the Vietnam conflict in 1962. Vietnam never attacked us.

Johnson turned Vietnam into a quagmire. From 1965-1975,   58,000  lives were lost, an average of 5,800 per year.  Clinton went to war in Bosnia without UN or French consent.  Bosnia never attacked us.   He was offered Osama bin Laden's head on a platter three times by Sudan and did nothing.   Osama has attacked us on multiple occasions.

In the two years since terrorists attacked us,  President Bush has liberated two countries, crushed the Taliban, crippled al-Qaida, put nuclear inspectors in Lybia, Iran and North Korea without firing a shot, and captured a terrorist who slaughtered 300,000 of his own people.

We lost 600 soldiers, an average of 300 a year.  Bush did all this abroad while not allowing another terrorist attack at home.

Worst president in history? Come on!

February is one of my favorite months.  Groundhog day is my favorite holiday.  Pitchers and catchers report in less than two weeks.  The Daytona 500 is right around the corner.  NCAA conference schedules are in full-swing, and March Madness will be here before you know it.

And the Democratic Presidential Primary is heating up...

Throughout the fall and winter, when the Dean juggernaut was on cruise control; everyone wanted to talk about who would be the anti-Dean candidate.

In the last two weeks the media, the pundits, and most importantly, the voters of NH and IA have decided differently.

Kerry has two wins, he has the momentum, he has establishment backing, and the media is treating him with kid gloves (in my opinion.)

It is clear that we aren't searching for an anti-Dean, but an anti-Kerry candidate

Rants of a physician.

Today is Terry Shiavo's birthday.  She's 40 years old.  The State of Florida still will not allow her to die.

The US Congress believes it is more qualified than physicians to make decisions on female reproductive health.

On West Wing tonight, the DEA arrested several physicians after legally prescribing drugs that patients in Oregon used to legally committ suicide.

Geesh, and I had to have 12 years of medical education before I could make those decisions.

Don't look now, but as heard on NPR this morning, and read here the Senate has introduced new legislation for a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage.  

Today the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts ruled that the Commonwealth has no right under its constitution to bar gay and lesbian couples from civil marriage, and all the rights afforded heterosexual couples under marriage.