This Just In ...
Kevin Fischer is a veteran broadcaster, the recipient of over 150 major journalism awards from the Milwaukee Press Club, the Wisconsin Associated Press, the Northwest Broadcast News Association, the Wisconsin Bar Association, and others. He has been seen and heard on Milwaukee TV and radio stations for over three decades. A longtime aide to state Senate Republicans in the Wisconsin Legislature, Kevin can be seen offering his views on the news on the public affairs program, "InterCHANGE," on Milwaukee Public Television Channel 10, and heard filling in on Newstalk 1130 WISN. He lives with his wife, Jennifer, and their lovely baby daughter, Kyla Audrey, in Franklin.
I get e-mails, lots of e-mails: The ER doctor
I get lots of e-mails. From all over. About all kinds of things.
Some e-mails are nice (Thank you!). Some aren’t so nice (Shame on you!).
A lot are those e-mails that just get forwarded over and over again. My response generally is, oh, no, not another one. But I take the time to open because it was sent by a legitimate source and it just might amount to something.
I admit this one has been around awhile but I’ve never seen it until this week. It was written by a real live physician.
And because it deals with government health care, it’s still timely, almost 18 months after it first appeared.
Pay close attention. Here’s the version that popped up in my inbox this week, written by Dr. Starner Jones. It is NOT 100% accurate:
Dear Mr. President:
During my shift in the Emergency Room last night, I had the pleasure of evaluating a patient whose smile revealed an expensive shiny gold tooth, whose body was adorned with a wide assortment of elaborate and costly tattoos, who wore a very expensive brand of tennis shoes and who chatted on a new cellular telephone equipped with a popular R&B ringtone.
While glancing over her patient chart, I happened to notice that her payer status was listed as "Medicaid"! During my examination of her, the patient informed me that she smokes more than one costly pack of cigarettes every day and somehow still has money to buy pretzels and beer.
And, you and our Congress expect me to pay for this woman's health care? I contend that our nation's "health care crisis" is not the result of a shortage of quality hospitals, doctors or nurses. Rather, it is the result of a "crisis of culture", a culture in which it is perfectly acceptable to spend money on luxuries and vices while refusing to take care of one's self or, heaven forbid, purchase health insurance. It is a culture based in the irresponsible credo that "I can do whatever I want to because someone else will always take care of me".
Once you fix this "culture crisis" that rewards irresponsibility and dependency, you'll be amazed at how quickly our nation's health care difficulties will disappear.
Respectfully,
STARNER JONES, MD
Not exactly PC, is it?
First off, there really is a Starner Jones, and he is a doctor, and he does work in emergency rooms.
Next, he did write a similar letter. The actual wording is different, but the substance is almost identical.
Next, the above suggests Dr. Jones wrote this letter to President Obama. He did not. Dr. Jones sent a letter to editor of the Clarion Ledger newspaper in August of 2009.
Here is what the good doctor actually wrote that has been verified by several sources, and he’s dead on.
Good for you, Doctor!
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