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| Dr. David Satcher/AP photo |
Paging Dr. David Satcher, the 16th U.S. Surgeon General, former Director of the CDC, Assistant Secretary for HHS, President of Meharry Medical College and humanitarian! Where is he? Can he speak to the public? The public needs to hear from a straight shooter who will not comprise his integrity with 'hypothetical' slight of words while hemming and hawing around the truth. Dr. Satcher's leadership wove honesty, healthcare, and humanity into a tightly threaded cord. He educated Americans on the importance of the public being totally informed and cared about the welfare of all individuals.
The times were are in now are unprecedented in our history. And unrepresented times call steady stewardship and medical competency. But there is too much shuckin', jiving, sidestepping, and backtracking from those who are allowing their years of institutional knowledge to be folded up like a lawn chair after a picnic. And, their medical credibility is being used like a toy mouse for a trifling fat cat to dangle before the public. It is disappointing to watch the adults in the room literally sit in the corner hoping for the best while millions of American are being trying to do what is right by staying indoors to keep from spreading the virus. After millions watch exhausting press conferences that give conflicting medical information, the doctors run out night after night trying to explain on the COVID19 cable news cycle what should have been told to the public in layman turns at 5:00pm. Empty non binding phrases that are translated into "see what happened was" and "what I meant to say" looped into 30 sec sound bites that are stretched well into the next morning round of talk shows. The elevated level of misinformation is proving to be deadly.
Whew! This is too much additional stress on a nation that is already feeling the effects of coronavirus fatigue! This is not to disparaged any doctor in particular. BUT doctors sharing information from a national platform during this pandemic words should carry weight, be truthful, and transparent. Americans need health experts who will not succumb to being political babysitters. Touting the medical expertise of Medical Doctors who are playing MDs for the press corp is medical malpractice at the least and criminal at the most when we see the daily number of deaths increasing in the United States and around the world. At what cost? Monetarily, emotionally and spiritual? The mental toll the pandemic is having on Americans will be felt for generations to come. We cannot allow a virus ratings to drive out a search for cure, compassion, care, and common sense. Public health officials, appointed, hired, or volunteering, must be held accountable for what they are telling the public in the role they are in without giving any agency of the government political covering. And the public and the media should all remind the doctors to do no harm. At this time, the misinformation and half truths are not only taking its toll mentally but is bad medicine being practiced in plain sight.