Obama unfair to surgeons

As a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons since 1976, I take umbrage at the latest attempt by Obama to create distrust of doctors and specifically between the surgeon and his patient.

Statements that accuse surgeons of choosing to operate when two alternatives, one medical, one surgical, exist as though the choice is merely a financial one are disgusting. I, for example, had 16 years of supervised training before I was allowed to make the decision whether or not to operate. I pledged my sacred honor before I was awarded the four letters that define my ethic in surgery: F.A.C.S.

That was the highest honor I could receive. It meant that at all times, I put the patient’s welfare before any other consideration, be it financial or just loss of sleep. “First, do no harm” was my creed.

Perhaps Obama is projecting his own lawyerly “ends justify the means philosophy,” but people had better awaken and soon before his gangsters have taken over their lives.

Dr. Hugh Alton Dame

Liberty Lake