MOUNT DORA — A doctor who considers the national health-care overhaul to be bad medicine for the country posted a sign on his office door telling patients who voted for President Barack Obama to seek care "elsewhere."
"I'm not turning anybody away — that would be unethical," Dr. Jack Cassell, 56, a Mount Dora urologist and a registered Republican opposed to the health plan, told the Orlando Sentinel on Thursday. "But if they read the sign and turn the other way, so be it."
The sign reads: "If you voted for Obama … seek urologic care elsewhere. Changes to your healthcare begin right now, not in four years."
Estella Chatman, 67, of Eustis, whose daughter snapped a photo of the typewritten sign, sent the picture to U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson, the Orlando Democrat who riled Republicans last year when he characterized the GOP's idea of health care as, "If you get sick, America … Die quickly."
Grayson also said republicans were committing atrocities on par with the holocaust, and accused Republicans of letting 50,000 people die every day by refusing medical attention. Which by the way, never happens. You find me a person refused immediate care in an emergencies, and I'll find you a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow. Grayson is a lunatic. On television, and posted on this blog, he portrayed VP Dick Cheney as the Devil, and claimed he was deliberately trying to kill Americans. Grayson is absolutely out of his mind and would better serve Americans in a crazy house, then in congress.
Chatman said she heard about the sign from a friend referred to Cassell after his physician recently died. She said her friend did not want to speak to a reporter but was dismayed by Chassell’s sign.
"He's going to find another doctor," she said.
Cassell may be walking a thin line between his right to free speech and his professional obligation, said William Allen, professor of bioethics, law and medical professionalism at the University of Florida's College of Medicine.
Allen said doctors cannot refuse patients on the basis of race, gender, religion, sexual orientation or disability, but political preference is not one of the legally protected categories specified in civil-rights law. By insisting he does not quiz his patients about their politics and has not turned away patients based on their vote, the doctor is "trying to hold onto the nub of his ethical obligation," Allen said.
"But this is pushing the limit," he said.
What is he pushing the limit of? Is he refusing care? Is he turning people away? No, he is simply saying he would prefer that those trying to take over his control of his profession can kiss his ass. If he doesn't have a right to say that at his private business, then how does America in good conscious claim to uphold free speech. He is not being violent, he is not hurting anyone. All he is doing is offending liberals, who have lobbied the government to ruin his business. What right does anyone else have telling him who he has to treat? Is he a slave to his job? Does he have a legal obligation to practice medicine? No, although that might be the next step for our President as doctors flee the field.
Cassell, who has practiced medicine in GOP-dominated Lake County since 1988, said he doesn't quiz his patients about their politics, but he also won't hide his disdain for the bill Obama signed and the lawmakers who passed it.
In his waiting room, Cassell also has provided his patients with photocopies of a health-care timeline produced by Republican leaders that outlines "major provisions" in the health-care package. The doctor put a sign above the stack of copies that reads: "This is what the morons in Washington have done to your health care. Take one, read it and vote out anyone who voted for it." -(I Love this guy)
Cassell, whose lawyer wife, Leslie Campione, has declared herself a Republican candidate for Lake County commissioner, said three patients have complained, but most have been "overwhelmingly supportive" of his position.
"They know it's not good for them," he said.
Cassell, who previously served as chief of surgery at Florida Hospital Waterman in Tavares, said a patient's politics would not affect his care for them, although he said he would prefer not to treat people who support the president.
"I can at least make a point," he said.
The notice on Cassell's office door could cause some patients to question his judgment or fret about the care they might receive if they don't share his political views, Allen said. He said doctors are wise to avoid public expressions that can affect the physician-patient relationship.
Erin VanSickle, spokeswoman for the Florida Medical Association, would not comment specifically.
But she noted in an e-mail to the Sentinel that "physicians are extended the same rights to free speech as every other citizen in the United States."
The outspoken Grayson described Cassell's sign as "ridiculous."
"I'm disgusted," he said. "Maybe he thinks the Hippocratic Oath says, ‘Do no good.' If this is the face of the right wing in America, it's the face of cruelty. … Why don't they change the name of the Republican Party to the Sore Loser Party?"
Oh my Gosh, what a ZINGER!! The Sore Loser Party, I'd like to see those racist Republicans try and come back to that sting. The observational skills of Congressmen Grayson, and his ability to put it into words; It's like listening to spoken word poetry. The government is taking over a third of the free market, and the people who are opposed to it (70% of Americans) are just sore losers. News flash to Grayson, ITS NOT A GAME, its our freedoms, were all losers because of greedy ass-holes like you. No-one in this country gives two shits about what you think is good medicine. Your a talking-ass, who has no grounds to criticize the decisions of a respected medical professional.
Grayson’s comment illustrates very well the lack of economic competence on the left, and their total disregard of the advice of people who actual practice medicine. Grayson goes after this guy, saying he broke his hippocratic oath, while Grayson and Democrats shredded their oath of office in less then 6 months of the Obama administration. He has helped tear apart the document that founded our country and rocketed us to prosperity. This doctor is, if anything, embracing his oath. He understands that this bill is unconstitutional, extremely bad for medicine and doctors and bad for our health. Grayson wants to believe that he is giving a basic human right to people who can't afford it, but his idea of basic a right requires the willing servitude of well educated medical professionals, who put years and years of effort and money into perfecting their craft. Doctor Cassell is trying to let people know how bad this bill is for them. He has not refused anyone the medical care they require, he is simply saying that if you voted to take over his profession, he would love for you to go somewhere else. One person mentioned in the article did go elsewhere. I hope they recover from the traumatic experience of meeting a non-socialist medical professional. I mean seriously, Its very hard to realize your doctor thinks differently then you on political issues. These overbearing idiots can't help but attack our right to free speech, because they are completely incapable of winning a public debate. That’s why all you get form libs is ridiculous rhetoric.
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