Spring Break
Partisanship severely hindered former surgeon general
Justin Gero
Issue date: 7/27/07 Section: Ed-Op
Most Americans agree that healthcare is a serious issue in America today. Millions are uninsured, and millions more are underinsured. A debate rages about whether it is our responsibility to care for those that cannot afford insurance.
There are many other healthcare issues. Stem cell research and sex education debates still divide this country, but many of us look towards science to guide us. The "doctor of the nation," the Surgeon General, is supposed to be our source of non-partisan, evidence-based solutions to public health challenges.
What is particularly revolting is when a leader of this country ignores and distorts science in the name of political ideology.
On July 10, former Surgeon General Richard Carmona testified before Congress about the level of partisanship he faced when attempting to educate the public on healthcare issues. The House Oversight Committee held a hearing on "focusing on the importance of the Surgeon General's Office, the need to preserve the Surgeon General's independence and recent limitations on the Surgeon General's ability to carry out its public health education mission." Dr. Carmona served as Surgeon General from 2002 to 2006.
Dr. Carmona admitted that when he first entered Washington he was "quite politically na've," and as a result he consulted with former Surgeon Generals to better understand his situation.
In his testimony he said, "They became my mentors. They said that they had all been challenged and had to fight political battles in order to do their job as 'the doctor of the nation.' But each agreed that never had they seen Washington, D.C. so partisan or a new Surgeon General so politically challenged and marginalized as during my tenure."
It would be wrong for me to suggest that other people in this office have not felt political pressure before, but what Richard Carmona described far exceeds the level of political interference that his predecessors had to endure.
Dr. Carmona testified that his office has been "marginalized and relegated to a position with no independent budget, and with supervisors who are political appointees with partisan agendas. Anything that doesn't fit into the political appointees' ideological, theological or political agenda is ignored, marginalized or simply buried."
There are many other healthcare issues. Stem cell research and sex education debates still divide this country, but many of us look towards science to guide us. The "doctor of the nation," the Surgeon General, is supposed to be our source of non-partisan, evidence-based solutions to public health challenges.
What is particularly revolting is when a leader of this country ignores and distorts science in the name of political ideology.
On July 10, former Surgeon General Richard Carmona testified before Congress about the level of partisanship he faced when attempting to educate the public on healthcare issues. The House Oversight Committee held a hearing on "focusing on the importance of the Surgeon General's Office, the need to preserve the Surgeon General's independence and recent limitations on the Surgeon General's ability to carry out its public health education mission." Dr. Carmona served as Surgeon General from 2002 to 2006.
Dr. Carmona admitted that when he first entered Washington he was "quite politically na've," and as a result he consulted with former Surgeon Generals to better understand his situation.
In his testimony he said, "They became my mentors. They said that they had all been challenged and had to fight political battles in order to do their job as 'the doctor of the nation.' But each agreed that never had they seen Washington, D.C. so partisan or a new Surgeon General so politically challenged and marginalized as during my tenure."
It would be wrong for me to suggest that other people in this office have not felt political pressure before, but what Richard Carmona described far exceeds the level of political interference that his predecessors had to endure.
Dr. Carmona testified that his office has been "marginalized and relegated to a position with no independent budget, and with supervisors who are political appointees with partisan agendas. Anything that doesn't fit into the political appointees' ideological, theological or political agenda is ignored, marginalized or simply buried."
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