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March 31, 2005
Editorial: Dr. Cranford/A powerful antidote to lunacy
Reprinted from the Star Tribune
March 31, 2005
In a column this week, the New York Times' Paul Krugman mused about the dangers inherent in the rise of religious extremism in the United States. Increasingly, he said, the Christian right wing is willing to bend the law, ignore the spirit of the law, rewrite the law and ultimately reinterpret the law by packing the court with fellow travelers. All this in order to impose upon the nation an extremist religious ethic that looks more Iranian than American.
You've seen this play out over the past few weeks in lurid, 24/7 coverage of federal meddling in the Terri Schiavo case. It's also affecting the classroom as more teachers come under pressure to teach "intelligent design" as a counter to evolution science. And it is coming soon to the U.S. Senate in the form of a Republican effort to prohibit filibusters against the most radical of President Bush's federal court nominees.
Now the Washington Post reports that increasing numbers of pharmacists, citing their conservative religious preferences, are refusing to fill physicians' prescriptions for birth control and morning-after pills. They thus overrule the wisdom of federal and state authorities who have decided these drugs should be legally available. They also reject the professional wisdom, not to mention legal authority, of the prescribing physician. In many states (including Minnesota), they also violate state law, although perhaps not for long: So-called "conscientious objector" statutes are popping up increasingly in state legislatures to give pharmacists an explicit right of refusal, on moral grounds, to dispense a medicine.
Krugman poses a question about all this: Where are the moderates willing to stand up to these extremists? Specifically, he wants to know, "Where are the doctors fiercely defending their professional integrity? I think the American Medical Association disapproves of politicians who second-guess medical diagnoses based on video images -- but the association's statement on the Schiavo case is so timid that it's hard to be sure."
Prof. Krugman, meet Dr. Ronald Cranford of Hennepin County Medical Center. He's your fierce man, but he could use more than a little help.
Cranford examined Terri Schiavo three years ago at the request of her husband, Michael Schiavo. Then, in court, he testified that she is in a persistent vegetative state. He has stood by that testimony through thick and thin, lots of it. On Monday night, he went toe-to-toe with Joe Scarborough on MSNBC's "Scarborough Country." It was not pretty -- for Scarborough.
The interview was opened by Lisa Daniels, an MSNBC daytime anchor. Soon, Cranford had to correct her misinformation: "Wait a minute. You are not accurate on a lot of things here. You're saying a lot of -- she's not starving to death. Do you understand that? She is dehydrating to death."
Daniels asked: "Well, why do you say that? Tell us how you came to that conclusion?
Cranford responded: "Can I tell you why? Because I have done this 25 to 50 times. I don't know how many times Joe has done it, but I've done it 25 to 50 times in similar situations. ...."
And so it continued, with both Scarborough and Daniels. At one point Daniels asked if a CAT scan had been done. Cranford responded: "The CAT scan is out there. It shows severe atrophy of the brain. The autopsy is going to show severe atrophy of the brain. And you're asking me if a CAT scan was done? How could you possibly be so stupid?"
As we said, it wasn't pretty. But someone has got to do this -- or rather a lot of someones have got to do this on a lot of topics. It's not pleasant, either, as Cranford could tell you. But it is absolutely critical that learned people stand up to the know-nothings and charlatans who are waging war on law and reason and science and medicine in the United States.
Posted by kermisch at March 31, 2005 10:54 AM