Fireworks In the Senate, ‘If Anybody Is Lying Here Senator It Is You’ Fauci Slaps Back At Rand Paul

Paul is in fact an M.D. He went on to specialize in Ophthalmology and became Board Certified as most physicians in my lifetime have done after completing residency in their chosen specialty. Given advancements in so many specialties in recent decades, the onetime policy most specialty’s National Governing Boards had of Certification being a lifetime thing Paul’s specialty Ophthalmology like so many others began to require periodic re-certification. A LOT of advancements were (and continue to be) made in eye surgery since Paul finished his training.

Studying for National Boards in ANY specialty is a grind. It takes time, and some of that time means time not seeing patients. I can see why physicians don’t like that, but good and conscientious ones also want to ensure they are up-to-date in their field.

Paul (of course) thought he knew everything he needed to know, and could pick up whatever new stuff came down the pike with relative ease. Many doctors actually do so. Reading journals, taking part in continuing education and via other means. Still, proving you really (still) know your shit and I mean REALLY know it given all the changes in so many fields is a good thing.

Not to Paul. He threw a hissy fit over having to renew his Board Certification so he decided to create his own Certification Board! He, his wife and I think one other person were the honchos and maybe a couple of other folks were running the thing. Well, as you can imagine Paul was Certified by the very Board HE created. For a while relatively small group of Ophthalmologists used Paul’s Certification Board Credential. My memory might be faulty on this but I think the time came when the overall Board that determines whether a given medical specialty’s Board itself should be certified dropped Paul’s little operation from the approved list.

The bottom line is that Paul didn’t want to put in the work to obtain re-certification from his National Board so he created his own little “Certification-Lite.” And some others decided since for a time it was recognized they’d take that route as well. Easier than doing the real thing and all that.

I for one wouldn’t let that sumbitch anywhere near my eyes. I get my medical care from the Durham VA Medical Center. It’s across the street from the main Duke University Hospital and not so coincidentally its School of Medicine. The two have a very, very close working relationship. I was told early on by a nurse who’d transferred from New Haven which had it’s own relationship with Yale that Durham was special. He said up at Yale the doctors and especially residents hated working with or doing rotations at the New Haven VA. In Durham however the Duke doctors sought out positions as attendings. I personally had the Chair of Neurology at Duke who did double duty in the same role at the VA take over doing a neurological test on my lower legs when the tech was having difficulty! Students at the Duke School of Medicine, and residents at it’s hospital actually (according to this, and other nurses I’ve talked to) compete with each other to get to work across the street at the VA!

Given all that, and if for some reason “Doctor” Rand Paul (he got his M.D. from Duke) had shown up in the OR when my cataract surgery was happening I’d have gone full on jarhead grunt in throwing his ass out of the room! And if my doc or some other idiot on the team had actually invited him I’d have stormed my way to the office of the Director of the Hospital to demand different people on a different day. Even though I was legally blind in my right eye.

That’s how little I think of Rand Paul and his medical “expertise.” And he clearly doesn’t know jack about infectious diseases or public health policy.

I love that Fauci called HIM out as a liar. They will meet again in that hearing room in the future. A fantasy of mine might I now think actually become reality. I’ve sometimes hoped that Fauci would reach a point with Paul where he’d say not only what he just did but take it to the next level. With something along the lines of “Dr. Paul, and note I used your title since you play on your having an M.D. to give credibility to your comments on matters like this which are outside your field, you don’t know what your are talking about and have no business getting into the kind of pronouncements you make about this virus or public policy. NO ONE should trust YOU on this subject any more than they should trust me to operate on their eyeballs! At least in my case I’ve maintained my expertise in my own area and my Board Certifications have always been via the nationally recognized entities.”

Wouldn’t that be a sight to see? Is it too much to hope that Dr. Fauci who has clearly had enough of this bullshit might decided it’s time to once and for all cut Paul off at the knees and stuff his lower legs down his blowhard mouth?

Hmm. I would have kicked him hard in the crotch. I am only 5’2″ so If I were in the chair, he would be If course with his crappy credentials,I wouldn’t have let him.near my eyes–he is not certified by a real.licensing board,just one he made up out of his family. Probably couldn’t pass the certification test. He is such a big mouthed as whole Bass Pro.should hire him for spokesperson.

To paraphrase Mark Twain, no, I did not encourage the assault but I wrote a very nice note that I approved of it.