[Toshi]

http://www.salon.com/news/rand_paul_kentucky_senate_republican/index.html?story=/opinion/conason/2010/06/14/rand

TOPIC:
Rand Paul
MONDAY, JUN 14, 2010 17:35 ET

Dr. Paul: Not board-certified, but self-certified
Asked by a Louisville reporter when he would explain his dubious certification, Rand Paul said: "Uh ... never"

BY JOE CONASON

Libertarian ideology rejects most of the modern regulatory systems that protect consumers, because everyone should be responsible for determining whether the hamburger contains E. coli on his own. But does that do-it-yourself dogma apply to the regulation of medicine, too? If you're Dr. Rand Paul, practicing ophthalmologist, the answer is emphatically yes.

According to an amusing story in today's Louisville Courier-Journal, the Kentucky Republican Senate candidate bills himself as a "board-certified" physician even though he is not actually certified by the American Board of Ophthalmology -- the only recognized body that certifies doctors in his specialty.

Paul's only certification was provided instead by something called the National Board of Ophthalmology, which is very convenient because he operates that organization himself. As the Courier-Journal explains drily, the American Board of Ophthalmology, which maintains a fully staffed headquarters in Philadelphia, has existed for roughly a century and currently lists about 16,000 doctors on its rolls. (Most hospitals and insurance companies strongly prefer doctors who are board-certified because certification indicates that they have kept up with changes in technology, best practices and so on.) The National Board of Ophthalmology has existed since 1999, when Paul "founded" it, lists no more than seven doctors, and its address is a post-office box in Bowling Green, Ky. He had claimed to be certified by both boards, but Courier-Journal reporter Joseph Gerth quickly discovered that claim was false.

When Gerth tried to ask Paul why he claims to be board-certified when he isn't and why he set up the National Board of Ophthalmology, the candidate stonewalled:

"I'm not going to go through all that right now," Paul said while at the Great Eastern National Gun Day Show and JAG Military Show, in Louisville. Asked when he would talk, Paul said: "Uh, you know, never ... What does this have to do with our election?"

So he's a libertarian (supposedly) that's socially conservative (?), and a physician who is supposedly board-certified yet only by an organization that he created with pappy.

I do not approve, and agree with the above article in that such dishonesty does not bode well.

 

[stevew]

visionary....that's what he is.

 

[Silver]

He's not a libertarian in pretty much any way, shape or form.

Especially not if you happen to posess a vagina.

 

[X3pilot]

Look, he made himself a doctor hoping to get one of those cool Dr. Pepper commercials. Worked for Dr. Love:

 

[JohnE]

"Paul founded the National Board of Ophthalmology because the American Board began requiring physicians certified after 1992 to be recertified every 10 years to make sure they were keeping up with medical trends."

Because God forbid you keep up with the Dr Jones's...

 

[Pesqueeb]

Rand Paul is a lying douche bag? Shocked I am . Is this really any different than all of these other a-holes claiming military expereince that they don't in fact actually have? I'm just glad he got called out. And they say journalism is dead.

 

[$tinkle]

this may be the first man rachel maddow's ever twaddled herself to

 

[X3pilot]

Rand Paul is a lying douche bag? Shocked I am . Is this really any different than all of these other a-holes claiming military expereince that they don't in fact actually have? I'm just glad he got called out. And they say journalism is dead.

As George Constanza said: "It's not really a lie, Jerry, if you believe it."

 

[MMike]

As George Constanza said: "It's not really a lie, Jerry, if you believe it."

Like how OJ was innocent?

 

[chillindrdude]

Rand Paul is a board certified idiot.