I Don't Like It

Disclaimer:  everything contained in this blog is MY OPINION.  Every attempt is made to present the truth through actual facts or to identify statements which are in doubt;  otherwise there will be no deliberate presentation of gossip, rumor, or innuendo which can't be proven as factual.


Medicine these days bears little resemblance to the discreet, capable, concerned, and caring doctors of not so long ago and that's detrimental to both the medical profession and the people of the community.
Despite various glitches in the new medical attitude, my family and I have always supported our local hospital, and that support has extended to the medical complex as a whole.
HOWEVER, there are several things which are of a growing concern to me, and which I think the complex management needs desperately to stomp on before they get further out of hand.
One of those things is political advertising, 'information,' and electioneering on medical complex property.   Political advertising has been excused to me by the claim that rooms in the clinic are 'rented,' and therefore the renter can do anything he pleases in them.
I called  a couple of attorneys and perhaps a dozen hospitals and clinics which collect taxes.  The money medical professionals pay for examination rooms, offices, operating theatres, etc. is a user fee, not 'rent.' Whatever it's called, a tax-collecting entity it isn't allowed to indulge in politics.
Even most private medical entities which don't collect taxes understand and respect this restriction; but ours doesn't.
Then, propaganda for a school bond was displayed and made available, also within the clinic precincts.  I was told this was 'information' and wasn't an attempt to influence voters.
Pull the other leg.   Here's a doctor, a physician's assistant, a nurse practicioner whom people since birth have been conditioned to respect and obey.  Are you trying to tell me these people can't and don't exert undue influence with patients in a medical setting?
I don't like the manipulation of words.  Lawyers and journalists are famous for it.  However, to have it used in a taxing medical facility (or any other tax-supported entity, such as a school,  police station, senior citizens center, etc.) apparently to subvert the law and exercise unfair persuasion with patients is just flat unethical.,
Now we have a city charter amendment which can be used to vote any member of the city commission out of office in November.  Since some medical professionals seem unwilling to limit their on site activities simply to the practise of medicine, I've not the least doubt that a lot of of persuasive 'information' will be pushed forward at the medical complex in the months preceding November. These actions can hurt the medical complex's reputation,and  it's time for management to put its foot down.  Hard.

Anita Huguelet McMurtrie