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Wednesday, February 09, 2000 Page: 12A
Although I am retired and have no monetary interest in the passage of HB-50,
I am writing to oppose giving nurses authority to practice medicine.
We have seen in the last 100 years the practice of medicine pass from the
barber-surgeon to the family practitioner to the specialist and sub-specialist
with increasing requirements for study and improvement in patient diagnoses
and treatment with each of these steps.
It appears that HB-50 would reverse this progress to permit those with less
training to diagnose and treat sick people.
This is analogous to the drug industry huckstering over $1 billion worth of
mostly useless and sometimes dangerous chemicals to gullible people who are
deluded into thinking they are improving their health or even curing some
serious disease. All drugs should be regulated by the FDA where physicians and
pharmacists do nothing but study their usefulness and potential harm.
All physicians should be required to obtain the maximum training necessary
to practice their specialty. Standards of medical care should be progressively
improved not relaxed. As a patient, I insist on the best possible medical
care. Costs should be controlled by the elimination of quackery.
Please vote and campaign against HB-50 and any similar legislation.
Dr. Robert M. Kerr
Kingston