Not too long ago Ivy League psychiatrist Dr. Bandy X. Lee briefed members of Congress (read: pretty much entirely Democrats) on President Trump’s mental health. Despite having never even met the President, say nothing of examined him, she apparently had quite a lot to say. Since there is nothing new under the sun and history has a habit of repeating itself, it would be useful to go back to the presidential election of 1964.
During the 1964 election campaign, Fact magazine published a survey in which they queried some 12,356 psychiatrists on whether candidate Sen. Barry Goldwater, the GOP nominee, was psychologically fit to be president. A total of 2,417 of those queried responded, with 1,189 saying that Goldwater was unfit to assume the presidency.
While there was no formal policy in place at the time that survey was published, the ethical implications of the Goldwater survey, in which some responding doctors even issued specific diagnoses without ever having examined him personally, became immediately clear. This large, very public ethical misstep by a significant number of psychiatrists violated the spirit of the ethical code that they live by as physicians, and have eroded public confidence in psychiatry.
Simply put, breaking the Goldwater Rule is irresponsible, potentially stigmatizing, and definitely unethical.
Two Harvard shrinks pushed back on recent criticism in the pages of Politico, strangely claiming that diagnosing the President’s mental health from the other side of a television screen wasn’t violating the Goldwater Rule at all. In their opinion, since they aren’t diagnosing Trump “in a specific way” in their various publications and comments, everything is fair game. Also, it’s “not only acceptable but vitally necessary to have a public conversation about the mental state of our nation’s leader.”
On the same note, CNN chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta disputed the health report put forward by White House physician Dr. Ronny Jackson on last Tuesday stating the president was in excellent health. Gupta said President Donald Trump has “heart disease.” Although Dr. Gupta has no relationship with president Trump nor has he ever examined him, Dr. Gupta does have a White House connection. Gupta formerly served as an adviser to then-first lady Hillary Clinton during a White House fellowship.
Sorry, Docs, but I don’t think that’s going to fly. Take, for example, the idea of me writing a post on this site saying, “hey… did you hear what the Senator Shumer said last night? That guy is nuts.” That’s commentary, which you can agree with or dispute as you wish. It’s not even particularly useful commentary since the closest I ever came to medical school was last April when I was in Cox hospital for a few days. But when two Doctors of Psychiatry from Harvard say the same thing, or when a physician touted as an expert on a major media outlet say that the president has heart disease, it’s a diagnosis. You don’t need to tell us the specific name of the mental ailment you suspect is plaguing a public official. (I’d wager more than a few of us wouldn’t know what it meant without hitting up Google anyway.) It’s sufficient just to say that something isn’t right.
But, hey… don’t let us stop you. There’s finally all sorts of political and media figures paying attention to you. Enjoy your fifteen minutes while it lasts.
After all docs, since Miss Cleo is no longer around there’s a vacancy for a pay-per-view psychic hotline… or an online witch doctor service.
(c) 2018 TALES FROM THE DEEP STATE