America's Doctor

Dr. Anthony Fauci is making the rounds promoting his autobiography which I intend to read. I think the man is a genuine hero who has been accused and attacked by politicians who "are angry at him for being a doctor instead of a politician." What I just surrounded with quote marks is not my phrase. It's what one of my doctors said to me when this country was in the depths of the novel coronavirus. He likened the situation to when patients get mad at him for telling them what the test results say as opposed to what those patients want to hear.

He went on: "Politicians are like spoiled children when someone outranks them on something. Well, doctors usually outrank non-doctors when it comes to matters about medicine." I was reminded of that when I read this piece about Dr. Fauci's recent interview with MSNBC host Ari Melber…

According to Fauci, Trump got the idea that COVID could be treated with hydroxychloroquine — an off-patent antimalarial used for autoimmune diseases — from Fox News' Laura Ingraham. This was despite warnings to the contrary from global health officials; eventually, according to Mediaite, the drug was linked to nearly 17,000 deaths across six countries during the pandemic.

"But I had to continue to tell the truth," Fauci told Melbar. "And he said, 'Why do you keep doing this to me?' Because it's the truth. I'm telling the American public the facts. Hydroxychloroquine doesn't work."

I have doctors I trust and I don't mean that they're infallible. They're just right way more often than, say, a layperson no matter how many online articles he or she has read. And they're right way more often than Laura Ingraham or Donald Trump. If you'd like to join me in Dr. Fauci's memoirs, here's an Amazon link.