One of Carpetbagger’s regular readers, we call her Madre, works for a respected physician at a highly-regarded hospital. It’s not unusual for this physician to be invited to attend conferences, give lectures, and receive awards.<\/p>\n
With this in mind, it wasn’t a big surprise when Madre received a call about a year ago from House Majority Leader Tom DeLay’s office with a “special invitation” for the doctor to join a “Physicians Advisory Board,” which, as the DeLay aide explained, offers physicians an opportunity to advise lawmakers on health care issues.<\/p>\n
Madre and the doctor she works for don’t care much for DeLay, so they declined the invitation. DeLay’s office, however, was persistent and called again with the same invitation a few months later. Again, they declined. A couple of months later, another call with the same offer. This time Madre hung up on DeLay’s office, which was not only the right thing to do, but was obviously understandable in light of the calls’ obnoxious repetition.<\/p>\n
Why would DeLay’s office be so persistent? What exactly is this so-called “Physicians Advisory Board,” which DeLay’s office claimed was quite a prestigious group?<\/p>\n
It’s a big fundraising scheme. There is no real “Board,” and the invitation to join isn’t an honor, it’s a set up. The American Medical Association noted<\/a> that the callers from DeLay’s office use “hot-button issues like HMO reform to pique physicians’ interest. But most doctors interviewed for this story were uncertain, even after the call, whether DeLay’s views were in line with those of organized medicine. They said the caller did not elaborate on DeLay’s record, including his long-standing opposition to the patients’ bill of rights legislation the AMA has been pushing for several years.”<\/p>\n As more physicians learn what’s really going on, they are beginning to tell others. The American Chiropractic Association, for example, felt compelled to send an alert to its membership<\/a> earlier this year because so many chiropractors were being targeted for “aggressive GOP fundraising.”<\/p>\n As the ACA alert explained, “Several doctors have received calls from representatives of House Majority Whip Tom DeLay. The caller details how the doctor is one of a select number of doctors who are being asked to join the ‘Physicians Advisory Board’…. However, when doctors agree to join this board, they are quickly asked for a $500 donation…. It appears these calls are designed to take advantage of doctors’ willingness to take an active role in health care reform.”<\/p>\n Am I suggesting that Tom DeLay would try and mislead physicians to try and rake in a few extra bucks? Of course. Common Cause even called DeLay’s scheme “predatory, deceptive and downright sleazy.”<\/p>\n
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\nDave over at Seeing the Forest<\/a> mentioned the other day that this is part of DeLay’s massive fundraising operation. It’s really pretty low, but par for the course when it comes to DeLay.<\/p>\n