On Wednesday, pro-Trump website Breitbart published Dr. Jane Orient’s unfounded speculation that Hillary Clinton could be “medically unfit to serve,” referring to Dr. Orient as the “executive director of a physicians’ organization.”
AAPS is a small nonprofit organization with Tea Party ties that prioritizes “individual liberty, personal responsibility, [and] limited government.” Their journal, as Mother Jones reported, has published articles suggesting that abortion causes breast cancer, that vaccines cause autism, and that AIDS is not caused by HIV. (Breitbart, naturally, has publishedarticles lending credence to at least two of these disproven theories.)
The AAPS also has a long history with the Clintons as well. The organization’s “About” page prominently features its opposition to the 1993 Clinton health care plan. In fact, the organization spent the better part of the ’90s embroiled in litigation against the former first lady, first suing her in 1993 to gain access to the records of the Task Force on National Health Care Reform. Eventually, in 1999, a federal appeals court ruled in favor of the Clinton administration.
[…]
Orient is quite the Trump fan, which of course, make her long distance diagnoses perfectly okay, yessir.
“Surely [Trump’s] style can be abrasive and blunt,” she wrote. “But a huge number of ordinary Americans cheer him, probably because he said what they were thinking.”
Her praise for Trump supporters continues: “They are sick of being pushed around and disrespected by the politically correct crowd who are hypersensitive about almost everything—but constantly spew profane, obscene, and vulgar language that demeans American and Christian culture and blames it for all the world’s evil.”
[…]
In her blog post, Orient repeats the usual conspiracy theories about the former Secretary of State’s physical condition. First, she comments on the photograph of Clinton supposedly having difficulty with a set of stairs, which was actually taken after an accidental slip.
“Did she simply trip?” Orient asks. And then, breathlessly: “Or was it a seizure or a stroke?”
In addition to that bit of grossly unethical speculation, Orient uses circuitous, Trump-esque phrasing to paint a picture of an ailing Clinton.
Instead of using the signature Trump phrase “many people are saying,” for example, Orient says that “it is widely stated that [Clinton] experienced a fall that caused a concussion” (emphasis added). She opines that certain videos of the Democratic nominee, “if authentic,” are “very concerning.” And she packs a mouthful of qualifiers into her claim that an object in a Secret Service agent’s hand “purportedly might have been an autoinjector of Valium” (emphasis added).
[…]
The irony of Orient adding fuel to that fire is that she herself is critical in the blog post of people who are “tossing out psychiatric diagnoses” such as narcissistic personality disorder to criticize Trump. …But even when asked why she would critique lay diagnoses of Trump if she engages in speculation about Clinton, Orient insisted that her choice was not unethical or hypocritical.
“Asking questions based on observable events is not engaging in unfounded speculation,” she told The Daily Beast. “I feel it would be irresponsible to ‘choose’ not to raise important questions.”
Via The Daily Beast.
Marcus Ranum says
Dr. Jane Orient’s unfounded speculation that Hillary Clinton could be “medically unfit to serve,”
She may be a stupid blowhard who ought to know better than to diagnose people who aren’t her patients and who she hasn’t been able to examine. And if it were her patient she was talking about like that, it’d be a huge violation of professional ethics.
She seems qualified (on paper).
http://www.drjaneorient.com/credentials.php
Caine says
Marcus:
So is Andrew Wakefield. I’m afraid that doesn’t mean a thing. You might want to read that Mother Jones article.
johnson catman says
JAQing off by a purported professional means that she is not very good at being professional. The whole JAQing off and all equivalents are just a way for someone to lay the foundation for lies.
blf says
Ah yes, the impressive-sounding AAPS. Orac describes them thusly (Feb-2016):
And (March-2006) The Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons: Medical “science” as dubious as it gets:
And…, well, you get the idea. Über-loons…
blf says
Caine@2, Andrew Wakefield is (now) not qualified, not even on paper: He was stuck off the UK’s list of licensed physicians, and is (as far as I know) not licensed in any other jurisdiction.
blf says
Oops! emboldening fail, Sorry !
johnson catman says
from blf @4:
If the damn republicans weren’t so opposed to universal health care, the “free” medical care would have been paid for by insurance and those facilities would not have been in financial trouble.
Caine says
Blf @ 5:
That’s good to know. My point was that he was qualified, and still a quack, and I’m afraid the list of qualified MD quacks is a long one. Simply being qualified doesn’t mean jack shit, I’m afraid.
blf says
And from The Encyclopedia of American Loons:
And:
Ü-loons ahoy!!!!1!
blf says
johnson catman@7, Whilst your point has validity, the quoted claim was made by a group of über-loony quacks whose relationship to evidence-, science-, facts-, and indeed the whole of reality is invisible.
In other words, I wouldn’t believe “it” — and especially the quacks’s claimed reason — without reliable independent confirmation.
johnson catman says
blf @10:
Understood. I was not claiming that their statement was true, just that republican policies have in fact contributed to closures of facilities, and Obamacare has prevented that from happening in some cases. Universal health care would prevent a lot more of it.
blf says
johnson catman@11, Understood — and I concur!
If my memory is correct, part of ACA is an expansion to Medicare with the funds provided by the feds; i.e., at no cost to the states. This is optional (a state had to opt-in or something), and number of thug-“governed” states did not opt-in, despite it costing them nothing, potentially improving the health care for eligible people, etc., because reasons…
Marcus Ranum says
Caine@#2:
So is Andrew Wakefield. I’m afraid that doesn’t mean a thing.
Yeah. That’s one of the things about this shit that incenses me. They completely erode the notion of trusting in board certifications, etc.
She was good enough to fool the media (as was Wakefield) -- and I’m guessing the whole dodgy credentials pose is darwinian as hell. Fakers are going to keep making their fakes credible enough so that the deeper decent people dig, the truth is right below where we stop.
People legitimately expect board certifications and such to have some kind of value. Otherwise we’re back to the nostrum sellers and medicine shows. Ugh.
Marcus Ranum says
By the way, I am a certified strategic genius. I have a membership card to prove it. Maybe I need to promote that on some websites and stuff and hope Fox News calls me so I can offer advice to conservative politicians.
johnson catman says
blf @12 re Medicare:
How well I know! North Carolina was one of those states (run by a republican legislature) that would not opt in. Idiots. The phrase “cutting off one’s nose to spite the face” comes to mind.
Caine says
Marcus @ 14:
I’m a certified Heartless Bitch, and have the membership card to prove it. Think that would get me anywhere?
johnson catman says
Caine @16:
So what is the certification process for that? Do they have a parallel program for the menz?
militantagnostic says
The AAPS are are also Shaken Baby Syndrome denialists. They attribute the injuries and deaths of shaken babies to “Vaccine Injury”. Just when you think a right wing Christian can not go any lower, they put the limbo stick on the ground and tunnel under it.
chigau (違う) says
Marcus Ranum
;)
Has it expired?
;););););)
Marcus Ranum says
chigau@#19:
Is it 1998 already?
chigau (違う) says
Marcus Ranum@#20
Yes, dear.
Would you like a cup of herbal tea while we wait?
blf says
The mildly deranged penguin is pleased to annouce the <
blf says
(I fecking hate GUIs!)
The mildly deranged penguin is pleased to announce the , providing instant _________ certifications for a quite reasonable fee, only _________ in untraceable negotiable currencies, where _________ is to her liking.
Caine says
Johnson catman @ 17:
You have to apply with an essay as to why you are a heartless bitch.
Nope.