Dems attack Sen. Coburn for delivering babies for free
How afraid is the Democrat leadership of truly maverick conservative GOP Sen. Tom Coburn, who is waging war with Hapless Harry Reid over binge spending and secrecy?
They’re so afraid of his effectiveness that they are trying to kneecap him with bogus Ethics Committee complaints about his practice of not charging for delivering babies at the Muskogee Regional Medical Center. Coburn continues to serve as an OB/GYN in Oklahoma.
Jill Stanek read my mind: If Sen. Coburn were aborting babies for free instead of delivering them, he’d be getting awards instead of ethics complaints.
Contact info for the Senate Ethics Committee:
The Select Committee on Ethics can be contacted at 220 Hart Building, United States Senate, Washington, DC 20510. Telephone: (202) 224 - 2981. Fax: (202) 224 - 7416.
***
From the Hill:
Coburn has come under new pressure from the Ethics panel for delivering babies at the Muskogee Regional Medical Center, which changed from a public to a private institution in April last year….
In May, Coburn received a strongly worded “final determination” memo threatening him with a Senate censure if he did not stop delivering babies for free….
Coburn spokesman John Hart… called the Ethics panel’s logic “absurd” and its argument “inane.”
“Just as parents don’t choose him hoping to sway his vote, parents don’t choose to receive his services at a particular hospital because Dr. Coburn has somehow endorsed that hospital because he is a senator,” Hart said in a statement…. “The committee has shown us zero empirical evidence to back up its flimsy claim.
“Has Sen. Leahy provided an improper endorsement to Warner Brothers for appearing in Batman?” Hart asked. “Will millions of Americans now see Batman not because it features stars like Christian Bale or the late Heath Ledger, but because Patrick Leahy, a distinguished U.S. senator, has offered his illustrious endorsement to this motion picture?
“If Sen. Coburn can only deliver babies for free at a public hospital, shouldn’t Sen. Leahy only be allowed to donate his notable thespian skills to a public entity like PBS?”
…Hart estimates that Coburn has delivered dozens of babies since last receiving an ultimatum from the Ethics panel in 2005. Coburn has received no compensation for his work and paid “tens of thousands of dollars” out of his own pocket for medical malpractice insurance and other costs related to his medical practice, Hart said.
Other physicians in the Senate, such as former Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.), a heart surgeon, voluntarily gave up their medical practices when they joined the Senate.
Coburn, however, wants to remain a true citizen-legislator and has long argued that the Senate should allow him to keep serving his patients because he plans to return to the practice when he leaves the Senate in 2016, consistent with his pledge to serve only two terms. He would like to keep up his medical skills if he is going to continue being able to earn a living in his chosen profession.
Frist, by contrast, had no plans to return to his practice when he retired from the Senate.
Asked about the recent Ethics Committee action, Coburn said he doesn’t believe he is in violation and will continue to fight any action taken against him.
“All I’m going to say is that’s a fight I would relish,” he said.
Hart said Coburn has no intention of abandoning his medical oath to his patients under threat of censure.
Reader Ray e-mails: “I would think the Democrats would want to praise Dr. Coburn, R-OK, for providing ‘free’ medical care as they hate that so many Americans cannot afford it.”
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- Right Voices » Blog Archive » Senate Ethics Committee Wants To Censure Sen. Tom Coburn’s (R-Okla.) Because He Delivered Babies For FREE!!!
- Democrats Attack Sen. Tom Coburn For Delivering Babies Free | THE HOT JOINTS
- Rhymes With Right
- Senate Ethics Committee Wants to Censure Coburn for Delivering Babies for Free « Green Country Values
- Kick the Anthill » Senator Coburn Awarded Golden Boot
- Fun With Those Quadrennial Pursuits of Presidential Purple and Olympic Glitter « Countenance Blog
- Southern Appeal » Dems really do hate babies
- Dems attack Sen. Coburn for delivering babies for free - TurboBuick.Com
- Free Healthcare but not Free Babies (if delivered by a Republican) «
- FIDELIS » Blog Archive » Dems really do hate babies
- Moloch is well pleased | The Cranky Conservative
- Delivering Babies for Free is an Ethics Violation? « Fairfax Family Forum
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- DYSPEPSIA GENERATION » Blog Archive » Dems attack Sen. Coburn for delivering babies for free
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Categories: Abortion, Harry Reid, Politics
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The sad truth…enough said!
Dr. Coburn, Keep up the good work and thorn in the side of the dems.
L
Well, that sums up the Demoncrats quite well and I agree that under their rule what is up is down and what is down is up.
The smell of desperation is in the air and it stinks.
Apparently, the Dems don’t want voters focused on Democratic fraud, obstruction of any kind of solution to our energy problems and the ongoing flops in the Obama campaign.
Calls to our individual state Senators are in order—-
“You cut PP’s funds-and turn your thinking to pro-baby (pro-life)…then you can be “out-raged” toward Sen Coburn!
Otherwise-SENATOR ________–shut up!”
LFL
I am proud of Sen. Coburn and Sen. Inhoff! Oklahoma is doing a lot of things right thanks to these two. They hear what Oklahomans are saying.
“Notable thespian skills?” Leahy? He was a guest at the party in The Dark Knight, right? He got listed in the credits right after “Thug at Party.” Obviously, they missed type-casting him.
Leaky was in The Dark Knight? I must have missed that.
Right. Were he sending them on to their death, instead of bringing them into this world, he could be hailed as a hero. Well, he may have to drop the “R” after his name too to get that status from them.
He was just part of the cast of extras. It wouldn’t have been too hard to miss him, I don’t think. It’s not like he brought a lot to the film.
Truly, can the liberhoids stoop any lower.
…or is it dangle?
isn’t he just getting a head start on “universal health care” ???????
That would explain it…
This is beyond ridiculous! I can’t for the life of me figure out what is unethical about this practice. Then again, we’re talking about people who rarely make sense so I probably won’t ever be able to make sense out of it.
Sen. Coburn should just tell the Ethics Committee that he is delivering illegal alien anchor babies who will vote Democrat and I’m sure they will leave him alone.
Nah. Coburn just needs to keep it simple and tell them, while pointing towards his posterior to “Pucker up, close your eyes and kiss this”, to borrow a line from Aaron Tippin.
Like AJ says, he is helpin’ those masses the Dems keep pointing to that cannot afford healthcare, right?
Now just wait a minute! I thought the Senate was opposed to charging for this service, like with former Senator Frist, who delivered babies to stay “in practice.”
Can’t have it both ways, folks.
And for crying out loud, he’s volunteering! Just without the hideous AmeriCorps.
Someone correct me if I am wrong.
Hello? It’s a private business. If they wish to contribute to society by providing free birthing, that is their prerogative.
don’t attack the guy who’s hiding $90k in untaxed fund in his freezer. attack the guy who does that evil task of delivering babies for free.
unreal.
I seriously need to hear a good reason as to why providing services to patients for free (and covering any incurred expenses on his own) is unethical. this sounds like complete garbage to me.
Trolls, lets hear it.
senate ethics committee, what a joke. the gutless wonders continue to prove how truly intellectually challenged they are. they are drowing in real issues that need to be addressed, but choose instead to attack someone who is actually doing something meaningful. senate ethics committee please extract your heads from your behinds, since it appears that you are drowning in your own BS.
senate ethics - just another oxymoron. Yes he should be delivering anchor babies for free. That would fit right in with Rangle’s rent stabilized apartments and Wexler using his relative’s address for his Palm Beach address while he lives in MD. I guess there are 2 Americas - the one we live in and the one these politicians create for themselves at our expence!
This is so completely absurd I can only think of one reaction.
LOL WUT?
As a practicing doctor myself, none of this makes any sense. Why would anyone object to delivering children, which I will assume are of parents with limited means? In over two decades of practice, autonomy of the doctor (the person who has been trained & busted his/her a** to learn & actually knows what to do) has been relaced by some remote authority of a legislator/lawyer/insurance company. Perhaps this is also what we will see if national health care comes to pass. Of course, the more salient & direct issue here is apparently the ethics committee wants to destroy Coburn.
If Sen. Coburn were aborting babies for free instead of delivering them, he’d be getting awards instead of ethics complaints.
According to Barack HUSSEIN Obama, babies are a punishment. Therefore, Senator Coburn is supposed to abort them so the mothers aren’t “punished”.
See, the problem is that babies have never been delivered with rusty coat hangers in dark back alleys. If they had been, the Senator would be a hero.
/MAX sarc off
Those nasty Republicans. Now they have hit a new low, aiding and abbeting casting a curse upon the people by providing assistance in bringing children into this world. For shame.
Why can’t he be like Howard Dean and support abortion, assisted suicide and euthanasia? Now there’s a example of a doctor that cares of his country. Keep costs down by the efficient disposal of those who cannot make a positive contribution to society at the ballot box. Lift the curses from parents. Get rid of society’s dead weight.
Those Republicans. They just don’t get it, do they?
I have read the article and still don’t quite get what the Committee thinks he is doing wrong.
In any case, really, all I can do is kinda hang my head on this one. Not gonna try to justify this. Embarrassing.
What country do I live in?
Jaw dropping. And the kicker is, they know how low their approval ratings are.
Wow, I hope Coburn DOES get a chance to fight this one in open hearings.
Keep this up, and the Dems will acheive the impossible. Congressional approval ratings lower than zero.
Anytime you have a doctor donating his time and skills to help people in a positive way s/he should be applauded.
If that’s the worst “dirt” the Democrats can dig up with on anybody, they’re truly desperate.
(As a side note, I believe Ron Paul has also delivered quite a few babies pro bono; good for him on that, if nothing else.)
I like how Sen. Coburn is challenging them to bring it on. Let’s shine a big light on your ugly ethics committee. In fact, let’s start shining big lights on just about everything the dems are doing these days. Oh yes, I forgot, there’s not too many Republicans with the b@lls of Coburn.
Maybe they are upset because he does not have to pay income tax if he does not charge for the delivery?
I found this on zogby 2 hr ago!!!A July Rasmussen Reports poll found a nine percent approval rating for Congress, the first time in the poll’s history that Congressional approval had fallen to single digits.
I don’t understand this at all. What is Sen. Coburn doing that is wrong? I wish more politicians were the citizens they pretend to be. So he’s giving his services for free. So what? Now there are more babies in the world that can enjoy life instead of being sucked cruelly out of the womb by cold abortionists.
I do not understtand why Dems are attacking Coburn. I really do understand why he wants to get out by 2016 though and keep his professional skills (not his poltical ones) current. He had the audacity to resist Congress’ overspending ways and this is how any person who crosses Washington (or Reid and the majority Dems) will be treated.
This is not civil. You do not treat people like this. How does Reid look himself in the mirror? He belongs in jail just like Stevens!
I guess he could have ethics problems if one of the babies he delivered was John Edwards love child.
Tom Coburn is good for Oklahoma and good for the United States. There aren’t many in congress like him. I’m glad to have him representing me and my family.
Shouldn’t they be censuring those who default on their mortgages?
If no one else says it, I appreciate your candor in expressing your dismay on this, chapoutier.
Shocked. Congress? Inane?
Agreed. Chap has the right idea. Good call
Fixed it.
Words fail me. Just when I think I’ve heard everything, something like this comes along.
And we pay Reid how much a year to be stupid?
In Dr. Coburns book “Breach of Trust” he tells why the House (un)Ethics Committe ruled against him practicing medicine, reversing a previous ruling that had allowed him to do so for the past 3 years. It is under the heading, “The Incumbent Protection System”, (pgs.179-185). He was one of the 73 Republican freshmen Representatives in the Class of 94.
If you really want to know how Congress works this book is a must read. There are a lot of revealing things about Newt Gingrich, Dick Armey, Tom Delay, and many other well known names.
You get a good look at just how dysfunctional Congress really is.
And what about Nancy Pelosi’s new book? It sells for $16.29, so she doesn’t even provide it for free. Does that mean she provided an improper endorsement to Doubleday, her publisher? Any chance the house Ethics Panel will investigate?
Not a chance, she has a D by her name.
Next, they plan to go after Sen. McCain for endorsing mom and apple pie.
Any Senator who promotes drilling for oil could be in trouble for endorsing Exxon Mobil.
(I’d better stop before I give them any ideas.)
Don’t worry, Sen. Coburn. Your party and your president will stand behind you 100%.
Okay, better start worrying.
Maybe they would have less of an issue if Sen. Coburn were a Urologist…
Back in the 60’s into the 70’s, my father, a dermatologist, used to provide free care at a walk-in free clinic every Wed morning for four hours and then sometimes have enough time left to get in 9 holes of golf. He also used to let poorer patients stretch their payments and never even considered using a bill collection agency. And then, for some long term patients who lost everything when the steel industry of Pittsburgh basically collapsed - he just told them not to worry about it..
But then more and more people started carrying health insurance. The number of evening and weekend hours needed to submit the claims started adding up. And then some insurers demanded that he was required to disclose his overhead costs and history of charges for various procedures; some even limited what they would reimburse to be lower than new doctors just out of med school because his overhead was low and theirs was high! (After 40 years he had paid off the mortgage on his up/down two unit office/apartment building whereas new doctors were paying huge rents in comparison). And then malpractice insurance started going up… Eventually he gave up on the free clinic which wasn’t drawing as many people anyway as medicaid was coming on-line. Damn the health insurance companies, damn the politicians and damn the trial lawyers - none of them cure anybody yet they’re getting a huge chunk of each health care dollar. God bless Senator Coburn.
I read this blog daily, and post rarely but, today I feel compelled to post if only to say how shameless and depraved the democrats have become and to give a nod to chap for being honest.
The most wonderful thing a doctor can do. Ushering babies into the world. And democrats have a problem with this?
Pretty much tells you everything you need to know about the party of treason and death.
The Dems hate it when doctors deliver babies alive unless they agree to immediately then suck the child’s brain out. They also hate the idea of a Senator working for free - this is their idea of real fascism!
All in all, another shining example why liberals/democrats, particularly their senators,are the scum of the earth. I hope Harry Reid has elected cremation for his every closer to the day ceremony. I would love a movie clip of his body being consumed in hellfire. Even better if he woke up half way through the ceremony.
Wait a minute. I thought the DEMS wanted free health care?
If Sen. Coburn was RECEIVING freebies as a result of his position, THAT would be an ethical problem (at least it used to be, until the world turned upside down).
I think the Dems are just upset that he’s helping babies to be born…THAT is the problem for them.
A little late to the game on this, but let me make sure I understand.
1) Liberals are all up in arms over the expensive cost of health care.
2) Liberals want health care to be “free” under socialized medicine - which means taxing the hell out of the majority of Americans.
3) Sen. Coburn delivers babies for free, thereby doing away with the expensive cost of having a child.
And the Dems are upset about this? In a sane world, I’d say that defies logic - but when have the Dems been logical?
Then they wonder why we think they hate children. As Ms. Stanek said - if Coburn was aborting children for free, he’d be a hero.
Disgusting.