Paul the Humanitarian

Tuesday 25 October 2011 - Filed under Uncategorized

NPR on Ron Paul’s humanitarianism as a doctor:

Eventually Paul got so busy he took on a partner. Jack Pruett, who was then fresh out of his obstetrics/gynecology residency, says when he first sat down in Paul’s office, he was told there were two stipulations he would have to agree to before joining the practice.

“He said, ‘No. 1 is we will not perform any abortions.’ And I said, ‘That’s fine; I can live with that. What’s No. 2?’ ” he remembers.

No. 2, says Pruett, was that the practice would not participate in any federal health programs, which meant, as Paul described it, “that we will see all Medicare and Medicaid patients free of charge, and they will be treated just like all of our other patients, but we’re not going to charge them and accept federal funds.”

Still in debt from his medical training, Pruett said that was a little harder for him to swallow. “But I liked Ron, so I decided that I would agree to that, too. And in all those 20 years, we never accepted one penny of federal money. We saw all those patients for free, delivered their babies free, did their surgeries free; whatever they needed we did, and we didn’t charge them.”

Of course, Lake Jackson being a small town, occasionally Paul would get paid in other ways.

“Some of the people would bring chickens, or they would bring vegetables from their garden if they couldn’t afford to pay for their obstetrical fee,” recalls Richard Hardoin, a pediatrician who used to care for the babies Paul delivered.

It’s absolutely refreshing to see a politician who has principles and stands by them rather than one who simply panders to voters.

2011-10-25  »  madlibertarianguy