The doctor-patient privilege

Recently, Roger Clemens went on radio to proclaim that he would never use steroids because they weakened the heart and that he had a history of heart trouble in the family.  Turns out he was referring to his step-father.

It's in this light that I reproduce below a particularly clever piercing of hypocrisy.  Usually, I ignore political scandals, but Senator Ensign's affair seems to have struck a vein of schadenfreude as deep as any silver mine in Nevada.

One of Ensign’s roommates [at the Prayer House], Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, was described by Hampton as being particularly vocal about the importance of cash contributions to “make these folks whole.” Coburn denies this, although he won’t say exactly what advice he gave to his erring colleague. Coburn told Roll Call that he talked to Ensign as a “physician and as an ordained deacon” and that he will therefore have the right to keep mum even if he’s dragged into court or a Senate committee hearing.

This makes me sort of hope that some kind of investigation takes place just so Coburn, who’s an obstetrician, can explain how exactly doctor-patient confidentiality figures into this.

For the full op-ed piece from the NY Times, click here.