From Liberal Oasis:
Frist's Ethical Violation
Before we continue, keep in mind that the American Medical Association has a Code of Medical Ethics and offers guidelines on how to report ethical violations.
Two of the nine principles that make up the foundation of the Code are:
2. A physician shall uphold the standards of professionalism, be honest in all professional interactions, and strive to report physicians deficient in character or competence, or engaging in fraud or deception, to appropriate entities.
5. A physician shall continue to study, apply, and advance scientific knowledge, maintain a commitment to medical education, make relevant information available to patients, colleagues, and the public, obtain consultation, and use the talents of other health professionals when indicated.
[emphasis added]
Let's proceed.
On This Week , George Stephanopoulos pressed Frist about the Henry Waxman report on federally-funded abstinence-only programs.
(Crooks And Liars has a video clip of the interview.)
Stephanopoulos set up the segment by noting that the report found "11 of 13 of these programs are giving out false information."
Here's a (long) transcript of what followed:
STEPHANOPOULOS: One of programs [said] "the actual ability of condoms to prevent the transmission of HIV/AIDS, even if the product is intact, is not definitively known."
Another: "The popular claim that condoms help prevent the spread of sexually transmitted diseases is not supported by the data."
A third...suggested that tears and sweat could transmit HIV and AIDS.
Now you're a doctor. Do you believe that tears and sweat can transmit HIV?
FRIST: I don't know. I can tell you --
STEPHANOPOULOS: You don’t know?
FRIST: I can tell you things like, like --
STEPHANOPOULOS: Wait. Let me stop you there. You don't know that, you believe that tears and sweat might be able to transmit AIDS?
