Here:
A decade before calling himself “a consistent supporter of pro-life values,” Tennessee physician and Republican U.S. Rep. Scott DesJarlais supported his ex-wife’s decision to get two abortions before their marriage, according to the congressman’s sworn testimony during his divorce trial.
Obtained by the Chattanooga Times Free Press, the couple’s 2001 trial transcript also confirms DesJarlais had sexual relationships with at least two patients, three coworkers and a drug representative while he was chief of staff at Grandview Medical Center in Jasper, Tenn. During one affair with a female patient, DesJarlais prescribed her drugs, gave her an $875 watch and bought her a plane ticket to Las Vegas, records show.
DesJarlais spokesman Robert Jameson did not respond to requests for comment. The attorney for the congressman’s ex-wife said that at this point she does not have any comments to issue on her ex-husband’s testimony.
Don’t people normally lose their medical license for sleeping with patients?
bobbo
“Don’t people normally lose their medical license for sleeping with patients?”
Yes, but they can always run for Congress, and get re-elected by their “pro-life” “family values” supporters.
burnspbesq
Yes.
In addition, the FDA might frown on drug company sales reps trading nookie for promises to prescribe the drugs the sales rep is pushing.
Omnes Omnibus
Just from reading the title, I was going to guess: All of them.
Anonymous
I thought I was a pretty jaded fellow, but I really cannot believe that he was re-elected. I really thought that IOKIYAR ended at abortion, but fuck me, I suppose.
PeakVT
Christ, what an asshole.
Speaking of law-breaking Republicans, is Scott Walker ever going to be tagged with anything? Wasn’t an indictment supposed to be handed down shortly after the recall election?
Svensker
He may be a hypocrite but does he have an Obamaphone? No? Then he’s not one of “those people” so it’s OK to re-elect him.
jl
From this loathsome toad’s testimony:
‘ DesJarlais backed a second abortion after she returned from a military stint in Saudi Arabia a few years before they married in 1995.
“[It] was after she had gotten back from Desert Storm and things were not going well between us and it was a mutual decision,” he said.
The general practitioner reflected on both abortions in his testimony in Marion County Chancery Court. ‘
‘not going well’. That is sound basis for a decision on abortion for this jackass, but not for anyone else, right?
A matter of life and death, health or disability is not enough for anyone else. but ‘not going well’ is A-OK for himself and his favored circle. That is just peachy, huh?
“I don’t think that it was easy for either one of us,” he said. “I think it was a very difficult and poor choice and I think that there are probably regrets both ways.” ‘
The Dangerman
Only veterinarians.
schrodinger's cat
There seem to be a lot of wingnut doctors, Ron Paul, Tom Coburn, this guy and I am sure many others. I wonder why.
EconWatcher
This goes back to my Grand Unified Theory of what makes people wingnuts: They’re always emotionally immature.
It may show up in various ways: an inability to maintain normal adult relationships; pathological dishonesty; temper tantrums; reckless irresponsiblity; etc.
But every wingnut I know in personal life has some kind of problem that makes you think, how can a grown man (or woman) act like that? And if you find out enough about public figures who are wingnuts, it always shows up too. I mean, what kind of grown man shaves an hour off his best marathon time just for the bragging rights?
People who think wingnuts are stupid have it wrong: They span all parts of the IQ spectrum. But they’re always, always childlike in some important emotional way.
jl
@burnspbesq:
” In addition, the FDA might frown on drug company sales reps trading nookie for promises to prescribe the drugs the sales rep is pushing. ”
Ethical medical groups would prohibit doctors and drug reps even meeting. Drug reps get an audience with the formulary committee, and they drink the lousy medical group stinking coffee for refreshments.
Omnes Omnibus
@PeakVT: The investigation proceeds apace. One of Walkers aides recently entered a guilty plea to a number of charges. Be patient. This prosecutor is doing slow, careful, and effective work.
Zapruder F. Mashtots, D.D.S. (Mumphrey, et al.)
Republican voters evidently don’t care about anything Republican politicians do. As long as they’re Republicans, they can do anything. I always said that George Bush could hve walked out before the reporters and bite the head off a baby, and the 27% would find a way to justify it, or at least explain it away.
Even when they get caught having the gay sex, they find a way to blame it on the underaged kid they’ve seduced, and the asshole Republican voters will buy it. They could get caught fucking goats, and their boob voters would wave it away as “gotcha politics” or something. By now, I believe as surely as the sun rose this morning that there’s nothing Republican can do to turn their Republican voters off.
EconWatcher
@burnspbesq:
I thought that was their whole business model.
hueyplong
PeakVT, the trial of one of Walker’s former aides is set to start on Dec 3, according to the Madison NBC station’s website.
The trial could include interesting stuff, the defendant could avoid trial by agreeing to one thing or another that might involve cooperation against others (presumably including Walker), or the whole thing could simply fizzle, I guess.
jl
@Zapruder F. Mashtots, D.D.S. (Mumphrey, et al.): Yeah. As per a recent Krugman post, it is about patriarchy. Or, for fantasizing old white losers, virtual patriarchy.
mark k
Don’t people normally lose their medical license for sleeping with patients?
psychiatrists do, but Drs usually only lose a state license and merely drive across state lines to keep raking in the bucks. See a Dr. Michael Swango for ex.
Bulworth
Yeah well those two patients, 3 coworkers and one drug rep (and I mean, have you SEEN these drug reps?!!!) all threw themselves at him and what was he supposed to do and they all wore short little short skirts and we’re all skeeming to get his money and can’t you see how teh gay marriage totally wrecked this guy’s life and marriage?!
/sarcasm
wasabi gasp
Does he currently have women on his staff?
gnomedad
OT: Hurricane Sandy is God’s judgement and Obama’s re-election is the devil’s work because shut up, that’s why.
ETA: And the Texas drought was just one of those things, also, too.
Punchy
Chief of “Staff”…..heh. Was that his nickname, or his official title?
Rosalita
and he gets re-elected. not only is he a hypocritical POS but so are the people who voted for him. sounds like they’d rather have this rat-bastard in office than a dirty Democrat.
dmsilev
@burnspbesq: If the rep in question is pushing boner pills, one could argue relevancy.
Yutsano
How in the world was this guy getting that much tail? He seriously looks like Jabba’s younger brother. I am so not getting it. Not to mention there’s a shit ton of ugly that goes way deeper.
Dork
Apparently everyone but his wife.
Edit: Punchy beat me to it
Bulworth
The two patients, three coworkers, and one drug rep were all a part of an elaborate conspiracy to discredit the military and general Pedreaus.
maurinsky
@EconWatcher:
ITA with your theory. They also have immature responses to any sort of conflict (kill them all and let God sort them out!) and do not like challenges to their worldview at.all.
Chris
@EconWatcher:
This.
People could write a lot of things about “what it means to be a liberal” but for me, it was a simple part of the maturing process. Yeah, I had a wingnut phase as a teenager. It’s easy at that age to believe that the most important thing in the world is for everyone to get off your lawn, that everything will go peachy if it does, that you live in the best country in the world and anyone who says otherwise is just a traitor trying to make you hate it, and other pieces of stupidity that wingnuts hold as sacred wisdom.
Then you grow up. As part of the process, you learn that the real world is more complex than it seemed when you were a teenager with all the answers, that it doesn’t exist for the sole purpose of servicing your needs and desires, and in short, that you simply don’t exist in a vacuum.
Conservatives by and large are people who for whatever reason still haven’t gone through that process.
dmsilev
@Yutsano: Power and authority. In three cases, it was “coworkers” while he was chief of staff; in other words, effectively subordinates. In some sense, a patient puts themselves subordinate to a doctor when seeking treatment, or at the very least is encouraged to regard the doctor as a source of authority. And the drug rep of course wants to sell stuff to the doctor, so there’s a power imbalance there as well.
PeakVT
@Omnes Omnibus and @hueyplong: Thanks.
clone12
This outburst from the good representative made me laugh:
You don’t say.
Belafon (formerly anonevent)
@Anonymous: No, IOKIYAR ends if you become a Democrat. You can violate every principle you are supposed to have, and you get out of jail free with the R after your name.
And before someone comes in doing the “what about Democrats,” how many Democrats have had to retire?
Chris
@Zapruder F. Mashtots, D.D.S. (Mumphrey, et al.):
You know how the goats are always coming onto good honest innocent farmboys, seducing them with their goatly wiles in order to ruin their public image. It’s the goddamn animal rights activists who put them up to it, always filling their heads with all these uppity ideas.
David Koch
Sounds like an episode of “Scrubs”
Paging Dr. Kelso.
PurpleGirl
@gnomedad: Don’t these idiots come from sections of the country that regularly have tornadoes which destroy homes and businesses and stuff? Have they ever thought that maybe the tornadoes are the judgment due them for their warped and preverted view of the Bible and Christianity? (Preverted — I like how Keenan Wynne pronounced it that way in Dr. Strangelove.)
Zapruder F. Mashtots, D.D.S. (Mumphrey, et al.)
@schrodinger’s cat:
Bill Frist is a doctor. I also found this list from the Congress that started in 2011:
Senators:
1. Tom Coburn (R-Oklahoma), family physician and ob-gyn
2. John Barasso (R-Wyoming), orthopedic surgeon
3. Rand Paul, (R-Kentucky), ophthalmologist
House Incumbents:
1. John Boustany (R-Louisiana), cardiovascular surgeon
2. John Fleming (R-Louisiana), family physician
3. Bill Cassidy (R-Louisiana), gastroenterologist
4. Tom Price, (R-Georgia), orthopedic surgeon
5. Paul Brown (R-Georgia), family physician
6. Phil Gingrey(R-Georgia), Ob-Gyn
7. Ron Paul (R-Texas), Ob-Gyn
8. Michael Burgess(R-Texas), Ob-Gyn
9. David “Phil” Roe (R-Tennessee), Ob-Gyn
10. Jim McDermott (D-Washington), psychiatrist
New House members:
1. Larry Bucshon (R-Indiana), thoracic surgeon
2. Andy Harris (R-Maryland), anesthesiologist
3. Dan Benishek (R-Michigan), general surgeon
4. Nan Hayworth (R-New York), ophthalmologist
5. Scott DesJaris (R-Tennessee), family physician
6. Joe Heck (R-Nevada). emergency room physician
All but one are Republicans. And I don’t know what the deal is with so many being from the south. Three out of five Republican congressmen from Louisiana are doctors; three out of nine Republican congressmen from Georgia are doctors. Two out of seven Republican congressmen from Tennessee are doctors. I guess a sociologist or somebody could make something of all this, but I can’t.
Bokonon
Benghazi! This is just a liberal media conspiracy to distract the public from what is really important right now … which is Benghazi!
Benghazi! Benghazi! Benghazi! AIEEEEEEEEEEEE!
[I am kidding – but I think that Desjarlais has already tried to deflect this story by claiming that the media is just trying to distract everyone. Sex scandal? Abortions? No story there. Move on.]
jl
@clone12: Would be nice to hear a recording of that. I’d bet some cheap beer that the subtext is outrage he is not allowed to slide on this last batch of tricks he’s pulled.
SatanicPanic
@Zapruder F. Mashtots, D.D.S. (Mumphrey, et al.): There is one thing- compromise.
Mary G
Not a problem in Tennesssee?
mai naem
Wasn’t this guy the guy who didn’t have a Dem opponent at all?
Also too, I have a friend whose sister moved to Tenn when her husband, a dentist,moved back to Tenn to take over his dad’s dental practice. Anyhow, my friend and her family are lifelong NY Irish Dems. She was shocked when her sister turned into a total Limbaugh/Fox wingnut after living in Tenn a few years. It was totally like “I cannot believe she is a member of my family.”
gussie
I’m clearly not getting enough pussy. I might change my registration and become a Republican.
ThatLeftTurnInABQ
@Bulworth:
Well in all fairness, who amongst us hasn’t done two patients, 3 coworkers and one drug rep? Let he/she who is without sin cast the first dildo and 2 wetsuits.
Brachiator
@dmsilev:
That’s not necessarily a power imbalance. That may just be a cynically calculated move on the part of the sales rep to make a sale.
Back in 2009, Orange County state rep Michael Duvall was caught on an open mike bragging about an affair with a lobbyist for Sempra Energy. And Duvall would not be anybody’s idea of People Magazine’s Sexiest Man Alive.
Duvall later resigned, by the way. Nothing was ever heard from the lobbyist, but a couple of Sacramento beat reporters had to remind shocked puritans that this kind of behavior has never been unusual.
Also, too, I want to be clear that if you had more women legislators, you would have more male lobbyists employed as toyboys.
Berial
@Zapruder F. Mashtots, D.D.S. (Mumphrey, et al.): I would suspect it’s because the South LOVES it’s hierarchy.
Lawyers (Republican only, Democrat ones are ‘ambulance chasers’), Doctors, Judges, Successful Businessmen, and anyone inheriting large amounts of land and/or money, are respected in the South. And in that order from what I can tell.
JPL
Let’s not forget that U.S. Rep. Scott DesJarlais is now suffering from depression and has an increased possibility of cancer since he made that decision. He’s just trying to help the rest of men in our great nation from suffering like he is.
Chris
@Berial:
Really? Judges and lawyers before businessmen and people inheriting large amounts of land? Huh.
Where do uniforms fit in the hierarchy of Respectable People?
jl
BTW, I’m wondering about the title of the post.
Is this going to be a daily BJ feature?
gene108
@Zapruder F. Mashtots, D.D.S. (Mumphrey, et al.):
Well I think it’s mostly because all these people, Republican politicians and Republican voters, are Christians that make it all O.K.
From my cursory understanding of conservative Christian thought, as long as a sinner reaffirms his faith in Christ, then Christ will forgive him for his sins and therefore other Christians are behooved to not be judgmental anymore.
From a right-wing point of view, that’s what hurt Anthony Weiner versus someone like Vitter. As a Jew, Weiner had no way to ask Christ to forgive him for sins and therefore could not be redeemed.
Berial
@Chris: Reverse the order. Sorry.
Inherited comes first.
And I’m pretty sure cops are just a tad less important than lawyers. So the order would be:
Least to most important:
Police
Lawyers
Doctors
Judges
Made the money themselves.
Inherited the money.
SiubhanDuinne
@Punchy:
Also too, from his bio on his official website:
<Being a family doctor brings you very close to your community….
Heh, indeedy.
El Cid
He’s not a hypocrite.
He didn’t have an abortion, did he?
mai naem
@Zapruder F. Mashtots, D.D.S. (Mumphrey, et al.): Andy Harris was the anti-Obama idjit who was bitching about not getting his House healthcare benefits right away after he was elected. I caught Heck on Soledad OBrien this AM – totally not impressed. Was Tom Price not the guy who talking about people bartering with chickens or something to get medical care. I vaguely remember it was an orthopedic doc. who said that crap.
Also on the previous abortion thread – I didn’t realize there were so many OB-Gyns in Congress. I just wonder, how many OB-Gyns go to school to do abortions? I am guessing basically none. I would think the major reason somebody would want to become an OB-Gyn would be to be involved in bringing babies into the world. BTW, I am not talking about the teaching of performing abortions, all I am talking about is the attraction of being an OB Gyn. So, why would they not let OB-Gyns make the decision of performing an abortion when needed. Do Catholic Hospitals think that OB Gyn’s are going to perform abortions when some woman’s bleeding to death, just because they feel like it? That just sounds crazy.
SiubhanDuinne
@SiubhanDuinne:
FYWP. Let’s try that again.
From Scott DesJarlais’ bio on his official website:
“Being a family doctor brings you very close to your community….”
Heh, indeedy.
SiubhanDuinne
Oh cripey, sorry everyone, I guess I didn’t properly close the bold tag.
My apologies, and would a front pager go in and fix my error right quick?
Apologies. I blame Obama, and a deficiency of wine.
AliceBlue
@Zapruder F. Mashtots, D.D.S. (Mumphrey, et al.):
Nan Hayworth was defeated by Democrat Sean Patrick Maloney.
Chris
@gene108:
The fundiegelical belief is that all humans are inherently tainted, sinful creatures (first by original sin, then by their own actions), and in fact are so fucked up in comparison with God’s perfection that even a Hitler or a Mao are only a few inches deeper into the filth than the rest of us. Despite this, God, being awesome, is good enough to offer us a salvation we don’t deserve – and all we need to do is accept it, i.e. believe in him. And no, you don’t need to do anything to earn it. Just accept God. Even if you go on sinning afterwards, which you will because that’s human nature, it won’t condemn you to hell. Only rejecting God can do that.
It’s a hell of a worldview and I can see why it takes with these people. “Good” and “evil” as we understand the terms practically don’t exist from that POV, all that matters is what team you’re on. It rhymes nicely with all the other forms of tribal belief (nationalist, racial, classist) they hold. And there’s absolutely no need for you to do anything.
dedc79
Tennessee, Tennessee, there ain’t no place I’d rather be….
But seriously, between the closeted homosexuals, the law-breakers and the abortionists, is there anyone in the GOP who actually practices what they preach?
mamayaga
There’s a subspecies of doctor that thinks that because he’s earned an MD it makes him a world-class expert on everything. These guys cannot be told anything and never admit they’re wrong. There’s a similar strain in the business world. That’s the pool the Rs are drawing from.
The Moar You Know
It’s one of the big boundaries you don’t cross, it’s actually a crime in a few states, and it shows that you’re a morally bankrupt worthless human being.
The answer to your actual question is “usually not”, brought to you by the same good folks at the AMA that have fought national healthcare since FDR.
FUCKERS.
Chris
@Berial:
Ah yes, I see.
And yes, I agree that conservatives in general are hierarchy-worshiping nutjobs.
? Martin
@jl:
Christ, I hope not. We’re going to need more days if it is.
Zapruder F. Mashtots, D.D.S. (Mumphrey, et al.)
@AliceBlue:
Well, that’s good to know. The only link I could find in my five or so minutes of poking around on the world wide web had the doctors coming into Congress in 2011.
Just Some Fuckhead
Only if the patients are dead.
Ruviana
@mark k: Yeah, and Swango KILLED people!
Corner Stone
@Brachiator:
Ummm…why?
redshirt
@Chris: Well said. Along the lines of the pill which causes you to lose weight while eating everything you want and never exercising. America!
Uncle Cosmo
@mamayaga:
Don’t forget engineers, particularly Double-Es who work in “defense.” God’s gift to every field of intellectual endeavor, every mother-lovin’ one of ’em, just because they learned to diagram a circuit or write C++. Trust me–I worked with these clowns for >20 years. (And strangely enough, the retired military sprinkled amongst them tended to be the least deranged.)
Brachiator
@Corner Stone:
RE: Also, too, I want to be clear that if you had more women legislators, you would have more male lobbyists employed as toyboys.
Human nature.
lumpkin
So, if he thinks abortion is murder and for that there is no statute of limitations, then he’s still guilty. My guess is he’s a big death penalty advocate – it seems to go hand in hand with the whole “pro-life” outlook. He should try, convict and sentence himself to the death penalty. It would be a good example for the rest of us.
Rando
As a doc, I should prob add my two cents and say that while sleeping with patients is a really shitty thing to do, when you’re a GP in a small town, chances are a major portion of people in that town were your patient at some point. Average family doc has ~3000 active patients.
lumpkin
@Uncle Cosmo:
Uncle Cosmo: You have not met me or many of my EE colleagues. I don’t work in defense and won’t because I don’t agree with the way our “defense” is used in such an offensive manner. I do work in aerospace, though so it’s not like I’m in a real hip place like Google or Apple. I have known a few people who fit your stereotype, but seriously – most of the people I work with seem to be totally a-political and even the ones I know who are pretty severely conservative (I see them looking at Hot Air and Drudge on their work computers sometimes) do not publicly act like assholes.
And the people I hang with include hippies, vegetarians, tree huggers, green energy enthusiasts and people who wear socks and sandals. I myself, fit most of the preceding descriptions. I’m also old.
You must have had some really bad work karma.
fuckwit
@Chris: That’s it! Exactly!
Fudamentalism of the christian variety is basically a get-out-of-jail-free card! That’s why Sarah Palin’s teenage kid can fuck around and get pregnant, and it’s no reflection on the “family values” she was supposedly teaching her.
Modern fundamentalism is, in this regard, kind of like indulgences in the medieval catholic church.
Corrupt, is the word. Didn’t the protestantism that is so dominant in the south of the USA, start out in Germany as a rebellion against this kind of corruption? “I went to confession, I said my Hail Mary’s, I bought an indulgence from the pope, now I’m free to sin again and again!”
Corner Stone
@Brachiator: Women in power, by default, look for toyboys to sell them on a mindset?
I’m sorry but I just disagree. Humans are all corruptible to some temptation or extent but to just say a bunch of young Brad Pitts running around would be the result makes me wonder what the fuck is wrong with you.
In other words, Christ, what an asshole.
2liberal
@Brachiator:
this is crap. please find ONE female legislator shacking up with a male subordinate. There was one female R in the upper Midwest who resigned, other than that I don’t recall of hearing of anything like this.
Full Metal Wingnut
@bobbo: if you can commit war crimes and run for Congress, why not a doctor who sleeps with his patients?
Ken
I’m filing this under “projection”. It turns out that there really are people who use abortion as a method of birth control.
Wolfdaughter
@Yutsano:
Yes, I’ve wondered that, too. I find it hard to imagine truly wanting to have sex with DesJarlais. The drug reps making a sale I can sorta understand, but otherwise…
I’m a retired medical librarian who used to interview prospective medical students. Some of them came from families where most of their (usually male) relatives were physicians. They were expected to become physicians as well, whether or not it suited their bent. And they could usually get into the medical school where a lot of their relatives went, regardless of grades, MCAT scores, etc. I can’t help but wonder if a lot of the Repub congresscritters who are physicians fall into that category.
We’re dealing with authoritarians here. The congresscritters are dominant authoritarians and those who elect them are submissive authoritarians. To a submissive authoritarian, someone who talks down and bullies and appears absolutely certain he is right, is someone they trust.
For me, OTOH, and suspect most of you, this behavior just pisses me off.
liberal
@schrodinger’s cat:
My idea is that it’s something related to the Salem Hypothesis for engineers.
Lavocat
If you say “family values” often enough it could mean just about anything, like fucking a dog fer chrissakes.
Whose fucking family are we talking about here, cuz it sure as hell isn’t mine!
Cue “Dueling Banjos”.
PsiFighter37
And don’t forget that this ASSCLOWN GET RE-ELECTED. He probably said some bullshit about having a conversation with God, “Sorry that I might have aborted the second coming of the Jeebus”, and all was well and okay.
Seriously, what the fuck is wrong with the South. They re-elect Senator Diapers by 20%, and they re-elected this guy by double digits. Does it not matter at all about the family values they preach? If a non-white person is in the White House, does it mean that bitches gotta pay, damned the word of the Lord may be? What the fuck is wrong with that part of the country.
PF37 +4
Chet
@Chris: There are fundies who will placidly explain to you how it’s entirely possible, even likely, that lots of former Nazis are enjoying eternal heavenly bliss as we speak (assuming sincere conversion/repentance before they died) even as the Jews they herded up, tortured and exterminated are roasting in hell (assuming a lack of pre-death conversion to the One True Fath). All part of God’s wondrously inscrutable ways, don’t you know.
Chet
@Yutsano:
Kissinger had a pretty good explanation, IIRC.
AHH onna Droid
@Zapruder F. Mashtots, D.D.S. (Mumphrey, et al.): its not sociological, it’s social class, or caste. South has high inequality, only ruling landed class can send their offspring top medical school. Their ideology is bound to self interest and a mythology akin to the British peerage.