Letter to the Reading Eagle About the Inferior Care of Nurse Practitioners and the Racial Motivation to Grow their Ranks

Here.

This is the original submission, softened by the editor:

Force Legislators, Their Families To See Only Nurse Practitioners

David Behar, MD

A patient commented, a nurse practitioner insisted the growing lesion on his arm was an "age spot."  The patient demanded to see the dermatologist, after a year. From the door, the doctor stated, “That is a squamous cell carcinoma. It has to come out.”

Would a member of the legislature with crushing chest pain, shortness of breath, want to be seen by a cardiologist or by a nurse practitioner typing an  electronic record? The lives of black people on Medicaid are worth no less than that of the white legislator. The movement to allow nurse practitioners to prescribe unsupervised, will result in a two tiered health system, one for whites, one for blacks. There is no doctor shortage, only of doctor time. Half of that time is consumed by worthless procedure so that fewer payments are made for  patient care by government and by insurance companies. It is the greatest fraud crime in history, netting $trillions.

People with perfect grades get into nurse practitioner programs. All could go to medical school. They choose to make money earlier. That corner cutting should not be rewarded with independent prescribing privileges. They know one quarter what specialists know, and half as much as primary care physicians do. They are fit only to prescribe for patients doing well, under supervision.