. . . the amputation, right? That will save us money. (Applause.)


And they said that George W. Bush was out of touch.

Yesterday, The American College of Surgeons struck back — hard (HT the Corner), and reminded the public that this isn’t the first time in recent weeks that the President has misrepresented and/or smeared these professionals (bolds are mine):

CHICAGO—The American College of Surgeons is deeply disturbed over the uninformed public comments President Obama continues to make about the high-quality care provided by surgeons in the United States. When the President makes statements that are incorrect or not based in fact, we think he does a disservice to the American peo...

. . . the amputation, right? That will save us money. (Applause.)


And they said that George W. Bush was out of touch.

Yesterday, The American College of Surgeons struck back — hard (HT the Corner), and reminded the public that this isn’t the first time in recent weeks that the President has misrepresented and/or smeared these professionals (bolds are mine):

CHICAGO—The American College of Surgeons is deeply disturbed over the uninformed public comments President Obama continues to make about the high-quality care provided by surgeons in the United States. When the President makes statements that are incorrect or not based in fact, we think he does a disservice to the American people at a time when they want clear, understandable facts about health care reform. We want to set the record straight.

Yesterday during a town hall meeting, President Obama got his facts completely wrong. He stated that a surgeon gets paid $50,000 for a leg amputation when, in fact, Medicare pays a surgeon between $740 and $1,140 for a leg amputation. This payment also includes the evaluation of the patient on the day of the operation plus patient follow-up care that is provided for 90 days after the operation. Private insurers pay some variation of the Medicare reimbursement for this service.

Three weeks ago, the President suggested that a surgeon’s decision to remove a child’s tonsils is based on the desire to make a lot of money. That remark was ill-informed and dangerous, and we were dismayed by this characterization of the work surgeons do. Surgeons make decisions about recommending operations based on what’s right for the patient.

The President’s remarks are truly alarming and run the risk of damaging the all-important trust between surgeons and their patients.

We assume that the President made these mistakes unintentionally, but we would urge him to have his facts correct before making another inflammatory and incorrect statement about surgeons and surgical care.

If a Republican or conservative had committed such an obvious gaffe, it would be front-page news. But then, so would “inhalator,” “57 states,” “Arkansas is closer to Kentucky than Illinois,” and any number of other howlers that the establishment media has ignored out of this guy for about two years.

The surgeons should therefore no be surprised if there is media near-silence on the latest error. In fact, they should expect it. Heck, on the high end of what Medicare pays, it’s “only” ove...

We assume that the President made these mistakes unintentionally, but we would urge him to have his facts correct before making another inflammatory and incorrect statement about surgeons and surgical care.

If a Republican or conservative had committed such an obvious gaffe, it would be front-page news. But then, so would “inhalator,” “57 states,” “Arkansas is closer to Kentucky than Illinois,” and any number of other howlers that the establishment media has ignored out of this guy for about two years.

The surgeons should therefore no be surprised if there is media near-silence on the latest error. In fact, they should expect it. Heck, on the high end of what Medicare pays, it’s “only” overstates the cost of an amputation by a factor of 26 to 44.

Cross-posted at BizzyBlog.com.