Hyroxychloroquine, Colonoscopy, and Broccoli.

Vahe H. Apelian

 

Yesterday, on March 19, I had posted the following on my Facebook page. “ THE PRESCRIPTION for the PRESIDENT - who, according to NY Times on Tuesday May 19, has been taking Hyrdoxychloroquine tablets for over a week. A chain of recorded events should have happened for the President DJT to start taking the medications starting from a visit by a medical doctor, physically or by phone, issuing a prescription, filling the prescription somewhere and handing it to the president by mail or else way, with instruction for the president as how often a day the president to take the tablet/s, with or without meal and for how long. The prescribing physician owes an explanation to the public for the prophylactic use of the medication. After all we are not speaking of an ordinary patient but the President of the U.S., who surely is not self-medicating without medical consent.”

A respondent commented in defense of the white house physician’s knowledge and in defense of the president taking the medication although I had not questioned either of them. My response to him was: “I want to know how many times he takes the medication; how does it take it with or without meal and for how long will he be taking it. If it’s good for him, it’s good for me too. Especially we are talking safeguarding the person against the infection. I imagine that his physician owes the public and explanation on the President's use of the medication. We may differ and that is all about it.”  Being a medical matter, I envisioned that it’s the President’s physician who owes an explanation to the public and not the President. There are issues the public should be aware of as  the medication’s use is being prescribed as a prophylactic and we know that insurance companies and Medicare do not reimburse for use of medications beyond its recommended use.

Rebuttals to my response soon followed. Both noted that I should have been aware that it is a private matter. I partly quote one commentators:  “First of all, I doubt what you want "to know" is or should be allowed under HIPPA; Second, those details are private, even for the president; do you feel you have the right to know everything he takes?”.  The thing is that I would not have known about the President taking the hydroxychloroquine and expected his physician’s explanation had the President not announced it. As to HIPPA, I have no clue what it is. There were other controversial remarks made regarding physicians prescribing for off labels indications and Medicare reimbursing such prescriptions. I am sure such issues would have come about, should the President’s physician come forth with a public briefing.

Briefing about the President’s health is not uncommon. The President’s state of health is a public matter and physicians briefing about the president’s health is a good way of educating the public and is not uncommon. I remember the medical briefings after the following, I quote: “ Reagan Undergoes Cancer Surgery, July 13, 1985. On this day in 1985, President Ronald Reagan underwent surgery at Bethesda Naval Medical Center in Maryland to remove a cancerous polyp in his large intestine. Doctors also removed 2 feet of Reagan's lower intestine.” Following his surgery, day after day, I would see pictures of our internal organs displayed on television detailing the  President’s surgery and about ailments affecting the intestines.

 I also know that mere utterances by the President swings widely the barometers that indicate stock trading and have profound influence on matters. I recall the displeasure of the broccoli producers against President Bush who had said, I quote, “''I do not like broccoli,'' the President said, responding to queries about a broccoli ban he has imposed aboard Air Force One, first reported this week in U.S. News and World Report. ''And I haven't liked it since I was a little kid and my mother made me eat it. And I'm President of the United States, and I'm not going to eat any more broccoli!''

Time surely  has changed from the twelve Reagan and Bush years. It was the era of the great communicating President Reagan and the gentleman President Bush, who was said not to pee in a shower. But the thing that has not changed is the inordinate impression a president’s doings and utterance leave on the public. Let us face it, the President looms larger than  the average citizen’s life. That brings back me back to my Facebook posting and I reiterate my point. The White House physician, who I believe prescribed President Trump to take hydroxychloroquine prophylactically, owes the public a briefing and inevitable recommendation on the use of this medicine by the public to safeguard itself against corona virus infection