The White Coat Makes the Doctor

Via Instapundit comes this New York Post account of a White House photo op featuring doctors in white coats shilling for ObamaCare:

The physicians, all invited guests, were told to bring their white lab coats to make sure that TV cameras captured the image.

But some docs apparently forgot, failing to meet the White House dress code by showing up in business suits or dresses.

So the White House rustled up white coats for them and handed them to the suited physicians who had taken seats in the sun-splashed lawn area.

All this to provide a visual counter to complaints from other doctors that pending legislation is bad news for the medical profession.

More here.

Sometimes clothes really do make the man.

Comments

[Rich]

Oops, forgot the stethoscopes around the necks!

[Russ 2000]

My brother and I once walked through a hospital several hours after visiting hours unquestioned because we wore white lab coats and stethoscopes. (Neither of us worked there. Went to visit a relative.)

[SugarFree]

Oops, forgot the stethoscopes around the necks!

Not really. The White House has an entire basement room dedicated to stethoscope storage, a tradition begun in 1882 by Chester A. Arthur. I'm sure they just borrowed some from there.

[Dee]

Yes this collection is right next to the assortment of rectal scopes Obama has brought in to the White House. I think he got a good deal on them off Ebay. They double as salad tongs for Black Tie dinners.

[Humanure]

Folks are comparing this to Bush's "Mission Accomplished". Pure. Bullshit. Theater.

[Warren]

Did the president put on a lab coat? Otherwise it's not fair to compare it to a much higher level of bullshit.

[tim]

Bad comparison. Bush actually was/is a pilot, so it wasn't the flight suit alone that brought ridicule.

If that was Dr. Howard Dean in the White House, and this same spectacle was perpetrated with him in costume, then the comparison would be apt.

Obama donning a labcoat would have been a new level of ridiculous. As it stands, this show was a comparable level of foolish as the whole "Mission Accomplished" fiasco.

[wylie]

Bullshit Theater, premiering on PBS this Fall.

[Humanure]

What I want to know is how were these "Doctors" chosen?

[Hugh Akston]

paint swatches

[S.A.]

They gave Obama money.

[tim]

Lab coats and scrubs are meant to serve the dual purpose of preventing various chem/bio-material from getting on clothes and being tracked outside, and also preventing outside material from being brought in. Obviously, this is primarily on a macro level, as we aren't talking about BL-4 suits here.

But still, given the death rate by preventable infection in our hospitals and the ongoing hyper-alert for handwashing and whatnot regarding H1N1, you'd think this type of show would be nixed for sending a bad message. Every time I see some douchebag resident proudly walking around outside the hospital in his (more than her) scrubs, it's sad. But having this show come from the same gang that had the director of H&HS; tell a reporter how to cough properly, it's just pathetic.

[Dee]

Your quite right, I have to wear a white lab coat at work and we are not allowed to take them out of the workplace due to cross contamination issues etc. So in all actuality these Dr.s would most likely have been violating health Regs by wearing their lab coats outside of their offices. But hey why bother with details like that when your just shilling for a photo op. Can we get a list of who these Dr.s were by name and location so as to make sure we never use them for anything or recommend they be avoided?

[Hazel Meade]

Call the health inspector and have the white house cited. Insist the law should apply equally to all.

[J sub D]

Dunno 'bout y'all, but when it comes to economics and the proper role of government I always ask my proctologist for advice.

[wylie]

With national healthcare, your proctologist will also prepare your tax forms. So, we get that bit of efficiency at least.

[Squirrel]

Is that a picture of Benny from L.A. Law?

[tim]

Yes, aka Dr. Giggles

[Dr. Roberts MD PHD BS]

I'm not a doctor but I play one in Obama's administration. I too approve of Obama's health care plan, so should you.

[Russ 2000]

Where was Dr. Ron Paul at the time?

[Thom]

It seems strange that Ron Paul supports Obamacare, but since all doctors seem to be on board, it must be true.

[Humanure]

"Did the president put on a lab coat? Otherwise it's not fair to compare it to a much higher level of bullshit."

Lying is lying. The mission was not accomplished; all the doctors are not on board with the healthcare plan.

A lie, is a lie is a lie...

[CoyoteBlue]

Someone needs to do Obama as the Joker in the nurse's uniform.

[Jonas]

It's REEEEEEEAALLY too bad someone didn't actually do that.

[Nurse Joker]

Do I look like a guy with a plan?

[SpongePaul]

THe White COats are actually bad for patients as they cross contaminate rooms and hallways. the long coats often brush against patients adn things more often than would a non coated persons clothing. i know you peeps like evidence so...
aDepartment of Medicine, University of Maryland Medical Center, Baltimore, MD

bDepartment of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD

cVA Maryland Health Care System, Baltimore, MD

Available online 3 October 2008.

Background
Patient-to-patient transmission of nosocomial pathogens has been linked to transient colonization of health care workers, and studies have suggested that contamination of health care workers' clothing, including white coats, may be a vector for this transmission.

Methods
We performed a cross-sectional study involving attendees of medical and surgical grand rounds at a large teaching hospital to investigate the prevalence of contamination of white coats with important nosocomial pathogens, such as methicillin-sensitive Stapylococcus aureus, methicillin-resistant S aureus (MRSA), and vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE). Each participant completed a brief survey and cultured his or her white coat using a moistened culture swab on lapels, pockets, and cuffs.

Results
Among the 149 grand rounds attendees' white coats, 34 (23%) were contaminated with S aureus, of which 6 (18%) were MRSA. None of the coats was contaminated with VRE. S aureus contamination was more prevalent in residents, those working in inpatient settings, and those who saw an inpatient that day.

Conclusion
This study suggests that a large proportion of health care workers' white coats may be contaminated with S aureus, including MRSA. White coats may be an important vector for patient-to-patient transmission of S aureus.

[Dee]

In a FDA regulated manufacturing facility you can not even go from one building to another that is non FDA without changing your clothes. You are right this is not only a prime example of BS but also a major violation of the governments own regs.

[Bronwyn]

In the lab where I work, you can't go from one room to the other in the same lab coat. We have coats for Pre-PCR and coats for Post-PCR, and ne'er the twain shall mix.

Except in the laundry bin.

[torpid]

THe White COats are actually bad for patients as they cross contaminate rooms and hallways.

Among the 149 grand rounds attendees' white coats, 34 (23%) were contaminated with S aureus, of which 6 (18%) were MRSA.

This study suggests that a large proportion of health care workers' white coats may be contaminated with S aureus, including MRSA. White coats may be an important vector for patient-to-patient transmission of S aureus.

With all of this data about the dangers of white coats, you wonder why the doctors haven't switched to yellow coats or something. My brother's husband is an interior designer and he knows all about the effect different colors on the psyche. Maybe they can come up with the right shade of green to soothe the bacteria so they don't reproduce as fast.

[Pete's a Pie]

This is true. I work with people in healthcare. If you are in the hospital, and the doctor is making his rounds in a lab coat or especially if he has on a tie (even worse than a lab coat) ask him not to come near you. I believe it is actually Canada that is taking steps to ban doctors from wearing long sleeves and ties.

[Mad Max]

And don't get me started about Tom Baker's scarf.

[Humanure]

"Someone needs to do Obama as the Joker in the nurse's uniform."

President Rachet.

[jtuf]

Q: What is the difference between a psychopath and a sociopath?

A: The lab coat.

[Dr. Obama]

We need more bullshit, stat!

[Anomalous]

Maybe it's more like a doctors' plot.

[JW]

Oops, forgot the stethoscopes around the necks!

Better that they carry speculums.

It's truth in advertising that way.

[Shelby]

Clothes make the photo-op.

[Attorney]

I dearly hope that the lameness of this is a sign that healthcare "reform" is not gonna happen.

[Will]

Lets round up some homeless people, give them white coats, and say they are doctors.

[horsewithnonick]

Just another way in which our modern world is working to make The Onion irrelevant.

[Dello]

The untold story is that every doctor there had a doctorate in metallurgy. But hey, you still have to call them "Doctor".

[Mike Wilson]

So... did the doctors support Obamacare? Or did they just show up because they were invited to the white house?

[Chad]

Nick:

1: There are several hundred thousand doctors in the US. Among them, you can find a few that are flat-earthers, Holocaust deniers, believers in unicorns, and any other moonbat species you like. You can even find a few that like the current system.

1a: Those that like the current system are getting rich off it, and are afraid something might change that.

[Gway]

Yup, like the breakup of the strongest union on the planet, the AMA...

[JB]

It's about time someone sent the white coats after that crazy cunt Obama.

[alan]

1a: Those that like the current system are getting rich off it, and are afraid something might change that.

Pretty smooth what you did there, Chad, but that is what makes you a special case in partisan evil. You present a phony dichotomy, either support whatever monstrosity that comes out of Congress, or you are a lover of the corporatist status quo.

However, like the rest of us, leftist only have three real viable options, support the expansion of corporatism, support freer markets, or support the immediate economic stagnation of purely socialist policies.

Whatever comes out of Congress tightens the relationship between the government and favored private industries, so it would only be logical to call what you desire Status Quo Plus.

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