Trust Doctors for Medical Advice - Not Quack Politicians

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

There are undoubtedly few sources of medical information and advice that are less reliable than Donald John Trump, a man whose propensity to lie and just make stuff up on the spur of the moment is legendary.  Trump is not bashful in the least when it comes to sharing his thoughts on medicine, and spouting them as if they are based in science and fact.  

The most relevant "fact" is that Donald Trump has no medical education or training whatsoever.  Never forget that he was the President who "suggested" out loud that the government should look into to injecting disinfectants into patients as a possible cure for COVID, and he also promoted the use of an anti-malarial drug, hydroxychloroquine, to fight COVID, which studies later showed was actually linked to higher death rates from COVID.  

That was from the last pandemic.  With Trump's equally medically unqualified Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr, destabilizing America's vaccine program, the next pandemic could be much more frightening and dangerous than the first one Trump oversaw.

Now Trump and Kennedy have not only turned their attention to vaccines, but Kennedy is also leading Trump into the weeds of quackery with his fringe theories of the rise in cases and causes of autism.  Last Monday Trump announced at the White House that the US Food and Drug Administration is going to be notifying doctors that the use of Tylenol during pregnancy 'can be' associated with "a very increased risk of autism" - despite years of evidence that it is safe.

What has been proven to be unsafe both for mothers as well as the fetuses they are carrying is the prolonged exposure to a high fever, something that is often best treated during pregnancy by Tylenol.  Real studies have shown that acetaminophen, the active ingredient in Tylenol, is the only safe  over-the-counter treatment for pain or fever for pregnant people.  Trump told America's women to "tough it out" if they could.

Trump said that autism does not exist in Amish communities or on the island nation of Cuba.  Both of those statements are untrue.

Trump also used his time before the microphone on Monday to promote the breaking up of childhood vaccination schedules into more sessions, and the delaying of Hepatitis B shots for newborn infants - a reversal of years of standard medical practice, again without studies supporting the need for those changes.  In his defense of those changes he said (with no foundation in science or medicine whatsoever):  "Too much liquid, too many different things are going into that baby."  

Trump made no mention of the vaccine regimen that his own children underwent, nor whether their mothers used Tylenol during their pregnancies or not.

During Trump's presentation, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy stood behind him puffed up and looking like an old used car salesman who had just off-loaded the biggest lemon on his lot, which he had.

When it comes to medical advice, trust your doctor - not quack politicians!