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Author, Doctor, Speaker, Joseph Bentivegna

Doctor Bentivegna is an ophthalmologist living in Connecticut. He has written numerous op-ed pieces for The Hartford Courant and The New York Times regarding health care, tort reform, and the political situation in Haiti.

Archives for January 2018

Joseph Bentivegna, M.D.January 21, 2018

Dr. Bandy Lee is Damaging the Psychiatric Profession

January 21, 2018

      A Yale psychiatrist, Dr. Bandy Lee, is enjoying her fifteen minutes of fame as the editor of the bestseller “The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump.” This book contains the opinions of 27 psychiatrists and psychologists, some of whom believe the President suffers from cognitive dysfunction and mental illness. In doing so, they are damaging a specialty that has struggled to gain respectability among the general public and making it more difficult for those with mental disorders to receive treatment.

      Psychiatry is a tough profession. Unlike other medical specialties such as ophthalmology, cardiology and orthopedics, our understanding of the brain is still in the Stone Age. The underlying physiology of the eye, heart and skeletal system is well understood. If a cataract is blurring vision, take it out. If a heart artery is blocked, unblock it. If a bone is broken, set it. But what do you do with a drug addict, an alcoholic, a schizophrenic or a depressed patient? There are no blood tests or radiological studies that give a definitive diagnosis of these entities let alone treatments that are highly successful. Thus, psychiatry constantly struggles to have parity with other medical disciplines as the general public is suspicious of its efficacy.

      Dr. Lee’s attack along with a recent book about supposed White House dysfunction Fire and Fury by Michael Wolff have drawn blood. President Trump insisted in his annual physical that his doctor perform the Montreal Cognitive Assessment, which screens for Alzheimer’s and decreased mental functioning. The President obtained a perfect score.

      Many psychiatrists – not a group that generally wears MAGA hats – disagree with Dr. Lee’s behavior. The American Psychiatric Association issued the following statement: “Using psychiatry for political or self-aggrandizing purposes is stigmatizing for our patients and negatively impacts our profession.” Dr. Lee’s psychiatric colleagues at Yale noted: “The Department affirms the importance of the ethical standard of conducting an examination of an individual and obtaining proper authorization before publicly stating a professional opinion about that individual.”

      One doctor even believes that diagnosing President Trump as mentally ill is an insult to the mentally ill. Dr. Allen Francis, the retired chairman of the Duke University Psychiatry Department stated, “Mentally ill people are almost universally well-meaning, well-behaved, and decent, and Trump is none of these.”

      But the true damage is done with the general public. The Trump-supporting truck driver from rural western Pennsylvania suspects that Dr. Lee would never be questioning the President’s mental stability if the President supported open borders, abortion rights, coddling our enemies and free trade. As the recent women’s marches have demonstrated, President Trump’s most fervent opposition consists of upper middle class women who are isolated from the economic chaos afflicting the working class – and Dr. Lee is a card-carrying member of this demographic.

      Advances in psychiatry are crucial to decreasing human misery. Someday, psychiatrists will be able to cure opioid addiction, alcoholism and schizophrenia rather than simply manage these entities. But it will take years of expensive research until the complex neural pathways that predispose to these problems are found and sophisticated treatment options involving genetic substitutions or nanotechnology are discovered. Dr. Lee’s grandstanding may delay these efforts.

Filed Under: Health Care Reform, Uncategorized

Joseph Bentivegna, M.D.January 12, 2018

President Trump Should Apologize for Insulting Haiti

January 12, 2018          Why does President Trump always shoot himself in the foot? His policies of lower taxes and decreased regulation has the economy on a tear and the stock market booming. He has destroyed ISIS, forced NATO to pay its fair share and kept many of his campaign promises. So why insult African Americans – whose unemployment has plummeted because of his policies – by calling Haiti and Africa a s***hole? President Trump should apologize and allow the 58,000 Haitians given temporary legal status after the earthquake remain in the United States.          As a young man, I spent a volunteer year as a physician in Haiti with the Missionaries of Charity, Mother Teresa’s order. I learned the language, culture, diseases and history of these wonderful people. Haiti is a disaster, with massive unemployment, high infant mortality rates, starvation and punishing poverty. But once one understands the history of these proud people, it is hard not to sympathize with their plight.          Haiti was created by the only successful slave revolt in history. During the … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Joseph Bentivegna, M.D.January 8, 2018

Predictions for 2018

January 8, 2018       Many of my regular readers get a sadistic delight in returning to my previous articles, finding one of my wildly inaccurate predictions, and then cutting and pasting it in an e-mail to me. Now they will have even more fodder.       The Steelers will win the Super Bowl. Both the Patriots and Steelers will make short work of their playoff opponents, making the AFC championship game the de facto Super Bowl. The Steelers are firing on all cylinders now with the Three B’s – Ben, Brown and Bell – healthy and primed. There will be some stressful moments though – such as when the referees on Belichick’s payroll call pass interference for looking cross-eyed at Gronkowski or when they call unnecessary roughness for hitting the whining Brady with a feather duster – but the Steelers will prevail. The quiche-eating winner of the NFC title game will be irrelevant.       The Republicans will hold the House and pick up Senate seats. The liberal Patriot fans will have another reason to wash down their Prozac with Chardonnay in November. The … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Doctor Bentivegna is an ophthalmologist living in Connecticut. He has written numerous op-ed pieces for The Hartford Courant and The New York Times regarding health care, tort reform, and the political situation in Haiti.

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