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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 2019

Joseph Bentivegna, M.D.January 20, 2019

Journalism Needs to Regain its Credibility

Years ago when I was running for the Republican nomination for US Senate, a patient was referred to me for decreased vision. This patient was aware my campaign and was an unrepentant liberal. Thus, our meeting began with a spirited but cordial discussion over our political differences. Eventually we agreed to disagree.

Our attention then turned to the real reason for his visit, his eyesight. I examined him and concluded that changing his glasses would result in minimal improvement in his vision and that if he wanted to see better, he needed cataract surgery. Without hesitation, this patient consented to put his eyesight in my hands.

I am not recounting this story to market my skills as a physician. I am telling it because even though this patient knew I had strong political differences with him, it never even dawned on him that it would affect his care. This patient knew that I was a member of a profession that promised to always put his interests first, regardless of his race, social class, insurance status, gender or political views. My physician colleagues, who are liberal feminists, would never dream of giving inferior care to a patient in heart failure because he was wearing a MAGA hat.

Perhaps there was a time when journalism commanded such respect, but not anymore. While journalists have always been left of center, most took pride in their work, and accurately reported events free of political bias. The mantra of journalism once was, “If your mother says she loves you, check it out.”

But with the rise of Donald Trump, many journalists have heaved objectivity out the window. The inflection point occurred when Jim Rutenberg, a reporter for the so-call paper of record, The New York Times, wrote the following on August 7, 2016, several months before Trump was elected: “If you’re a working journalist and you believe that Donald J. Trump is a demagogue playing to the nation’s worst racist and nationalistic tendencies, that he cozies up to anti-American dictators and that he would be dangerous with control of the United States nuclear codes, how the heck are you supposed to cover him?”

Mr. Rutenberg then answers his own question: “Because if you believe all of those things, you have to throw out the textbook American journalism has been using for the better part of the past half-century, if not longer, and approach it in a way you’ve never approached anything in your career.”

And that is exactly what happened; the textbook of American journalism has been thrown out. The attacks on President Trump by the media have been brutal and unrelenting. A Harvard study concluded that over 90% of the press coverage of Trump is negative. In fact, a former editor for The New York Times Jill Abramson in her recent book, The Merchants of Truth states “the more anti-Trump the Times was perceived to be, the more it was mistrusted for being biased.”

Media bias was truly obvious when a web site called BuzzFeed reported recently that “anonymous sources” had informed them that there was evidence that Donald Trump had directed his former attorney Michael Cohen to lie to Congress. Major news outlets immediately started chortling that Trump’s impeachment was imminent without bothering to see if the story was accurate.

That was until a spokesman for the Mueller investigation made the following statement: “BuzzFeed’s description of specific statements to the special counsel’s office, and characterization of documents and testimony obtained by this office, regarding Michael Cohen’s congressional testimony are not accurate.”

Perhaps after President Trump leaves office, journalism will return to its roots. But for now, President Trump’s accusations of “fake news” have a ring of truth. And as for the liberal patient who trusted me with his sight, he got an excellent result from his surgery, as did his wife – who was even more liberal than he was.

Filed Under: All Articles, Blog, Politics

Joseph Bentivegna, M.D.January 9, 2019

Justice Ginsburg is Probably Quite Ill

January 9, 2019        First of all, I wish Justice Ginsburg well. She is a courageous advocate for women’s rights and a cultural icon. But in one reads between the lines of published reports on her situation, this woman is probably quite ill.        According to Kathleen Arberg, public information officer for the Supreme Court: “Two nodules in the lower lobe of her left lung were discovered incidentally during tests performed at George Washington University Hospital to diagnose and treat rib fractures sustained in a fall on November 7. [2018]” According to the surgeon who operated on the justice, Dr. Valerie Rusch, both nodules removed during surgery were found to be malignant. However, "post-surgery, there was no evidence of any remaining disease. Scans performed before surgery indicated no evidence of disease elsewhere in the body. Currently, no further treatment is planned."        Thus, from published reports from reputable sources, we know the following:        1. She had non-metastatic colon cancer removed in … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Blog, Medicine, Politics

Joseph Bentivegna, M.D.January 1, 2019

Predictions for 2019

January 1, 2019       Unlike most columnists who make annual predications and hope you forget them, I will review the predictions I made for 2018 before proceeding:       1. The Republicans will hold the House and pick up Senate seats. Half right       2. The stock market will gain at least another 10%. Wrong       3. The mullahs are going down. Wrong for now but will be correct in the foreseeable future.       4. North Korea will be brought under control. Debatable. North Korea has stopped testing ballistic missiles but is ignoring its promise to end its nuclear program.       5. The Steelers will win the Super Bowl. Wrong. But we wuz robbed.       Given this lackluster record, I will now proceed to 2019 predictions:       1. The stock market will remain flat. Many stocks are simply overvalued according to traditional metrics, especially the FAANG stocks (Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix and Google). These … [Read more...]

Filed Under: All Articles, Blog, Sports

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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