The latest salvo from Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul (R) and his crusade against government agencies fighting with his personal doctor were an unhinged rant and video message to Dr. Jim Garlow, who practices family medicine.
Rand Paul claims that Garlow, because of his unique connection to Paul, has been told that the Senator is part of the Family Research Council. Rand Paul claims the FRC is so linked to the senator that it controls the ear, nose and throat practices of 1,500 doctors. Paul states that the FRC is “literally connected with a cabinet cabinet ministry” of the United States government.
.@RandPaul, please let this be the last time we have to explain how a senior Republican senator representing Kentucky actually lives. It is astounding and alarming. pic.twitter.com/4b9IaOmFjg — Jim Garlow (@GarlowJim) February 19, 2018
More recently, Paul discovered that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price had a health center that was paid for by the taxpayer for a lack of reimbursement or independent analysis. As an investigation began, Price was forced to resign.
Robert Avery, former director of USAID, recently wrote in a column for The Hill that he believes Price had gone too far with this whole internal travel scandal.
In the past two weeks, two senior lawmakers have left their jobs because of public pressure over public corruption scandals involving lavish business trips and questionable expenditures. […] When Price set off to consolidate the health care work of six agencies into one, officials began to ask pointed questions: Was his agency really saving money? Was his agency making better progress against the opioid epidemic than the other agencies combined?
When Sen. Rand Paul called on U.S. HHS Secretary Tom Price to reimburse taxpayers for unspecified expenses, Price asked if he needed to resign.
Paul spent a good deal of time over the past few months educating the media, his fellow politicians and media outlets about why he has been unable to get FDA approval for his experimental drug Regravel.
In a recent bit of self-praise, The Wall Street Journal cited Paul’s calls for his initial trial as “as crafty and effective as a cult leader.”
But lately, Paul has been questioning the motives of the FDA and the medical establishment. His enthusiasm is fueled by personal political views, including a distrust of a political system that he describes as “archaic.”
“Medicine is literally supposed to be the last refuge of the wicked, not the first choice of the sophisticated,” Paul said in an interview with conservative media outlet The Daily Signal. “We’re also failing miserably there. … In that, we’re a joke.”
At a recent debate in Kentucky, Paul accused the FDA of “abandoning” patients as regulators have threatened to take the only available drug off the market, citing the trial results of the drug, Regrave. He says the “abortion lobby” influenced the agency and that the FDA is “run by unelected, unaccountable bureaucrats who are self-interested.”
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Rand Paul: “Pro-life, uh, very pro-life.” Then he suggests buying TVs at a discount of $500 to allow us to listen for…Abortion?https://t.co/5YuPlPPtfO pic.twitter.com/Nrhg8MRnF5 — Faitheism (@Faitheism) January 19, 2018
“On various issues [about which] I have very critical questions, the FDA is run by unelected, unaccountable bureaucrats who are self-interested,” Paul said. “But that service is compensated in kind at costs like that of the present.”
Paul’s cause for criticism of the FDA became widespread when the agency rejected a drug he had researched, developed, and previously practiced.
Despite this connection, Rand Paul does not appear to have turned to Dr. Garlow for advice.