Another outrageous example of military "medics gone wild"

[MacGyver]

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I heard an interesting interview on the radio today featuring a woman running for 3rd district congressional seat in Maryland.

At first the interview was innocuous, she was obviously a naive dreamworld liberal but I see that all the time.

Then she started talking about her military experience.

this is a direct quote:

"When I was a medic on the front lines in Iraq in Desert Storm, I was the front line doctor to thousands of troops"

Ordinarily, this wouldnt attract my attention, but given that the IQ she displayed on that show was somewhere between mold and a slug, something didnt sound right.

So I looked her up: http://baldwinforcongress.com/issues/HealthCare.html

This woman was never a doctor, this woman has zero medical training, and yet she claims to be equivalent to a "doctor" in her military duties.

Questions for the military crowd: when someone claims to be a medic, what does that mean? Are all doctors called "medics" on the base? Is absolutely everybody who works in the healthcare field called a "medic" regardless of training or education?

WTF is going on?

 

[IgD]

I heard an interesting interview on the radio today featuring a woman running for 3rd district congressional seat in Maryland.

At first the interview was innocuous, she was obviously a naive dreamworld liberal but I see that all the time.

Then she started talking about her military experience.

this is a direct quote:

"When I was a medic on the front lines in Iraq in Desert Storm, I was the front line doctor to thousands of troops"

Ordinarily, this wouldnt attract my attention, but given that the IQ she displayed on that show was somewhere between mold and a slug, something didnt sound right.

So I looked her up: http://baldwinforcongress.com/issues/HealthCare.html

This woman was never a doctor, this woman has zero medical training, and yet she claims to be equivalent to a "doctor" in her military duties.

Questions for the military crowd: when someone claims to be a medic, what does that mean? Are all doctors called "medics" on the base? Is absolutely everybody who works in the healthcare field called a "medic" regardless of training or education?

WTF is going on?

Medical corpsman (enlisted personnel with basic medical training) refer to themselves as "docs". Sometimes medical corpsman become Independent Duty Corpsman (IDC's) these can prescribe some medicines but would be considered less skilled than a physician assistant.

 

[tkim]

So I looked her up: http://baldwinforcongress.com/issues/HealthCare.html

This woman was never a doctor, this woman has zero medical training, and yet she claims to be equivalent to a "doctor" in her military duties.

Under her millitary experience, it says she enlisted as a combat medic. So she has had training. As the previous poster said, medics in the field are sometimes known as 'the doc'.

The rest of it is just political campaign puffery.

 

[NavyFP]

Under her millitary experience, it says she enlisted as a combat medic. So she has had training. As the previous poster said, medics in the field are sometimes known as 'the doc'.

The rest of it is just political campaign puffery.

Also says she was an intel officer. Her bio does not list combat medic.

 

[oakland_raiders]

[Questions for the military crowd: when someone claims to be a medic, what does that mean?]

I served 5 years an an Infantry Officer. We refered to our medics as 'doc'. For example, "Doc, do you have some motrin?" It is my personal opinion that this is a sign of recognition and respect that they have some medical training, however, I don't think anyone confused our medics with actual doctors, nor did any of our medics claim to be an actual doctor.

 

[MacGyver]

So medics can script meds even though they arent NPs or PAs?

I guess the military can just let anybody do whatever they want. Do they have RNs doing surgery yet?

 

[Croatalus_atrox]

So medics can script meds even though they arent NPs or PAs?

Corpsmen and medics have a strictly limited scope of care when they're not deployed in support of some military action. In garrison, their duties are generally more in the nature of LPNs/LVNs rather than physicians. They may administer drugs and suture lacerations, but only under the authority of a supervising physician.

In a wartime/deployed situation, the rules change a bit. Corpsmen/medics may receive additional privileges in the field due to medical and military necessity. In general, they are allowed to diagnose and treat minor, common complaints like URIs, UTIs, sprains, cuts, etc. They may be allowed to prescribe from only a very limited formulary, and order routine lab tests and x-rays. Their goal is to try to maintain the effectiveness of the unit in place, without having to send soldiers away for minor health problems. They will refer more serious cases or injuries to more definitive care centers located farther from the front lines. In combat situations where such care is unavailable or requires immediate emergency treatment, the medic may use any means available to try to save the patient.

Remember...the medics' primary patient population is composed of relatively young, fairly healthy active duty military personnel. These aren't cancer patients, pregnant women, or elderly people with chronic disease. Their medical complaints are usually minor and easily treatable by healthcare personnel with fairly minimal training.

I guess the military can just let anybody do whatever they want. Do they have RNs doing surgery yet?

I can tell you that the military receives special dispensation for its healthcare personnel to deliver care (in certain contexts) that equivalent civilian personnel aren't allowed to deliver.

 

[tkim]

Also says she was an intel officer. Her bio does not list combat medic.

http://baldwinforcongress.com/about/militaryexperience.html

"At age 17, as I approached graduation from high school, I enlisted as a Combat Medic in the Army Reserve and the Connecticut Army National Guard as a means to pay for college"