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Why do we have a Surgeon General? The position (which once used to involve running the Public Health Service) no longer carries any meaningful administrative responsibilities; it’s almost purely symbolic. The Surgeon General educates the public about various health-related issues. In practice, this generally means that Surgeons General act as secular preachers, wagging a finger at the American people for various vices like smoking and drinking. It is hard to see any real case for such a position in the federal government (a few years ago I argued in NR (subscription required) that the position should be eliminated or transformed...

The surgeon general is "helping" people understand the nature of the nuclear fallout from Japan drifting our way... State and county officials spent much of Tuesday trying to keep people calm by saying that getting the pills wasn't necessary, but then the United States surgeon general supported the idea as a worthy "precaution." More at NBC Bay Area The article then goes on to reaffirm California officials saying the tablets are only needed for people who live in close proximity, like 10 miles, to a nuclear event.Great, this leaves one final question: what on earth do we have a Surgeon...

The fear that a nuclear cloud could float from the shores of Japan to the shores of California has some people making a run on iodine tablets. Pharmacists across California report being flooded with requests. State and county officials spent much of Tuesday trying to keep people calm by saying that getting the pills wasn't necessary, but then the United States Surgeon General supported the idea as a worthy "precaution." U.S. Surgeon General Regina Benjamin is in the Bay Area touring a peninsula hospital. NBC Bay Area reporter Damian Trujillo asked her about the run on tablets and Dr. Benjamin...

U.S. Surgeon General Regina Benjamin addresses the Patient-Centered Primary Care Collaborative in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, March 30, 2010. (Photo by Penny Starr/CNSNews.com) (CNSNews.com) – The U.S. Surgeon-General’s report that even a single cigarette can harm a person’s health is unscientific and potentially unethical, a cigar and pipe trade group says.According to the report released on Dec. 9 by Surgeon General Regina Benjamin, “there is no risk-free level of exposure to tobacco smoke.” In announcing the report, Benjamin said exposure to tobacco smoke – even occasional smoking or secondhand smoke – “causes immediate damage to your body that can...

Surgeon General Koop Urges No Vote on Kagan Based on Abortion Manipulation Washington, DC -- Former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop has written an extensive letter to members of the Senate calling for a no vote on the Supreme Court nomination of Elena Kagan. The letter focuses attention on the Clinton administration memos Kagan authored showing her attempting to manipulate abortion opinion. http://LifeNews.com/nat6550.html

Obama's surgeon general pick - a doctor who's supposed to be a health role model (if nothing else, I mean what the hell else does the Surgeon General do besides PSA's about 'do this, don't do that) and she's obese. It's more a statement about Obama than her, in reality. THis whole administration and the people working in it. Up is down. Good is bad. Left is right. 36,000 jobs saved/created for 1 trillion in stimulus tax money, but 3.3 million jobs lost since Obama took office. A tax cheat for Treasury Secretary. A huge pro-abort for Health and Human...

Senate Confirms Surgeon GeneralBy Kate Phillips October 29, 2009, 8:46 pm After much agitation earlier in the day, the Senate voted to confirm Dr. Regina Benjamin as the nation’s surgeon general on Thursday night amid a national emergency over the swine flu outbreak. The Senate approved her on a voice vote. On Thursday morning, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Democrat of Nevada, had taken to the floor to complain that her nomination, along with others, had been held up. Republicans had stalled her confirmation over another issue, the so-called gag order imposed on insurance companies about whether they could inform...

A friend just called from America to talk about Obama’s appointment of a fat woman, Dr Regina Benjamin, as surgeon general. “I guess I can’t use the phrase ‘elephant in the room’, but this raises some very, very delicate issues,” she said. As Alex Spillius reports, America’s new top doctor has been strongly criticised by health lobbyists for her weight. But my American friend has noticed that some people are already making a connection between Dr Benjamin’s embarrassing weight problem and the fact that she’s African-American. They should be careful. You see, while the obesity of poor whites and red-state...

Dr. Regina M. Benjamin, Obama's pick for the next surgeon general, was hailed as a MacArthur Grant genius who had championed the poor at a medical clinic she set up in Katrina-ravaged Alabama. But the full-figured African-American nominee is also under fire for being overweight in a nation where 34 percent of all Americans aged 20 and over are obese. Critics and supporters across the blogsphere have commented on photos of Benjamin's round cheeks, saying she sends the wrong message as the public face of America's health initiatives. But others support the 52-year-old founder and CEO of Bayou La Batre...

Regina M. Benjamin grew up in the Roman Catholic Church and attended a Catholic elementary school in her home town of Daphne, Ala., nestled along the Gulf Coast. Benjamin, President Obama's pick to be surgeon general, attends Mass regularly and has received an award from Pope Benedict XVI and another inspired by Mother Teresa. But the Alabama country doctor also backs Obama's position on reproductive health issues, a position that potentially could put her at odds with the Catholic Church.

Wednesday July 15, 2009 White House: New Catholic Surgeon General Supports Obama Abortion Agenda By Kathleen GilbertWASHINGTON, D.C., July 15, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A White House spokesman appears to have settled confusion on the position of Surgeon General nominee Dr. Regina Benjamin by saying that the doctor, though widely considered a devout Roman Catholic, supports President Obama's agenda on abortion.White House spokesman Reid Cherlin said in a Miami Herald report yesterday that Benjamin "supports the president's position on reproductive health issues." Earlier this year Secretary of State Hillary Clinton explicitly confirmed that for the Obama administration the term "reproductive health" includes abortion....

White House: Like Obama, Surgeon General Nominee Benjamin Pro-Abortion Washington, DC -- White House officials have confirmed that President Barack Obama's nominee for Surgeon General may be a Catholic, but agrees with his pro-abortion position. Regina Benjamin is a well-regarded Alabama physician who has been honored by the Catholic Church for helping poor residents of her state. http://www.LifeNews.com/nat5220.html

Dr. Regina Benjamin poses for a portrait in the waiting room at her temporary clinic in Bayou La Batre, Ala., last September. (CNS/courtesy MacArthur Foundation) Dr. Regina Benjamin, a member of the board of trustees of the Catholic Health Association, is being nominated as surgeon general this morning.We had this story on Benjamin last fall, when she received a MacArthur fellowship for her work with medical clinics in poverty-stricken areas of Alabama.Benjamin did her undergraduate studies at Xavier University in New Orleans and in a 2005 speech she talked about the Catholic parish she grew up in, and how her...

Obama Surgeon General Pick Regina Benjamin Wanted Docs to Learn Abortions Washington, DC -- President Barack Obama named Alabama physician Regina Benjamin as the next Surgeon General of the United States. Benjamin is an African-American doctor who is known for rebuilding her medical clinic after it was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and then ravaged by fire in 2006. However, Benjamin has also urged that future physicians be trained to learn how to perform abortions. See http://www.LifeNews.com/nat5208.html

Regina Benjamin, the youngest doctor and first black woman admitted to the American Medical Association, is President Obama's pick to be surgeon general. ------ snip ------

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama turned to the Deep South for the next surgeon general, a rural Alabama family physician who made headlines with fierce determination to rebuild her nonprofit medical clinic in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. An administration official said Obama will announce the nomination of Dr. Regina Benjamin later Monday. The official spoke on condition of anonymity so as not to upstage the official announcement.

With CNN’s Sanjay Gupta having taken himself out of the running, could NBC’s Dr. Nancy Snyderman be positioning herself to be named Surgeon General in the Obama administration? Seriously. I ask because given the chance to question Janet Napolitano today, Snyderman, NBC’s chief medical correspondent, prefaced her inquiry with glowing praise for the Director of Homeland Security and the Obama admin at large. JOE SCARBOROUGH: Dr. Nancy Snyderman, do you have a question? View video here.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Howard Dean, a practicing physician before entering politics, was under consideration by the Obama administration for the post of U.S. surgeon general, CNN reported Friday. Dean, who recently wrapped up a four-year term as Democratic Party chairman, has been a supporter of health reform, and has privately made clear that he is interested in the job, according to the cable network. CNN said two White House officials noted that, while it is too early to compile a list of candidates for surgeon general, they did not rule out Dean getting the job. "I would not dismiss it,"...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Howard Dean, a practicing physician before entering politics, was under consideration by the Obama administration for the post of U.S. surgeon general, CNN reported Friday. Dean, who recently wrapped up a four-year term as Democratic Party chairman, has been a supporter of health reform, and has privately made clear that he is interested in the job, according to the cable network.

CNN) -- Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN's chief medical correspondent, has withdrawn his name from consideration as surgeon general of the United States, an administration official said Thursday. "Sanjay Gupta was under serious consideration for the job of surgeon general," the official said in an e-mail. "He has removed himself from consideration to focus more on his medical career and his family. We know he will continue to serve and educate the public through his work with media and in the medical arena." Sources said in January that Gupta met then-President-elect Obama in Chicago, Illinois, in November to discuss the post....