Posted on 07/21/2003 9:42:25 AM PDT by huck von finn
WASHINGTON - The Pentagon is firming up a plan to draft thousands of doctors, nurses and other health-care specialists in the event of a worst-case crisis.
The Selective Service System is dusting off its plan for a "health care personnel delivery system," which has been on the shelf since Congress authorized it in 1987 to cope with military casualties from a large-scale biological or chemical attack.
At the Pentagon's direction, the agency also is examining whether that plan for a "special skills" draft could be adapted to address critical shortages that might arise for military linguists, computer experts or engineers.
"We're going to elevate that kind of draft to be a priority," Lewis Brodsky, acting director of Selective Service, says.
The plan would be needed if an attack on U.S. troops overwhelmed the capabilities of the military to care for its wounded.
The president would issue a proclamation ordering an estimated 3.5 million health-care workers to register for a draft within 13 days. Congress would quickly enact legislation authorizing the draft for health-care workers 20 to 44. For the first time, a draft would include women.
The Pentagon would tell Selective Service how many people it needed in each of 62 specialties. A separate draft lottery would be held for each of those needs.
For example, if 300 orthopedic surgeons were required, Selective Service would choose birthdays in a random lottery and order those dates from 1 to 365. Notices would go out to the surgeons, starting with the first birthday drawn, until 300 had been called.
The Pentagon expects that within several months of the crisis, Selective Service could deliver surgeons, nurses, dentists, X-ray technicians, etc. -- up to an estimated 80,000 in all -- through the Military Entrance Processing Command.
The plan isn't very well-known within the medical community.
"If you were to ask 10 doctors, maybe one might have heard something about it," said Dr. Marybeth McCall, chief medical officer at Crouse Hospital in Syracuse, N.Y., and an Air Force veteran.
McCall said she was confident that health professionals would volunteer their services in the event of a large-scale emergency, much as they did during Operation Desert Storm and the Sept. 11 attacks.
"I would say it would be ill-advised to force a draft," she said. "Health-care personnel commit to a life of service. We're going to take care of patients wherever they happen to be."
Congress ordered up the plan in the late 1980s, thinking more about Cold War dangers than about an Iraqi dictator who might unleash weapons of mass destruction against U.S. troops. Pentagon officials say they see no need for a conventional draft of young men to be soldiers.
Brodsky said the plan has moved to the front burner because of recent signals from the Pentagon and conversations with military leaders.
Selective Service maintains 2,000 active draft boards around the country that would handle appeals for exemptions, deferments and postponements.
Members of those draft boards can expect to be trained in the near future on a special "essentiality" exemption that health-care workers might seek, Flahavan said. A doctor might be able to show, for example, that he or she is essential to a community and should not be drafted.
Nope, the other guy has responsibility, we have our Audi's.
There is no mention of conscription in Article 1, Section 8.
No, not even a US citizen's right to a trial by jury is considered "inalienable".
- does this not imply we have some responsibility to our society as well?
Society is an abstraction not a reality. I can no more have a responsibility to "society" than I can to the number 3. Find me a flesh and blood human being and I'll tell you if I have a responsibility to them.
In fact, the naturalization oath contains the following:
A person who has applied for naturalization shall, in order to be and before being admitted to citizenship, take in a public ceremony before the Attorney General or a court with jurisdiction under section 1421(b) of this title an oath (1) to support the Constitution of the United States; (2) to renounce and abjure absolutely and entirely all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty of whom or which the applicant was before a subject or citizen; (3) to support and defend the Constitution and the laws of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; (4) to bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and (5)(A) to bear arms on behalf of the United States when required by the law, or (B) to perform noncombatant service in the Armed Forces of the United States when required by the law, or (C) to perform work of national importance under civilian direction when required by the law.
Now, as a matter of individual preference I oppose the draft but am well aware that Washington had states conscript men because the militia kept going home.
Where exactly did you refute my points?
Because of the Nature of the "Calling" Physicians Heed, Our Culture would NOT NEED to "Conscript" our "Docs!"
At the Risk of being "Naive;"--I can Almost Guarantee that the "Docs" & ALL THOSE NECESSARY to respond to ANY Medical Emergency WILL BE THERE WHEN NEEDED!!
ANY ATTEMPT to "DRAFT" Medical Personnel in a National Emergency will be regarded as an "Insult" by the "Medical Profession!!"
The "Docs & the Medics" will ALWAYS BE THERE when needed!!
An "INVOLUNTARY DRAFT" is--& will ALWAYS BE--an INSULT to the Professionals who oversee the Health of our Nation!!
ALL OF US--LONG AGO--"Volunteered" to sacrifice MUCH to care for the Healtth of our fellow Citizens!
"CONSCRIPTION" is an INSULT!!
If our Nation "Needs Us,"--we will be "There,"(as We have ALWAYS BEEN!!)
If our current "Leaders" need to consider "Conscription" of our Medical Staffs, then ALL OF US must examine WHY our "Docs" must be "Conscripted!"
IF our "Docs" MUST BE "Conscripted," then a "Questionable Rationale" exists!
THINK ABOUT THIS!!!
Doc
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