The Measure I special election will literally decide the fate of the communities within our healthcare district. From Pixley to Tipton, from Waukena to Alpaugh, from Woodville to Tulare, plain and simple, everyone deserves to be heard. We believe that each of us must support our most basic duty in a democracy – our duty to vote.
More concerning to our community is that several people have reported that when they visit the Altura Clinic a federally qualified health clinics (FQHC) funded by federal grants – they are i) greeted at the door with a sign opposing Measure I, are ii) given a handout outlining the opposition to Measure I when they sign in, and then iii) when they actually go in to see the doctor, they describe the doctor first talking to them about opposing Measure I before discussing the reason for their medical visit. (see enclosed image taken from opposition’s public Facebook page)
One patient related that she was called “uneducated” and ignorant by one of the doctors when she asserted her support for Measure I.
The American Medical Association (AMA) Ethics Opinion No. 2.3.5 states that “Physicians should refrain from initiating political conversations during the clinical encounter.” We cannot imagine a more blatant violation of this AMA Ethics Opinion than what we have seen here.
Considering that many of the doctors working at those two clinics (i) are the very doctors that have abandoned Tulare’s hospital, (ii) are the very doctors that “choose” to send their Tulare resident patients to other cities for care, and (iii) are the core group opposing Measure I, lends more credence to the assertion that their opposition to measure I has nothing to do with the well-being of our community but rather with their desire to line their own pocketbooks by eliminating competition regardless of the detrimental economic and health effects that would be brought on our Tulare community.
The decision with Measure I is very simple: Voting YES on Measure I means we will have a state of the art modern hospital, have the medical services we need right here in Tulare, and have enough space to accommodate the 5 fold increase in population that has occurred in the last 65 years.
Response by,
Yes On Measure I – Save Our Hospital