PrintOctober 31, 2010
From Surgery to Sacramento
Seven years ago, if anyone suggested I would be spending much of 2010 running for elected office, I probably would have responded, "What's the punchline?"If that same person made the suggestion that if November 2, 2010, were a successful day for me, I would be representing 423,000 people near my central California home, I would have recommended a head CT Scan -- STAT -- and urgent evaluation by one of my colleagues in psychiatry.Seven years ago, I didn't see myself in politics. I knew what I was: a rural doctor in the Raisin Capital of the World. My "constituents" were patients -- women with breast cancer and kids with ruptured appendixes and men who wanted nothing more than to return to their farm jobs after I fixed their hernias.But a lot has changed in seven years. I was mugged by the reality of business ownership in the State of California. I learned that employees have rights without responsibilities, and that employers are presumed guilty until proven...(Read Full Article)
