Evidence of hypocrisy among GOP "Legislator-Physicians" continues to mount. Although he is now a vigorous advocate for Schiavo, Senator Tom Coburn admitted in 1998 to respecting the wishes of his dying patients and not giving them feeding tubes if they didn't want them.
This week, Coburn issued a statement where he said: “As a practicing physician, I have dedicated much of my life to protecting the sanctity of life at all of its stages... Taking innocent life at any stage is cruel and immoral.” [The Daily Oklahoman 3/19/05]
But in 1998, then-Congressman Coburn told the The Tulsa World that physicians should have the option of withholding nutrients and water from a dying patient. Coburn said he has done that in the past. "If somebody does not want a feeding tube, I won't put a feeding tube down," he said.
