COMMENT SENT TO CBC RADIO’S QUIRKS AND QUARKS
Saturday January 13,
2018
Psychiatrist's new
warning that Trump's mental state 'is a national and international security
risk'
I am a great fan of the program, but this piece was
unscientific and did not belong on the show. It was political.
First, psychiatry is not an exact science, not at all.
Second, even if it were, it is unethical for a doctor to
diagnose without examining the patient.
Third, the guest made at least one factual error.
The President cannot launch nuclear missiles on his own.
There are back-ups in the chain of command. This was made clear during the last
days of Nixon. It was also made clear recently by a senior military officer.
Please keep to science. We get enough politics, and I write
this as someone who strongly dislikes Trump.
As a final note, America's most beloved President, Abraham
Lincoln, had a serious mental health problem.
He would go into deep depressions, and there is more than
one theory of his condition, but it was serious.
That fact even further calls into question the idea of
anyone's diagnosing a politician as mentally unfit.
