How Rand Paul tried to lead an eye doctors rebellion

The letters came from a young ophthalmologist in Kentucky. He was recruiting for an eye doctors rebellion.

We wont be trod upon, he wrote, using the language of 1776. You cant promulgate injustice without consequences.

The injustice he was talking about was a new rule, from the powerful group that deems American ophthalmologists to be board-certified. It required younger doctors to take a test that older doctors did not have to take.

The Kentucky doctor was so outraged that he seceded and started his own Board of Ophthalmology, so he could certify himself.

You can send a clear message to the establishment by signing up to be certified by the new board, too, the letter said. Check the appropriate box and return the card with your $500. Sincerely, Rand Paul, M.D.

The letter, from about 2003, helps illuminate a little-understood (and mostly ridiculed) chapter of Pauls life before politics: how he became a self-certified ophthalmologist.

The saga began in the 1990s, when Paul now a senator representing Kentucky and a GOP presidential contender hatched a plan to put his familys free-market ideals into practice. He wouldnt submit to the establishment. He would out-compete it by offering doctors an alternative with lower fees and fairer rules. His do-it-yourself medical board lasted more than a decade, becoming one of the most complex organizations Paul ever led on his own.

But it didnt work. Indeed, in a life of successes, it became one of Pauls biggest flops.

The board certified only 50 or 60 doctors, by Pauls count, and was never accepted by the medical establishment. It failed partly because of resistance from the old guard but also because Paul hurt his own cause with shortcuts and oversights that made his big effort seem small.

The other officers of his board, for instance, werent ophthalmologists. They were his wife and father-in-law. His Web site was mainly a mission statement, and his mission statement had grammatical errors. And, after Paul missed a filing deadline in 2000, the state legally dissolved his board. Although Paul kept it operating, it remained unrecognized by the state until he officially revived it in 2005.

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How Rand Paul tried to lead an eye doctors rebellion