from Our Word
OK, everybody, how about some good news for a change?
If you live in Rhode Island, chances are that you already know about the impressive professional accomplishments, extensive political involvement and numerous social contributions of Dr. Pablo Rodríguez.
Basically, as many people already know, and as the Bushistas in Florida are only beginning to find out, Pablo Rodríguez rocks.
And I thought everybody else might like to know him, too.
Meet my friend Dr. Pablo Rodríguez.
Dr. Pablo Rodriguez is associate chief of obstetrics and gynecology at Women and Infants’ Hospital in Providence, medical director of Planned Parenthood of Rhode Island, and is a clinical assistant professor at Brown University’s Program in Medicine.
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[H]e specializes in advanced endoscopic surgery and is recognized as one of the pioneers in the use of lasers in Rhode Island. He is board certified in obstetrics and gynecology and by the American Board of Laser Surgery and Medicine.He is a well-known leader in the Hispanic community and an active participant in civic and charitable organizations. He chairs the Rhode Island Latino Political Action Committee and the Democracy Compact, a statewide voter participation project. For the last three years he has been the vice chair of the Rhode Island Foundation and led the effort for the $1.5 million Capital Campaign to benefit Progreso Latino, the leading social service agency for new immigrants.
He was actively involved in the Health Care Reform Commission in charge of drafting the Rite Care legislation in Rhode Island and has been involved in numerous Health Department initiatives such as chairman of the Minority Health Advisory Committee and the Preventive Health Advisory Commission.
He has received numerous awards for his community involvement including Community Service Award from the American Medical Association in 1994 and Planned Parenthood of RI in 1996. In 1996 he was named a Community Hero Torchbearer for the Olympic Torch Relay of the 1996 Olympics.
Most recently, he has been awarded with an award that bears his name by the R.I. Department of Health for his work on behalf of minority health and also received the Bertram Jaffee Award for advocacy in Public Health, given by the R.I. Public Health Association. The John Hope Settlement House also gave him their highest honor, The Paris Vaughn Sterett Award for community service, and the Ministers Alliance bestowed him with the Martin Luther King Service Award at their Annual MLK Day Breakfast.
After a list of honors as long as this one, it’s tempting to get flippant and say, “Other than that, hey, he’s just an average guy.” But as Nixon said, “that would be wrong” – because that thumbnail bio, amazing as it is, barely scratches the surface of the man who is Dr. Pablo Rodríguez.
Like most physicians who provide abortion care, Dr. Rodríguez has known his share of trouble.
The Doctor in the Bulletproof Vest
On Saturday morning I was in the family room getting ready to go to work. As usual, my wife reminded me to wear my bulletproof vest, and once again my 7-year-old son wanted an explanation. As I began to tell him that the vest was part of Daddy’s work uniform, the television news was reporting the murder of Dr. Barnett A. Slepian, the gynecologist in Buffalo who performed abortions.
I never want my wife or children to hear news of violence or murder at an abortion clinic before I do. I want to explain it first, to edit the coverage, make it less scary, protect them from worrying. But this time I was frozen.
One might think that after all these years and other murders, I would be somewhat numb to the horrors. But no, it’s always just as hard as it was the first time.
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I know that it is impossible for most people to understand what thousands of health care providers feel every day. But consider what my life has been like since I was identified by anti-abortion groups as one of their targets.In the beginning, the harassment consisted of just nasty letters and graphic pictures of dismembered fetuses. Then I began receiving strange packages with dolls inside, as well as subscriptions to gun magazines and advertisements for hunting lodges showing pictures of dead animals hanging by their limbs.
Then the Wanted posters with my picture on them began to appear; the first one was taped to the front door of the clinic for patients to see. Copies were also sent to my wife at home and to my other office.
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Just after Dr. Gunn’s death, I was driving my mother to the bus station when I realized that my car was steering poorly. I checked my tires and found 45 nails embedded in them – this after I had been driving over 50 miles an hour on the highway.That evening, my wife painfully discovered with her foot that our driveway had been booby-trapped with roofing nails cleverly buried beneath the snow. An image of my young children running on that same section of driveway has filled me with a fear that I have never been able to shake off. My home, my haven of safety – violated.
The following week I received a bill for an insurance policy on my wife’s life. I called the insurance company and was told that someone had filled out a fraudulent application, but that the company could do nothing for me but apologize.
Next I received an identification card in the mail for a catastrophic health and dismemberment policy that would cover my medical costs in case such circumstances should arise. My experiences are not unique. Other providers around the country and in Canada have been through similar episodes, and worse.
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Personally, I could never turn away a patient who needs my help. I know my advocacy and services are just a drop in the ocean considering all the needs that people have.
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Reasonable people disagree over abortion. <…> [But] it is unreasonable that my children are not allowed to play in our yard because it is not safe.
Unlike many politically influential people, Dr. Rodríguez is a man intimately acquainted with the pain and suffering of others as well, and he gives of himself — professionally, financially, and always personally — to do something about it.
I never thought that I would be performing an abortion in a room with a picture of Jesus and the Virgin Mary, but there I was, in the middle of the Andes. My brain was loaded with the images of the American abortion war, not knowing if what I was experiencing was a result of the steaming coca tea or if indeed these lay midwives, whom I trained to safely manage the complications of unintended pregnancy, have found a way to publicly view their work as God’s work.
Perhaps it is the fact that hunger, extreme poverty and disease are so diabolic and real in their lives that anything that could somehow stem the flow of misery is nothing less than a blessing.
Next to the crude poster of contraceptive methods with condoms and IUDs taped to it were multiple religious icons and passages from the Bible. From what I could tell, these women were as religious as those who protest in front of my clinic in Providence every Thursday and Saturday. Every woman who came in was embraced in her decision to accept or not the promise of a future child.
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I am back in town now, and the religious icons have placed themselves outside the clinic once more. Politicians continue to dance their awkward mambo with both feet firmly planted on both sides of the fence and the sleepy electorate is awakening from its slumber. But inside my heart, the story of the Andean cholitas (native women) spreading the gospel of reproductive rights will forever lift my spirit.
And that he is still among us is almost a miracle. Last February Pablo sustained severe and extensive injuries in a highway accident here in Dallas. Now the Providence Journal (free registration, and worth doing to read the entire article) tells us that the doctor is back, but his joy is mixed with fear.
The wan look, evident when the high-profile physician and community leader began reentering public life several months ago, is gone. He has color in his cheeks. He limps, but his step is spry. His usual gregariousness and humor are in full swing.
But whether Rodriguez will be able to fully resume his 20-year career as an ob-gyn doctor is unclear.
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The car crash, caused by a drunken driver (the accident also claimed his niece’s life and injured other family members), left Rodriguez with radial nerve palsy in his right hand.“The nerve that feeds the arm was bruised, or even cut, in portion, by the fracture” to his right arm. “So I lost the ability to lift my wrist and extend my fingers.” He is hoping a hand surgeon may be able to help.
Rodriguez goes to his Pawtucket office every day, where he does his morning radio show on WELH (88.1 FM), opens the mail and takes phone calls. But he has not yet begun seeing patients, nor set a date for doing so.
“I haven’t even tried yet to see what I can do. I’m afraid that I’m not going to be able to do it — that I’m not going to be proficient,” he said.
“In gynecology you have to touch people, you have to examine them in a certain way. I want to do it right. I don’t want to just go through the motions and pretend that I’m doing a good job. And I think it’s also the fear of, I’ll be able to do this, but not be able to do that,” he said.
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Since his latest surgery in August, to reverse a colostomy and close his abdomen (“my belly has been open since March, with a skin graft just holding my guts together”), he has made great physical and emotional strides.“Every day,” he said, “every day is better.”
In the meantime, he’s not sitting still. Dr. Rodríguez not only continues to do his radio show in Rhode Island, but is making an incursion into Florida’s airspace as well. You gotta love it: a Spanish-speaking, abortion-providing, politically active liberal doctor on the air in the heart of Bushistan’s Latino community. The station is WOCN, Union Radio 1450 AM, covering Miami-Dade and Broward Counties. If you speak Spanish, you can hear Pablo live via streaming audio at 1:00 PM Eastern on Fridays.
Aside from all the other civil and human rights under threat, considering Cytotec Sam Alito’s anti-immigrant rulings . . .
ALITO HOSTILE TOWARD IMMIGRANTS:
In two cases involving the deportation of immigrants, the majority twice noted Alito’s disregard of settled law. In Dia v. Ashcroft, the majority opinion states that Alito’s dissent “guts the statutory standard” and “ignores our precedent.” In Ki Se Lee v. Ashcroft, the majority stated Alito’s opinion contradicted “well-recognized rules of statutory construction.” [Dia v. Ashcroft, 2003; Ki Se Lee v. Ashcroft, 2004]
. . . there couldn’t be a better time for Democratic outreach to Florida’s Spanish-speaking community, and Dr. Pablo Rodríguez is just the man to deliver the message.
And by the way, you know what else el doctor is doing? As usual, he’s putting his money where his mouth is. Pablo Rodríguez believes so strongly in the importance of taking back Florida that he’s paying for the radio time all by himself. If he didn’t have to worry about covering the expenses involved, he could expand his talk show into Tampa and Orlando much sooner than he’s already hoping to do. The advertising rates at WOCN look pretty reasonable to me, so if you know any business owners in Dade/Broward who don’t vote Republican, maybe they’d like to buy a commercial or two.
If you’re glad to have met my friend Pablo, then please help to spread the word: “¡Hola, Miami! The Doctor Is IN!”