BRUCE SCHREINER and BRETT BARROUQUERE
06/14/10 04:20 PM | APLOUISVILLE, Ky. — Rand Paul, who touts his career as a Kentucky eye doctor as part of his outsider credentials in his campaign for U.S. Senate, isn’t certified by his profession’s leading group.
He tried Monday to bat away questions about it by calling it an attack on his livelihood, saying the scrutiny stems from his challenge of a powerful medical group over a certification policy he thought was unfair.
The libertarian-leaning Republican helped create a rival certification group more than a decade ago. He said the group has since recertified several hundred ophthalmologists, despite not being recognized the American Board of Medical Specialties – the governing group for two dozen medical specialty boards.
Questions about Paul’s certification as an eye surgeon first arose in a story published Sunday in The Courier-Journal of Louisville.
Paul, who is continuing to practice in Bowling Green during the campaign, chafed Monday at questions about his certification.
"It’s a personal assault on my ability to make a living," Paul told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.
Paul, whose father, Ron Paul, is a Texas congressman and former presidential candidate, said he is a good physician with thousands of patients. Paul casts himself as a political outsider spent years building his medical practice in Bowling Green before making his first run for elective office.
By focusing on an internal struggle within his profession, he said, "you vilify me and make it out to sound, ‘Oh, … there’s something wrong with him as a physician because he chose not to register" with the American Board of Ophthalmology.
Paul said he helped formed the rival group because the established organization exempted older ophthalmologists from recertification. He likened it to members of Congress passing laws that don’t apply to themselves.
Rand Paul Not Board Certified: Kentucky Senate Hopeful Faces Challenge From Medical Panel