Say WHAT?!
Her Wikipedia bio tells us that Karen Berg, MD graduated from medical school at the University of Louisville, and is a diagnostic radiologist and an assistant professor in that radiology department. Prior to that she earned a bachelors in political science, and is the daughter of a surgeon/artist and a lawyer/nurse. She is touted as “the only known Jew in the Kentucky Legislature” (if that matters) and is “a self-described fiscal conservative and social liberal,” and reportedly the first female (if that matters) physician in that body.
In 2022 Sen. Dr. Berg spoke forcefully against the newly passed law that bans abortions after 15 weeks in Kentucky, “calling the legislation a “medical sham.” She is pro-pot legalization (while I don’t personally partake, I am listening to the Grateful Dead while writing this. Go figure).
“Public service has always been one of my passions,” Sen. Berg said. “As a physician, I am excited to bring my experience and insight to the Kentucky General Assembly, and hopefully we can work on ways to bring quality, affordable health care to Kentuckians.” Berg was a supporter of Gov. Beshear’s re-establishment of Kentucky’s state-run health exchange.
Berg appears passionate about sexual minority legal protections and “voted against the passage of Senate Bill 150, which includes a section banning gender transition care for youth.”
A quick scan of her official page makes Berg appear to be a fairly standard Democrat, in favor of government intervention for a lot of local “pothole” topics, and leaning toward the outliers on emotional, social, particularly sexuality-related issues. She suffered a truly horrible loss in 2022 when her 24-year-old child, Henry Berg-Brosseau, a self-described transgender individual, committed suicide.
So why introduce her here?
Physicians come from all areas, and all points of view. By definition they are all well-educated, some of them are truly brilliant, some are very functional, and some are both. I’ve long told people in cocktail conversation, as well as medical students and colleagues, that all doctors are f**ked up, every single one of us. We are a group of self-selected people who spend their first day of post-graduate education cutting on dead bodies, we ask about, and see things that no entirely well-adjusted person should, and by and large we adapt ourselves and do more good than harm (at least, prior to 2020, ahem), a few quirks here and there notwithstanding. That statement may offend some, and make others laugh ruefully. But all of us have, must have a few shared standards and guardrails, first as flawed but decent humans, and then as physicians charged with the care of others. Some of us like being in the public eye in our professional capacities, and even use our medical title to run for office, from which they seek to do good, or order others about. A physician running for office, one might argue, should be a bit smarter, more analytical, more thoughtful than the average law school product.
Which brings us to Sen.-Dr. Berg. I don’t like the obviously inflammatory, whip-up-the-mob headlines from either side of the manipulative punditry, but this exceeds that herd threshold.
A physician-turned-politician “suggested sex dolls styled to resemble children could help prevent pedophiles from abusing kids, sparking condemnation and outrage from Republicans in the state.” Yep, go ahead and re-read the preceding sentence.
Berg said publicly: “There are what they call ‘MAPS,’ Minor Attracted Persons, and the limited amount of research that’s done on these dolls, guys, suggest that they actually – for people who are attracted to minors – that these dolls actually decrease their proclivity to go out and attack children,” Berg said, according to video of the hearing. “That it actually gives them a release that makes them less likely to go outside of their home.”
“Her statements came during a hearing last week on a measure designed to make it a felony to be in possession of a sex doll that is styled like a child.
This individual so worried about violence that she sponsored legislation mandating the destruction of firearms confiscated in the commission of a felony, then said what you just read.
She crawfished pretty quick, and “Berg noted in the end, she voted in favor of the measure criminalizing possession of child sex dolls.”
I don’t support “cancel culture”, and I remain a free speech absolutist, precisely because of what this story demonstrates.
Whatever her academic and professional accomplishments, whatever her policy positions, whatever tragedies she has endured, we must agree that this individual has such damaged judgment to have said such a thing that no sensible person should want her involved in their care, or in their laws.
Cripes, “Cutting up dead people.” In the anatomy lab in the U of Illinois at the time we thought we were respectfully learning on the dead that gave their remains to the med school. “Cadaver Ken” aka the funeral home director who went to work at the medical school, told us how the cadaver process was dealt with. He threw parties for med students and tried to make us feel at ease with the dead. He didn’t mind that nickname one bit. That helped a lot. A lot of rock and roll music on radios blaring in the cadaver lab helped too.
At the time, the lab was open 24 hours a day. I went up there at night one time and was the only one there. I was studying the anatomy of several cadavers and heard, “BAMB, BAMB, BAMB.” Later on I realized it was probably steam/water in the radiators but scared the chit out of me. I beat a hasty retreat and got the “H” out of there. Never went back there at night.
I honestly don’t see how possession of a sex toy, regardless of how it’s “styled,” is a danger to society and should be prosecuted as a felony.
And yet, here we are. Another sign of the impending collapse of our civilization, ho hum, what’s on TikTok….
It is wise to remember that having a medical degree does not confer any special wisdom or superiority when it comes to other realms of life such as political or ideological views.