Judge Sonia Sotomayor, the President’s nominee for the Supreme Court seat being vacated by the retiring Justice David Souter, is a diabetic. Apparently that fact should disqualify her from the court in the eyes of one San Diego area doctor, who wrote a letter to the San Diego Union Tribune:
The conservative opposition has so far focused on her decision in the Ricci v. DeStefano reverse discrimination case. However, as a physician, I believe that Judge Sonia Sotomayor’s health is the real reason why she may be unqualified to fill a lifetime appointment on the U.S. Supreme Court. She has been a 50-year type 1 diabetic. She has already survived her actuarially predicted life span. The general prognosis includes a much higher risk for heart attack, stroke, kidney failure and dementia. These and other tendencies challenge calm judicial deliberation by a healthy mind over a lifetime.
Examine the candidate’s judicial philosophy. She may satisfactorily rebuff all challenges. Do not, however, overlook the implications of her diabetic history. It is not discriminatory to fully evaluate what a 50-year history of type 1 diabetes may mean to the judicial sanctum of the Supreme Court.
JOHN F. BRIDGEMAN
Ramona
Jennifer over at Advocacy for Patients is upset. Time did a piece on the Justices health, and concluded she could function at the job with proper treatment. In a CNN story, Sotomayors former colleagues universally say that she manages her disease well, and that her health doesn’t effect her work.
Many Senators spoke of the historic and inspiring occasion of Sotomayor's nomination today. Sotomayor's nomination is inspiring for all the reasons the Senators cited, but also for the reason that her nomination shows that the chronically ill can make a huge contribution to society.
Too often, the chronically ill are locked into their jobs or their social security disability by the fact that private insurance isn't affordable for a person with a chronic illness. The careers of chronically ill patients stagnate, stereotypes about the "ill being lazy" or "not dependable" are "proven" by our system's inability to provide affordable and universal access to health insurance.
Judge Sonia Sotomayor proves that chronically ill patients can achieve great things when they have affordable health insurance and access to proper medical care. Congress can make the story of Sonia Sotomayor be possible for millions more Americans if they pass a solid health care reform bill which provides affordable and universal access to a quality public health insurance plan.