Fox Calls Doctors Writing Sick Slips In WI “Fraud,” CNN Calls It “Helping Out”
As news in the Wisconsin union protests continues to develop, it’s interesting to get different perspectives on the same events. Are public school teachers unfairly being asked to make economic sacrifices and noble for standing up for themselves or are they selfishly calling in sick and wrong for forcing kids to miss out on school? Your answer might depend on which news channel you’re watching.
On Fox News, Mike Tobin interviewed some residents of the state who claimed that it was extremely easy to get a doctor to give them a sick note, thus enabling public employees to take off from work to protest without any risk. News anchor Gregg Jarrett responded, “That’s incredible news if it’s true. That’s basically fraud by doctors incidental to the breach of a teacher contract, which prohibits them from calling in sick to protest.”
Over on CNN, the story was essentially the same, but the tone decidedly different. Casey Wian reported that “Doctors are writing notes . . . they’re helping out the teachers. There’s some concern that some of those doctors may be putting themselves in jeopardy because they are writing notes for teachers who obviously aren’t sick.” Anchor Martin Savage just responded with “very interesting.”
Given that it’s potentially illegal and unethical for a doctor to write someone a sick note for work when they are perfectly healthy, whether such behavior is merely “helping out” is up for you to decide.
Check out the clips from Fox News and CNN below:
