An exercise in futility

Arkansas Children’s Hospital treats our kids of all ages, all illnesses, and has for over 100 years. As a retired pediatrician, now more of a farmer and occasional hunter, I recall there were many great practitioners at ACH who not only influenced me in training to be a MD, but were just great people. Their passion for the welfare and health of children was and is endless.

Pat Casey is one of those pediatricians who also saved/changed children’s lives by his hard work, knowledge, as well as being a great person. He has done so much for ACH, even starting the Dennis Developmental Center as a behavioral pediatrician. Pat has worked in the ACH emergency room seeing the good/bad in people and, like most doctors that deal in primary care, has had to give loved ones the good/bad news about their child. The bad outcomes/delivering bad news never seem to totally disappear, just a hopeful waning with time.

Pat Casey’s plea to Congressman French Hill to do something about firearms in this country unfortunately is an exercise in futility. Since the beginning of Hill’s tenure in Congress (2015) there has been a 33 percent increase in gun deaths. He has received over $1 million from the NRA. His no vote on the 2022 bipartisan gun bill shows that his love of money or guns is greater than his love for children. His voting history shows that he votes zero percent for any gun control, zero percent of the time for taxing the wealthy or businesses, 5 percent of the time for protecting the environment, and 28 percent of the time for supporting public health. Hill goes silent on any controversial subject, especially recent shootings and any of Trump’s screwups.

I sincerely hope that our politicians change their stance on guns, but money controls the hill and French Hill. I’m not a Bible fanatic by any means and Jesus was able to forgive tax collectors, but is Jesus able to forgive a person that takes blood money and lets children die?

ANDY CONNAUGHTON Vilonia