Florida Eye Doctor Offers Free Eye Exams… Only If You Are a U.S. Citizen, Though

By:
Dec 14, 2013
4:50 PM

You have got to be kidding us. As usual, we got this one from Twitter. Here is the tweet:

And this is the image from that tweet:

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So we cropped it and read the fine print:

citizens

Ouch. Now it could be that the Free Eye Exam might get reimbursed to the feds, but still. Seriously?

Say hello to Dr. Thomas. A Quigley, World Renowned Cataract Surgeon:

Dr. Quigley has a strong commitment to both his patients and the communities in Southwest Florida. He has demonstrated this commitment by establishing the free cataract surgery program for individuals unable to afford needed eye surgery.

Well, except for a certain group of people.

More about the good doctor:

Dr. Quigley received his degree in medicine, magna cum laude, from the University of Mississippi where he was a Dean’s Scholar from 1981-1984. He also received The Department of Surgery Award in 1984.

Dr. Quigley went on to complete his surgery training in Ophthalmology at the LSU Eye Center, Louisiana State University Medial Center in New Orleans, Louisiana.

You have probably heard about Dr. Quigley, already. He has practiced ophthalmology in Southwest Florida for more than twenty years and offers his patients the SmartLens® procedure for cataract surgery which may eliminate the need for eyeglasses. Dr. Quigley uses a variety of intraocular lenses in an effort to free his patients from glasses including the ReZoom multifocal lens, the ReStor multifocal lens and the Crystalens accommodating lens.

We are wondering if Dr. Quigley actual ever read the Hippocratic Oath. A refresher:

I swear to fulfill, to the best of my ability and judgment, this covenant:

I will respect the hard-won scientific gains of those physicians in whose steps I walk, and gladly share such knowledge as is mine with those who are to follow.

I will apply, for the benefit of the sick, all measures which are required, avoiding those twin traps of overtreatment and therapeutic nihilism.

I will remember that there is art to medicine as well as science, and that warmth, sympathy, and understanding may outweigh the surgeon’s knife or the chemist’s drug.

I will not be ashamed to say “I know not,” nor will I fail to call in my colleagues when the skills of another are needed for a patient’s recovery.

I will respect the privacy of my patients, for their problems are not disclosed to me that the world may know. Most especially must I tread with care in matters of life and death. If it is given me to save a life, all thanks. But it may also be within my power to take a life; this awesome responsibility must be faced with great humbleness and awareness of my own frailty. Above all, I must not play at God.

I will remember that I do not treat a fever chart, a cancerous growth, but a sick human being, whose illness may affect the person’s family and economic stability. My responsibility includes these related problems, if I am to care adequately for the sick.

I will prevent disease whenever I can, for prevention is preferable to cure.

I will remember that I remain a member of society, with special obligations to all my fellow human beings, those sound of mind and body as well as the infirm.

If I do not violate this oath, may I enjoy life and art, respected while I live and remembered with affection thereafter. May I always act so as to preserve the finest traditions of my calling and may I long experience the joy of healing those who seek my help.

Written in 1964 by Louis Lasagna, Academic Dean of the School of Medicine at Tufts University, and used in many medical schools today.

We wonder, Dr. Quigley, we really do.

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