David Walter Edsall

Republican

Office Sought: Representative – District 132
Age: 68
Occupation: Physician MD Anesthesiologist
Education: Northfiled Mount Hermon School, University of Vermont Medical school, US Army
Family: Maried Four maried children, eight grandchildren
Hometown: Ellsworth

Political experience

As Anesthesia chairperson of a 4 hospital medical system, internal politics was present. I instituted the first successful use of computer records in anesthesiology in the country. It had a very positive acceptance with none against it out of 21. This was successful for ten years and I was recruited to come back when I left to develop a career in medical informatics. That was a political failure due to lack of support of the higher ups. People do not want measurements of their results. But once they have it, they see themselves improving. Making fewer errors feels good. Burnout is less. Computer solutions must reduce record keeping time, focus on diagnostic and therapeutic decisions and improve results. Obama care ruins our medical system. Wrong focus- cost and wrong solution- access resulting in a huge cost.
Politically, I focus on where the problem is and what will solve it. The gun, and narcotic issues are the wrong focus and solution.

Why are you running for office?

We are upset about 280 annual opioid deaths much of which is from medical errors: Correct diagnosis, Correct therapy administered Correctly should be the focus. This is only a small part of the much larger problem of 1200 Maine deaths and 10,000 serious PREVENTABLE injuries from medical errors. The legislature is rightly concerned and there are many examples of good bills that they can pass but practicing medicine by legislation is the wrong approach. The $1T spent annually on our errors can be eliminated by the practice of Quality Improvement, usually also done incorrectly. The cost of poor quality is not understood. I have been an expert in this area since I took a course from W Edwards Demming in 1990. I have lectured in over 30 states, 5 countries and many medical societies. I practice what I preach with some of the best results in Anesthesiology for my department when I was chTairperson. Bad quality causes burnout, stress, lawsuits, and expensive treatments. The USA is #1 in quality. It is false to say we are #20. We are #20-30 in health of the population but in every measure of healthcare we are usually #1 i.e. Wound infections after surgery are 1.3 %. No other country is < 2%. For cancer and heart attack survival and dozens of other measures of care, we are #1,2 or3, usually #1. The only other way to control cost is rationing which is what the rest of the world does and Obama care is trying to do. Laws should Require broad solutions like measured outcomes not specific treatments like Naloxone. Very few walk the quality walk. All talk the talk. You don't need to know if a surgeon washes his/her hands. You NEED to know the infection rate. You may want to know a doctor's patient satisfaction score, but you NEED to know the Doctor's diagnostic success rate. Few MD's can tell you their rate which should require. The Medical Boards should attention to this! Their duty is to prevent harm

• Income Tax: Gov. LePage would like to lower Maine’s income tax rate and eventually eliminate it, by increasing the state’s sales tax and expanding it across a broader range of goods and services. Do you support this proposal?
  • Yes

    The top 1% pays way more than their fair share (35%). They pay more per person in sales tax since they buy more goods. They use less public services. The top 10% pay 70% of income taxes. $1Tril is taken from the 1% and goes to the bottom 40%. This creates the entitled class because they have no skin in the game. “Tax others is fine as long as I don’t have to pay” is wrong. In “Rich States – Poor States”, the higher the total taxes ( sales , income, fees, property) unemployment goes up and wage goes down. We are a high tax state which greatly great accounts for our poor economy. What makes a rich society is where all participate in the society. We must create opportunity for all to participate. When the rich are treated unfairly they leave like in Maryland and Montreal. The poor can’t. Sales tax should be progressive not regressive. No tax on nutritious food and 200 gal of gas, etc. Tax all other sales equally.
    This is not my firm opinion I am an expert in quality medicine not tazes

• Background Checks: Do you support background checks for privately sold firearms in Maine?
  • Other

    What is the problem being solved on the backs of law abiding citizens? It is already illegal for gun sales guns to out of state persons. If they break that law then this law will do what? Is there one case of a private sale to a Mainer that has resulted in a crime? I have bought guns online and at the Bangor gun show and background checks were done both times. So where is the problem that this bill is addressing? As with medicine we need to identify the problem to have correct solutions. #3 does neither. San B., Orlando, Gabby, & Charleston shoots all passed background checks. The FBI sys 10% of background checks miss those who should not be approved. #3 would have stopped the Sandy Hook killer from killing his mother and stealing her gun? Effectively banning the lending of my gun to my cousin or friend while hunting or target practice is not a solution. The big problem is hand guns murders 4 cities, none in Maine. The enemy of good is perfect. This tries for perfection and fails.

• Minimum Wage: In light of the ballot question facing voters this fall, do you support raising the state’s minimum wage from $7.50 to $12 an hour by 2020?
  • No

    The problem is the loss of middle income jobs. Maine should learn from other states that raising the minimum wage suppresses the economy and delays entry into the job market. Read “Rich States Poor States” and do the things that make societies rich. Minimum wage is not a goal for a life sustaining income. It is for early entry into the work force and then one moves up. By delaying a youth’s entry the development of the work ethic is delayed. This gets them into the entitlement mentality. Focus on middle class issues and all parts of society will flourish and the minimum wage earners can move up. I started as a bus boy at age 14. Then I became a waiter, worked in a shoe shop, joined the Army, then became a doctor. Early welfare traps you. Kudos to those great people who were able to get out of the trap. Most of those who do get off welfare are those who underwent a hardship and ended up needing the temporary help that welfare is intended to give.

• Marijuana: Do you support legalization of marijuana for recreational use?
  • Other

    You are free to make stupid choices. It is not the government’s job to protect you from yourself. I am not aware of pot smokers who are causing serious harm to others except if they make it accessible to children. Pot gummy bears etc. should be banned with serious penalties to those, who make it available to minors. I would vote yes on #1. Pot convictions should be overturned.
    If you choose to tune out you should not expect or receive government assistance.

    This survey should have a question about Clean Elections. I am a Clean Election Candidate. This is not welfare for politicians. It keeps elections local and reduces cost. It also gets the politicians out knocking on doors and talking to voters. It would use no tax money if donations were collected effectively. MCEA should have aggressive fund raising efforts.

• Addiction/Overdoses: Do you believe the state is doing enough in response to the rise in heroin/opiate addiction and overdoses? If not, what else should be done?
  • No. That is the practice of unscientific medicine through laws that will have unintended consequences. Many physicians and drug addicts say that NARCAN makes them feel safer. It will not induce a person to quit and may embolden. As an anesthesiologist, we are very familiar with it. Most other MD’s are not. It is a waste of time and expense to train non medical people when and how much to give. If you give too much the client may have severe withdrawal with death or injury. If you give it too late (ten minutes of apnea) the brain is dead. Then you have a vegetative coma to deal with. THERE IS NO MEDICAL EVIDENCE to support this law. We should wait for evidence.
    For 30 years anesthesiologists have known that pain should never be treated with only narcotics. All clients on narcotics should also be on several of the 6 other types of pain killers.
    More Medical ERRORS: Correct Diagnosis: What is pain from? Correct Therapy: Narcotics not needed or Therapy given and monitored correctly. This is part of the $1T of wasted money. There are ways to correct this. CQI. Require transparent outcome measurements. Very few do this. Who is good at treating pain and addicts? Do what they do!