SCVNews.com | Opinion/Commentary: Think You’re Cooped Up? | Doctor’s Diary with Dr. Gene Dorio

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Think You’re Cooped Up? | Doctor’s Diary with Dr. Gene Dorio

Dr. Gene Dorio | Monday, Apr 27, 2020

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He was a prisoner of war 5-1/2 years, spending several years in solitary confinement. John McCain was tortured, yet he became a U.S. Senator and presidential candidate.

He suffered.

Over the past several days in my neighborhood, there have been two street birthday parties for children with no face masks or social separation.

As I ran by, I asked a friend what was going on. He offered: “They were all cooped up and needed to get out, and the children suffered enough.”

Suffered enough? Being cooped up? How about being tortured or in solitary confinement?

Suffering. Do people really know what this means? Do we pamper when they complain of being “cooped up?” Must we protect our children to this degree, possibly risking their lives and the people around them?

I don’t want to be harsh, as I’m sure in the past I was also protective. Somehow this goes beyond balancing the “risks and complications” I deal with on a daily basis. Maybe I’ve become a grouchy old man.

John McCain suffered.

I dare to think of the repercussions if you take away your child’s iPad. Do it! Your child might then grow up to be a U.S. senator.

Gene Uzawa Dorio, M.D., is a geriatric house-call physician who serves as president of the Los Angeles County Commission for Older Adults and Assemblyman to the California Senior Legislature. He has practiced in the Santa Clarita Valley for 32 years.

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