Mark Woods|Florida Times-Union
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For Tina Polsky, this Breast Cancer Awareness Month already was personal.
Polsky — a 53-year-old mediator, wife and mother of two —noticed a suspicious lump in August. After a biopsy showed it was cancerous, she had surgery in late September. She begins radiation therapy this week. Because she caught it early, Polsky and her doctors are optimistic about her prognosis.
She decided to make all of this public last week, partly because she has a public job. She’s a state senator from Boca Raton.
“I wanted to share because word got out even though I asked people to keep it quiet,” she told Florida Politics. “In addition, I also wanted to use my public position to educate others about early self-detection and mammograms.”
Florida surgeon general responds: Dr. Joseph Ladapo says he can't 'communicate effectively' in his refusal to wear mask in Polsky's office
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More on Joseph Ladapo: What we know about Florida's surgeon general
Polsky is continuing to work. In fact, she was in her Tallahassee office last week when a visitor arrived for a meeting he had requested.
The visitor wasn’t wearing a mask. She asked him to put one on. He refused. She told him several times that she hada serious medical condition. He still refused, suggesting they sit outside. After some back-and-forth, a shaken Polsky asked him to leave.
As he did, one of her aides heard him say: “Sometimes I try to reason with unreasonable people for fun.”
It would be one thing if the visitor were another one of Florida’s 20 million residents. But this relatively newresident was the state's top doctor,the recently appointed surgeon general.
A spokesperson for Dr. Joseph Ladapo has disputed that on the way out of Polsky’s office he said what her aide claims to have heard. But the spokesperson didn’t dispute the basics of the story —that Ladapo and two aides refused Polsky’s request to wear masks in her office—and instead just decried it as sensational reporting.
On Tuesday afternoon, six days after the meeting, Ladapo posted aresponse on Twitter saying he'd never knowingly bedisrespectful of anyone. “Having a conversation with someone while wearing a mask is not something I find productive, especially when other options exist," he wrote. "It is important to me to communicate clearly and effectively with people. I can’t do that when half of my face is covered.”
Thank goodness the surgeon generalisn't a surgeon, trying to somehow communicate clearly and effectively in an operating room.
Ladapo has opposed masks and vaccine mandates
Even before this, Ladapo was a controversial choice for surgeon general, particularly during a pandemic that hit Floridaparticularly hard in 2021. His training isn’t in infectious diseases, epidemiology or virology. He’s a cardiovascular specialist. He has opposed masks and vaccine mandates. He even appeared in a video for afringe medical group that has spread misinformation, promoted ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine, and left patients with bills that make them scream scam.
Gov. Ron DeSantis didn’t appoint Ladapo despite these and other controversies. No, it’s safe to say he picked the former UCLA School of Medicine associate professorbecauseof them —because Ladapo seemed ready-made to lead some of the COVID/culture wars DeSantis has been fighting.Ladapo even was given an annual salary that's $123,000 more than his more experienced predecessor.
The surgeon general must be confirmed by the Florida Senate. Hearings will be held during the regular session that begins Jan. 11.
Politics have become a part of the story. Or, perhaps more accurately, politics have become a part of seemingly every story.
Polsky is a Democrat who already had been quite critical of Ladapo. And after the meeting made news, first on Florida Politics and then on a wide range of outlets and social media, Polsky began receiving both support and criticism. An anti-semitic message was left on her district office voicemail. Some pointed out on Twitter that she was seen maskless at a committee meeting earlier this month and, on the same day as her meeting with Ladapo, had posted a picture of her maskless with another state senator.
She responded that while she hasn’t “been perfect about wearing a mask”, she never has declined to wear one when someone asked her to.
“I am also very thankful that the Senate President agrees that this is an issue of respect and that the bottom line is the Surgeon General should have respected my wishes,” she said.
SenatePresident Wilton Simpson said what happened wasunprofessional
If there’s a bright spot in this story —a ray of hope in the bleak partisan politics of today —it was the response of Senate President Wilton Simpson.
Simpson is a Republican from Trilby (Pasco County). He has called DeSantis “America’s Governor.” And even before Simpson announced plans to run for agriculture commissioner, he was endorsed by Donald Trump.
When Simpson heard what had happened in the meeting, he wrote a letter to all senators and Senate staff.
“What occurred in Sen. Polsky’s office was unprofessional and will not be tolerated in the Senate,” he wrote. “While there is no mask mandate in the Senate, senators and staff can request social distancing and masking within their own offices. If visitors to the Senate fail to respect these requests, they will be asked to leave.”
He also said: “The prayers of the entire Senate family are with Sen. Polsky as she begins her treatment. However, it shouldn’t take a cancer diagnosis for people to respect each others’ level of comfort with social interactions during a pandemic.”
The governor hasn’t commented on all of this, but it would be interesting to know what he thinks about it —especially considering that this Breast Cancer Awareness Month also is personal for him.
“As the mother of three young children, Casey is the centerpiece of our family and has made an impact on the lives of countless Floridians through her initiatives as First Lady,” he said in a statement. “As she faces the most difficult test of her life, she will have not only have my unwavering support but the support of our entire family, as well as the prayers and well wishes from Floridians across our state. Casey is a true fighter, and she will never, never, never give up.”
Here’s hoping that Casey DeSantis and Sen. Polsky will overcome breast cancerand lead long lives.
And here’s hoping that the rest of us, including the state’s top health official, can heed Simpson’s words.
Some have tried to read the political tea leaves about what his letter means for a bigger picture. Is it a signal to the DeSantis administration? Does it mean that Ladapo's confirmation now is in jeopardy?
Call me naive, but I prefer to take it as something much simpler and more immediate —a call for common respect.
mwoods@jacksonville.com, (904) 359-4212
