US Senator and doctor, Tom Coburn fights to keep his practice

US Senator Tom Coburn continues a fight to maintain the career he had before Congress. News on 6 reporter Emory Bryan says Dr Tom Coburn is still walking the line between two careers, as a politician

Wednesday, May 4th 2005, 10:44 am

By: News On 6

US Senator Tom Coburn continues a fight to maintain the career he had before Congress. News on 6 reporter Emory Bryan says Dr Tom Coburn is still walking the line between two careers, as a politician and a physician.

He thinks he shouldn't have to choose between the two. "It goes against what our founding fathers intended, to have citizen legislators." Coburn was a doctor long before he ran for Congress, where he successfully challenged house rules that discourage politicians from maintaining professional careers.

After returning to medicine, he ran for Senate, and now he's fighting similar rules against outside income. "And I'm going to continue to fight the battle to be a citizen legislator because it makes me a better legislator."

Coburn is back in Oklahoma meeting constituents on one of the many breaks from the US Senate. Wednesday, he was speaking in Bartlesville. He says he can better serve the Senate by leaving Washington DC on weekends and seeing patients in Muskogee. â€œMonday morning a week ago I saw 20 or 22 patients, then got on a plane at 10:40 for Washington from Tulsa, and still got there before anybody else did.â€

In Washington DC, the Senate Ethics Committee has asked Coburn to stop practicing medicine by September. Coburn believes he can satisfy the rules by not charging his patients - or by changing the rules. â€œAnd caring for patients it gives me a wonderful insight into the problems people face, into the way government programs are working, and keeps me as a physician from Oklahoma than a senator from Oklahoma which gives me as an influence in Washington, more power and much greater insight.â€

Coburn hopes to change the rules this summer, so he can care for his constituents and his patients. Other doctors have served in the US Senate, but Coburn is the first to challenge the rule against outside income.

He says it costs about $200,000 a year just to pay the expenses for his practice, and regardless, he can't see enough patients to make a profit.