This post has been updated.
The Tea Party challenger to Sen. Pat Roberts (R-KS) in Kansas posted on Facebook graphic x-ray images of deceased patients who suffered serious injuries and poked fun at the images, the Topeka Capital-Journal reported on Saturday.
Dr. Milton Wolf, a radiologist, told the Capital-Journal that the images were uploaded legally. Wolf’s personal Facebook account, where he published the x-rays, was disabled when he launched his bid for Senate.
Wolf would not say whether he continued to post such images to social media sites.
“I’m not going to play these kinds of gotcha games,” he told the Capital-Journal.
Wolf posted a 3D image of a gunshot wound to a victim’s head according to excerpts published by the Capital-Journal. When one commenter asked why the head wasn’t straight on the image, Wolf wrote, “it’s not like the patient was going to complain.”
And when a later commenter said he wished that Wolf had instead posted a 3D medical image of breast augmentation, Wolf joked back.
“Ha! Jeff, now that was funny. Just be glad I’m not a gastroenterologist then,” he wrote.
On another image Wolf posted of a gunshot wound, he joked that it reminded him of the movie “The Terminator 2.”
“It reminds (me) of the scene from Terminator 2 when they shoot the liquid metal terminator guy in the face at close range and it kind of splits him open temporarily almost like a flower blooming,” he wrote. “We all find beauty in different things.”
Medical professionals criticized Wolf’s decision to post images of the deceased online.
“The dignity and privacy of the individual should be protected,” John Carney, president of the Center for Practical Bioethics in Kansas City, Mo. told the Capital-Journal. “It doesn’t sound like they’re being protected if they’re, obviously, on Facebook.”
A spokesman for Sen. Pat Roberts (R-KS), Wolf’s opponent, criticized his decision to post such images on social media.
“For any doctor to make patient records public and then use the records for public discussion and entertainment is just unthinkable,” spokesman Leroy Towns said. “Allegations of such lack of judgment demand extensive scrutiny and investigation.”
Wolf reponded to Roberts in a statement Saturday, according to the Capital-Journal.
“The attack will not only target me,” Wolf said, “but will, through its implications, cast a wider net to vilify all doctors.”
The Senate Conservatives Fund, which has endorsed Wolf, defended him on Sunday.
Pat Roberts is trying to smear Dr. Wolf because Roberts doesn’t live in Kansas anymore and lied to voters about it for years. #KSsen
— Senate Conservatives (@SCF) February 23, 2014
Pat Roberts is dropping like a rock in the polls and is now desperately trying to destroy the reputation of a good doctor. #KSsen
— Senate Conservatives (@SCF) February 23, 2014
