In a letter sent to Attorney General Janet Reno and Commissioner Doris Meissner of the Immigration and Naturalization Service yesterday, the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons asked the agencies to disclose the names and backgrounds of all government-appointed medical personnel involved in the treatment or evaluation of Elian Gonzalez, including psychiatrists and psychologists.

"We are extremely concerned about Elian's physical and emotional well-being," says the letter, signed by AAPS Executive Director Jane Orient, M.D. "Based on the experience of the past two weeks, we're not confident that the glowing reports from anonymous government doctors of the boy's easy adjustment following a traumatic seizure at gunpoint are indeed unbiased, or for that matter, first-hand."

Executive director of AAPS, Dr. Jane Orient, questions government reliance on 'anonymous' medical professionals evaluating Elian Gonzalez.

Founded in 1943, AAPS is a professional association of physicians in all specialties dedicated to the sanctity of the patient-physician relationship. The group is particularly concerned at this time that physicians are being used as propaganda pawns in a political game.

Orient points to the recent INS appointment of Dr. Irwin Redlener -- a well-known pediatrician with long-standing political ties to President Clinton and the First Lady.

"We are appalled that the Department of Justice and the INS may have relied on the armchair diagnosis of an administration operative in making their decision to go ahead with a frightening raid in the dark," the letter continues.

WorldNetDaily reported Redlener's ties to the Clintons on April 19.

"We cannot tolerate the specter of any more physicians putting their political or professional interests ahead of the safety of this child," Orient wrote. "If there is any more conflict-of-interest apparent on the medical and psychological team, we need to know. The government should make immediate, full disclosure.

"This important case demands to be attended by unbiased experts, and Elian deserves hands-on treatment, not more armchair diagnosis for propaganda purposes," concludes the letter.

Orient told WorldNetDaily the association's concerns are two-fold.

"We're concerned about this issue from two standpoints. One is the general conduct of this administration in defying the rule of law. They only appeal to it when it suits their purposes. I think they have the attitude that they are the law," she said. "The undue and violent use of force against people that are no imaginable threat ... is just totally unwarranted."

Orient noted the armed seizure of the six-year-old boy "is just one example of many" situations where government uses excessive force to meet its goals.

"If they can do this to these people, what's to stop them from doing it to [other Americans]?" she asked.

The organization's second concern is how medicine is being used in Elian's case. Redlener's professional opinion of Elian was "based on no first-hand information [and] was outside his area of expertise," said Orient. "It was an abuse of his medical credentials."

A clinical lecturer in medicine at the University of Arizona and professor of clinical medicine at the Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine, Orient wants to know who the Clinton administration is now relying upon "to say the boy is doing perfectly fine despite his home being invaded."

"Any psychologist will tell you that you can't make a diagnosis without first-hand examinations and interviews of a patient," she said.

Asked if she has a particular view of Elian's case -- whether he should stay in the U.S. or return to Cuba -- Orient answered, "I think it's a fairly complicated situation. If it's a custody case, there are ways to resolve those issues without spending millions and millions of taxpayers' money and using force."

INS Commissioner Doris Meissner

If the case is an immigration issue, the doctor continued, "there is a way of dealing with those also. Under the law, [Cuba] is a special case."

An author and editor of several medical publications, Orient revealed what she believes is the most critical issue at stake in the Elian Gonzalez saga.

"What is most distressing is that many Americans are willing to accept this kind of police tactic (the use of chemical agents, machine guns and undue force) by the government. This is not supposed to happen in the United States," she concluded.

The letter was delivered by courier on Friday after the Justice Department expressed concern with issuing its fax number.

Carol Foreman, Reno's public relations official handling the Elian Gonzalez case, was not available for comment.

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