David Hager 1174943 225736886 2008-07-15T04:04:38Z DJac75 57968 /* Controversy over FDA advisory committee appointment */ {{Unreferenced|date=October 2007}} '''W. David Hager''' is an American [[physician]] with a medical board certification in [[obstetrics]] and [[gynecology]]. In the fall of 2002, Hager, a leading conservative [[Christian]] voice on women's health and sexuality, was appointed to the [[Advisory Committee for Reproductive Health Drugs]] in the [[Food and Drug Administration]] (FDA) by [[U.S. President]] [[George W. Bush]]. ==Family life== In [[1970]], Hager married Linda Carruth Davis, the daughter of a famous [[Methodist]] [[Evangelism|evangelist]]. Together they had three sons. David and Linda Hager's marriage ended by [[divorce]] in 2002. Linda cited sexual misconduct on the part of David as the cause of the split. In November 2002, Linda, herself a religious and political [[Conservatism|conservative]], was re-married to James Davis, a [[United Methodist]] minister. In 2003 Hager married Lexington physician Kathleen Martin. ==Education and certification== Hager in 1964 was graduated from Jessamine County High School in Nicholasville, Kentucky. Hager received his [[undergraduate]] degree from [[Asbury College]] where his father, Cornelius Hager, was the college president. Hager graduated from [[medical school]] at [[University of Kentucky]] in 1972, and completed a [[Obstetrics and gynaecology|ob/gyn]] residency at University of Kentucky in [[1976]]. Hager has been board certified in [[obstetrics]] and [[gynecology]] since 1978. ==Career== Hager is a practicing [[gynecologist]] in [[Lexington, Kentucky]]. After completing his OB/GYN residency, Hager was a clinical research investigator for sexually transmitted diseases at the [[Centers for Disease Control and Prevention]] in Atlanta from 1976-78. He had a faculty position at [[Emory University]] from 1976-1978, and has been a part-time "[[professor]]" at the University of Kentucky since [[1978]]. ("Though his resume describes Hager as a University of Kentucky professor, a university official says Hager's appointment is part time and voluntary and involves working with interns at Lexington's Central Baptist Hospital, not the university itself." Time citation below) His research interests include [[mastitis]], post-operative [[infections]], Group B Strep infections, and [[vaginitis]]. Hager was president of [[Infectious Disease Society for Obstetrics and Gynecology]] from 1996-1998. He was also named as one of the "Best Doctors in America" in both 1994 and 1996. Other present and past affiliations include, the [[Focus on the Family]]'s Physician Resource Council and the [[Christian Medical and Dental Society]]'s Physician Resource Council. Hager was previously a member of [[Asbury College]]'s board of trustees. ==Controversy over FDA advisory committee appointment== <!-- Image with disputed fair-use status removed: [[Image:NationMay30Cover.jpg|thumb]] --> Hager's appointment to the [[Advisory Committee for Reproductive Health Drugs]] in the FDA was controversial from the start, with many women's right groups protesting his selection. Hager's appointment became more divisive when on May 6, 2004, the FDA rejected the December 16, 2003 Advisory Committee 23 to 4 vote to drop the prescription-only status of emergency contraception, and refused to approve the sale of [[Levonorgestrel|Plan B]] over the counter. First, ''[[The Nation (U.S. periodical)|The Nation]]'', and then ''[[The Washington Post]]'' and ''[[Lexington Herald-Leader]]'' reported that Hager spoke at [[Asbury College]] in [[Wilmore, Kentucky]], about his role in persuading the FDA to keep [[Plan B]] a prescription-only drug. Hager said, "I was asked to write a minority opinion that was sent to the commissioner of the FDA. For only the second time in five decades, the FDA did not abide by its advisory committee opinion, and the measure was rejected." Additionally, in ''The Nation'', Linda Carruth-Davis, Hager’s ex-wife from a thirty-two-year marriage, alleges that between 1995 and their divorce in 2002, Hager repeatedly anally raped her in her sleep.<ref>{{cite web | publisher = Ayelish McGarvey, ''The Nation'' | url = http://www.thenation.com/doc/20050530/mcgarvey | title = Dr. Hager's Family Values | date = 2005-05-11 |accessdate = 29 November | accessyear = 2007}}</ref> The article's author [[Ayelish McGarvey]] puts forward the premise that Linda Davis's allegations are of additional concern due to Hager's public role as an advocate for women's health. Hager's wife suggested that her husband "kept missing" suggesting that it was perfectly acceptable to be raped in the traditional manner. Many educated Republicans were astonished that a Bush appointee who is also a gynecologist would be confused with the anatomy of a woman. They also weren't quite sure what was more troublesome: the personal indiscretions of Hager or that a sitting president of the United States would have the kind of judgment that would lead to such an appointment. To ''The Nation'', Hager responded "My official comment is that I decline to comment", but in his local [[newspaper]], the ''Lexington Herald-Leader'', Hager stated "As I said before, the allegations as stated do not reveal all of the information and therefore they're incomplete and not true. No one likes to be criticized, no one likes to be torn apart privately or publicly and I think that it's disappointing that my former wife has chosen this avenue to vent her anger and bitterness." Further concerns with his candidacy arose with his beliefs and medical assertions penned in the book "Stress and The Woman's Body", co-written with his ex-wife Linda Carruth-Davis. In the book, his writings emphasized the "restorative power of Jesus Christ in one's life" and recommended specific Scripture readings and prayers for such ailments as headaches and premenstrual syndrome. ==Publications== ===Journal articles=== # Hager WD. Treatment of metronidazole-resistant [[Trichomonas]] vaginalis with tinidazole: case reports of three patients. Sex Transm Dis. 2004 Jun;31(6):343-5 # Stanford JB, Hager WD, Crockett SA.The FDA, politics, and plan B. N Engl J Med. 2004 Jun 3;350(23):2413-4; author reply 2413-4. # Larsen JW, Hager WD, Livengood CH, Hoyme U. Guidelines for the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of postoperative infections. Infect Dis Obstet Gynecol. 2003;11(1):65-70. # Fitch JT, Stine C, Hager WD, Mann J, Adam MB, McIlhaney J. [[Condom]] effectiveness: factors that influence risk reduction. Sex Transm Dis. 2002 Dec;29(12):811-7. # David Hager, W., Schuchat, Anne, Gibbs, Ronald, Sweet, Richard, Mead, Philip, Larsen, John W. PREVENTION OF PERINATAL GROUP B STREPTOCOCCAL INFECTION: CURRENT CONTROVERSIES Obstet Gynecol 2000 96: 141-145 # McGregor JA, Hager WD, Gibbs RS, Schmidt L, Schulkin J. Assessment of office-based care of [[sexually transmitted disease]]s and [[vaginitis]] and antibiotic decision-making by obstetrician-gynecologists. Infect Dis Obstet Gynecol. 1998;6(6):247-51. # Hager WD, Barton JR. The treatment of sporadic acute puerperal [[mastitis]]. IDOG 1996;4:97-101. # McGregor J, Hager WD, Eschenbach DS, Mead P, Sweet RL, Gibbs RS. Modes of practice in [[Obstetrics and gynaecology|OB-GYN]] [[infections]]. Obstet Gynecol 83:631-36, 1994. # Barton JR, Thorpe EM, Shaver DC, Hager WD, et al. Nonimmune [[hydrops fetalis]] associated with maternal infection with [[syphilis]]. Am J Obstet Gynecol 167:56, 1992. # Hager WD, Rapp RP, Billeter M, Bradley BB. The choice of an [[antibiotic]] for women undergoing non-elective [[cesarean section]]. J Anti Agents and Chemo 35:1782,1991. #Hager WD, Bird M, Callahan JC, Frank AL, David ML, Engelberg J. Promiscuity and public health: some clinical and ethical issues. Hosp Pract. 1990 Sep 15;25(9):63, 66, 69-70+ # Hager WD, Sweet RL, Charles D, Larsen B. Comparative study of [[mezlocillin]] versus [[cefotaxime]] single dose prophylaxis in patients undergoing vaginal [[hysterectomy]]. Current Therapeutic Research, 45:63-9, 1989. ===Books=== # Hager WD, Hager LC. STRESS AND THE WOMAN'S BODY. Fleming H. Revell, a division of [[Baker Book House]], [[Grand Rapids, MI]] , [[1996]]. # Mead P, Hager WD. INFECTION PROTOCOLS FOR OBSTETRICS AND GYNECOLOGY. [[Medical Economics Company]], [[Montvale, New Jersey]], 1992, Revised 1998. # Hager WD, Joy, D Women at Risk: The Real Truth about [[Sexually Transmitted Disease]]. ==References== {{reflist}} *Lexington Herald-Leader (KY) GYNECOLOGIST EXPECTS TO BE OFF PANEL May 13, 2005 Frank Lockwood *Lexington Herald-Leader (KY) A PHYSICIAN AND A LIGHTNING ROD JUNE 12, 2005 Sarah Vos ==External links== *[http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,361521,00.html Time Online - Jesus and the FDA] *[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/11/AR2005051101812.html Memo May Have Swayed Plan B Ruling] Washington Post FDA Received 'Minority Report' From Conservative Doctor on Panel May 12, 2005 Marc Kaufman {{DEFAULTSORT:Hager, W. David}} [[Category:American physicians]] [[Category:Medical researchers]] [[Category:People from Lexington, Kentucky]] [[Category:People from St. Louis County, Missouri]] [[Category:Year of birth missing (living people)]] [[Category:Living people]]