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American Morning

President's Nominee to be Surgeon General Has Taken Very Eventful Route

Aired March 28, 2002 - 07:51   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Dr. Richard Carmona has taken a very eventful route to where he is today, President Bush's nominee to be surgeon general, and CNN's Bruce Morton traces Carmona's past to becoming the nation's top doctor.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRUCE MORTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The U.S. has had some interesting surgeon generals, C. Everett Koop, a voice for sex education and a crusader against smoking, M. Jocelyn Elders, who got in trouble for frank talk about masturbation, but it has never had anyone remotely like Richard Carmona.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: When I first learned that Dr. Richard Carmona once dangled out of a moving helicopter, I worried that maybe he wasn't the best guy to educate our Americans about reducing heath risks.

MORTON: Yes, he did that in 1993. A medical helicopter crashed, one paramedic survived, and Carmona rescued him with a jury-rigged harness. He didn't start out as a likely surgeon general for sure.

RICHARD CARMONA, SURGEON GENERAL NOMINEE: As a high school dropout, a poor Hispanic kid to where I am today was just nothing you could even dream about.

MORTON: The Harlem dropout went to Vietnam and became a highly- decorated Green Beret, got his high school equivalency degree, and back in civilian life went to medical school, in Tucson ran a trauma center, was always a cop (ph) doc emergency medicine, but on the sheriff's SWAT team too.

In 1999, stopping at what he thought was a traffic accident, a man with a woman hostage fired at Carmona, grazing his skull. Carmona fired back and killed him, saving the woman.

KAT GOMEZ, RESCUED BY CARMONA: Naturally, I was so upset, I didn't know what was going to happen. I thought my life had ended, was going to. And luckily, Dr. Carmona happened to show up when he did.

MORTON: The man turned to have been a killer. Carmona got a top cop award. He is the first nominee who studied law enforcement terrorism. CARMONA: The emphasis should be on prevention and wellness and healthy living, but now we have to integrate how do we deal with these new threats of terrorism, weapons of mass destruction and have the appropriate public health infrastructure in place to keep our communities safe.

MORTON: If life is a journey, he has had quite a trip.

Bruce Morton, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ZAHN: And we wish him well.

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