Irony of ironies. The Austin orthopedic surgeon who'll perform Gov. Rick Perry's clavicle surgery this Friday also happens to be the president of the Texas Medical Association — and an outspoken critic of some of the governor's women's health policies.

Let's just say that Dr. Bruce Malone and Governor Rick Perry do not see eye to eye on the state’s new fetal sonogram law, massive reductions to state family planning funding, and Perry's position on some aspects of federal health care reform.

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Malone told The Texas Tribune that slashing family planning dollars and eliminating the Medicaid Women's Health Program to force Planned Parenthood out of Texas would be "a very stupid political thing."

Malone says he's "worried about is the well woman exams, the pap smears, all the services that poor women need. I think we need to worry more about the health of the women who don’t have the resources to get the care anywhere else.”

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Malone is also concerned about the state’s pending lawsuit against the individual insurance mandate in Obama’s health care bill.  Perry believes the mandate is a major infringement on individual liberty.

Malone says without the individual mandate in Obama's bill, without something that makes people buy policies in groups, the commercial insurance market is in jeopardy. He says you can’t run the commercial market if people can wait till they get sick to buy health insurance.

Perry's office says Perry isn't concerned about the personal opinions of the orthopedic surgeon he chose to repair his clavicle injury, which, incidentally, is the result of a 2009 bicycle injury that did not heal properly.

Malone says he's not concerned about any of that either.  “My job is to be the physician. I respect his privacy."

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