Local Health Care Debate Question

When Paul Leithart uses a Dispatch LTE to attack an article on preventable deaths from medical errors, because it contains references to a 1999 report from the Institutes of Medicine that he doesn't agree with, despite the fact that the estimates in the article are based on 10 years of subsequent monitoring and research, concluding "Let's not use more lies to bring about socialized medicine," is it more important to note that he is is:

A) A retired doctor, or
B) On the National Council of the John Birch Society, approaching his 50 year anniversary with the organization?