Ami Bera

Patient autonomy is paramount to the oath that we take when we enter the profession of medicine. That is why I am appalled when the federal government gets between my patients and their right to the full range of medical information and complete access to health care.

My job as a physician is to make sure I have provided my patients with the best options to make the decisions that affect their lives.

I was born and raised in California and benefited from California's excellent public schools, from kindergarten through medical school.

Just like you can't cure a patient without listening to what he's feeling, you can't cure a nation without hearing what the people are really asking for.

Our nation is built upon a history of immigration, dating back to our first pioneers, the Pilgrims. For more than three centuries, we have welcomed generations of immigrants to our melting pot of hyphenated America: British-Americans; Italian-Americans; Irish-Americans; Jewish-Americans; Mexican-Americans; Chinese-Americans; Indian-Americans.

Sometimes as a parent, you have to give your child that doesn't do his or her chores some tough love and withhold the allowance.

If done correctly, strengthening our trade relationship with India will create jobs here in America.

As a doctor, I understand how actions can affect lives.

As a doctor, I've learned the importance and value of listening.

For the record, I believe that women and their doctors should have access to oral contraception when desired by the patient and medically appropriate.

I love the opportunity to help my patients, to work with them to find the best course of action to get them healthy and to give them the information they need to stay healthy.

As a physician, I would never encroach upon the religious freedoms of my patients.