Ben Carson addresses San Joaquin Community Hospital physicians

Oct. 20--Last year's annual San Joaquin Community Hospital medical staff meeting drew 50 people.

Sunday night nearly 300 attended to hear celebrated pediatric neurosurgeon, best-selling author, Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient and potential 2016 Republican presidential candidate Dr. Benjamin Carson share recollections of his journey to medicine and his dreams for the future.

In an hour-long talk at the Bakersfield Marriott that was more a campaign stump speech than keynote address, Carson touched on everything from health care reform, the national debt and ISIS to energy, education and the environment.

He spoke against political correctness, the "left wing media" and the Affordable Care Act, dropped names -- T. Boone Pickens, former President George W. Bush and God -- and urged doctors to get involved in a variety of endeavors, including politics, since they "make decisions based on evidence (and) not ideology."

When asked during a brief question-and-answer session following his talk if he were running for president, Carson, 63, said "I'm still assessing the situation.

"This is not my desire but I do see my life being directed that way. If that is the direction God wants me to go, I'd be willing to put off my retirement."

Carson normally charges a minimum of $40,000 for appearances through the Washington Speakers Bureau. But according to Doug Duffield, San Joaquin Community Hospital's CEO, Carson agreed about five weeks ago to speak to the physicians' group since he was already scheduled to be in the Los Angeles area.

A hospital spokeswoman said Carson agreed to speak for "substantially less" than his normal fee.

Plus, he's a Seventh-day Adventist, and the hospital is part of Adventist Health not-for-profit that operates facilities through the western U.S.

It's the first time the physician's group has had an outside speaker, Duffield said. The speaking fee was partially paid for through medical staff dues, he said.

"It's nice that as an Adventist hospital we have the chance to have an Adventist physician who's outspoken..." Duffield said.

Carson's story is stirring. He grew up in poverty in Detroit, he and his brother raised by their mother, who had a third-grade education and worked three jobs. Poor students, she curtailed TV and made them not only read two books a week but write reports when they were done, even though she couldn't read them.

What followed were Yale University, the University of Michigan Medical School, director of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins Children's Center at age 33 and successfully separating cojoined twins in 1987. A 2009 TV movie on his life with Cuba Gooding Jr. in the lead role was based on Carson's first book, "Gifted Hands." Five more best-selling books have followed.

Dozens of physicians Sunday night waited in line for a chance to have him autograph copies of his latest book, "One Nation," while hors d'oeuvres were served by white gloved staff.

Medicine, he told the physicians, is "intervening in the lives of people.

"You can play a role in helping preserve a life that God has seen fit to place on earth."

But the current medical system, he said, needs to be changed "to focus more on wellness than sickness."

Carson is not without controversy. In February 2013 he criticized President Obama's Affordable Care Act. A few months later, he withdrew as graduation speaker at Johns Hopkins University after students were upset about comments he made about gay marriage. He retired from surgery a few months later.

Carson said he visits "four or five states" each week. A political action group for him has raised more than $8 million. As a commentator for Fox News he has gained considerable traction in polls looking ahead to the 2016 election. In August, he won a Iowa Republican group's presidential straw poll with 62 percent of the vote.

The audience was attentive throughout, whether Carson spoke about energy development and America's potential to put Russia'sVladimir Putin "back in his box" or his ideas for cradle-to-grave health savings accounts funded by Medicaid.

And the end of his talk he invoked the Ten Commandments and warned that the country was "giving away all the values and principles that made us a great nation.

"We must stop giving away our values."

He received a standing ovation when he finished.

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