On October 31, 2001, Dr. Chris Kuhne received the first in a series of letters from Dee Whittlesey (that is the same Dee Whittlesey that played an active role in the sham peer review perpetrated on Dr. Shirley Pigott) The summary of the letter was that in the opinion of Blue Cross Blue Shield, Dr. Kuhne had fallen outside of the matrix of the amount of money that a doctor in his specialty should make. In other words, in the opinion of BCBS, Dr. Kuhne was charging too much. Dr. Kuhne specializes in obstetrics and gynecology or in other words, he treats any and all ailments that a female might have.
This letter was the beginning of a long battle between Dr. Kuhne and his main insurance provider BCBS. He estimates that roughly half his business is covered by BCBS, and thus this is an insurance provider that he must maintain in order to maintain any semblance of his business.
On Mar 7, 2003, his dispute with BCBS took a terrible turn for his business. Following a long and thorough investigation of his billing practices, BCBS determined that they were simply unacceptable and they terminated their relationship with Dr. Kuhne. He had been deselected, an extraordinary step that is almost never taken. Once BCBS has accepted a doctor into their network, they usually on deselect said doctor under the most extreme of cases.
Of course, the journey that Dr. Kuhne took with BCBS didn't end there. At the end of 2005, BCBS changed the manner in which they determined their matrices for billing. In layman's terms, they used to figure out billing based on gross amounts, and at the end of 2005, they started figuring it out per patient. After reviewing Dr. Kuhne's case, they determined that in fact the reason he made more money was simply because he served more patients than most doctors. In other words, his removal was entirely without cause and they immediately put him back in the network where he remains today. In fact, by 2007, BCBS awarded Dr. Kuhne their coveted Blue Compare award. This is given to those doctors that BCBS feels exhibited the most care in minimizing the costs incurred to their patients.
In other words, in a journey that started in 2001, BCBS went from kicking Dr. Kuhne out of its network for billing too much, to giving him an award for frugal billing. Besides the award, BCBS didn't compensate Dr. Kuhne in any manner for the three years they nearly fatally disrupted his business.
While Dr. Kuhne was having his battle with BCBS, he was simultaneously involved in another battle with a titan of Texas medicine, the Texas Medical Board. Here he crossed paths with another familiar name, Dr. Keith Miller the head of the TMB Disciplinary Board.
Two separate cases only months apart began Dr. Kuhne's battle with the TMB (a battle that continues to still be unresolved even today even though most of his adversaries have been exposed as corrupt. A battle I may add that has cost Dr. Kuhne in excess of 100,000 dollars in legal fees). Each of the two cases began during the middle of 2004.
The first case was rather mild. It started when a patient of his (obviously doctor patient confidentiality prohibits naming the patient) decided to switch doctors and asked for her medical records. Dr. Kuhne sent her a letter and stated that the records would cost her $43. When he didn't hear from the patient, he kept the records. After a few months, the patient corresponded and essentially verbalized that it was silly that he keep her records over a small fee. Dr. Kuhne agreed and went ahead and forwarded the record without charging a fee.
While the files were forwarded satisfactorially, the time period wound up being out of technical bounds for acceptable TMB standards. Because Dr. Kuhne didn't forward the records in a swift enough period, this landed him in front of the TMB, in a case that still remains unresolved today about four years later.
The second case was significantly more serious in terms of the scope of the charges. Another patient accused Dr. Kuhne of making lewd sexual comments, sexual assault, and other sexually related allegations.
In each of the cases, Dr. Keith Miller played an active role. In the case involving sexual assault, Dr. Miller lead the informal settlement conference proceedings, and in the other, he was a member of the TMB board that ultimately decided his fate.
First, let's go over again the sequence of events that are involved in any matter that winds up in front of the TMB. First, the doctor is given formal written notice of charges against them. Then, something called an informal settlement conference is heard. This is an oral hearing in front of members of the disciplinary board in which evidence is heard, witnesses are called, and the disciplinary board questions the witnesses. Months later the disciplinary board issues its findings. After this, if the doctor is unsatisfied with the verdict, they can move to appeal in front of what is called the State Office of Adminstration Hearings (S.O.A.H.)
The S.O.A.H. hearing is held in front of a law judge and that judge issues their findings. Then, the law judge presents their findings in front of the full TMB, a group of about 16-18 doctors and a few civilians, that rule on all the evidence that has been presented in front of them including the findings of the law judge.
In both cases, the disciplinary board initially ruled against Dr. Kuhne, and in each case the law judge for SOAH ruled in favor of Dr. Kuhne. In both cases, the full TMB then still ruled against Dr. Kuhne.
In Dr. Kuhne's case regarding the sexual assault, the case followed closely with another I have mentioned. That is the case of Dr. Bill Rea. In the case of Dr. Rea, Dr. Rea called up no less than 18 expert witnesses that that testified that Dr. Rea had done nothing wrong and that the charges against him were frivilous and wrong. In Dr. Rea's case, the TMB put up one expert, their own hired gun, to claim that Dr. Rea was being fairly targeted. In the case of Dr. Rea, the TMB went with the testimony of their one expert over the 18 that testified in favor of Dr. Rea. In Dr. Kuhne's case, he also put up more than a dozen experts and once again the TMB put up one hired gun. Again, in Dr. Kuhne's case, the TMB ruled in favor the testimony of one hired gun over the experts that testified on behalf of Dr. Kuhne.
The two cases have other important similarities. Both Dr. Rea and Dr. Kuhne were long standing and respected doctors and they had each even finished their residency at the respected Parkland Hospital in Dallas, Texas.
The two cases have important distinctions as well. Dr. Rea is a leader in the field of environmental medicine and he accepts no insurance. His patients pay him first and then take that bill to BCBS or whatever provider they may have. It is much more difficult for BCBS, or any other insurer, to argue with the patient themselves rather than with the doctor over billing. In other words, Dr. Rea is the insurance company's worst financial nightmare, a doctor they can't control. Dr. Kuhne, on the other hand, was involved in his own battle with BCBS at the beginning of each of these cases.
According to Dr. Kuhne's recollection, the final verdict in each of the cases in front of the full TMB was split. All the doctors voted in his favor (except Dr. Miller), and all the osteopaths voted against him. (with the civilians casting the deciding vote and voting slightly against him) This is important because a check of the current make up of the TMB finds only one osteopath. That osteopath is Dr. Roberta Kalafut and she is the current, and then, head of the TMB. Each of the other osteopaths were either purged from the board or left for other reasons. Dr. Keith Miller resigned from the board under the grips of all sorts of allegations of corruption.
(Updated, based on the criticism of a poster)
One other thing that is important to understand is that Dr. Kalafut received far less training and is far less skilled in medicine than either Dr. Kuhne or Dr. Rea. She went to osteopathic school and not a full medical school. Furthermore, she graduated from the fairly modest, Sinai Hospital, in Maryland. In other words, both Dr. Kuhne and Dr. Rea were being judged by a medical professional far less superior to them. Furthermore, her own bio on the TMB website is misleading.
Roberta Kalafut, D.O., of Abilene, earned her medical degree from Ohio University College of Osteopathic Medicine and completed her residency in physical medicine and rehabilitation at Johns Hopkins Hospital and Sinai Hospital of Baltimore, Maryland.
While technically she did spend time at both Johns Hopkins and Sinai, that's only because the hospitals are neighbors. All Sinai residents spend a few rotations at the prestigious Johns Hopkins, however she didn't graduate from there and the time she spent at Johns Hopkins was token at best.
Now, first this raises the question why was half the board made up of them. That can only be answered by the government of Texas and the TMB itself. More than that, when Dr. Kalafut was judging Dr. Kuhne and Dr. Rea, she was judging doctors far superior to her. It's like a journey man basketball player deciding the worth of Michael Jordan's basketball skills. The make up of the board at the time of the events opened it up intuitively for corruption and a total lack of fairness.
Finally, by 2007, Dr. Kuhne waged his battle for going on three years. By this point, he had allied himself with a Dr. Steve Hotze along with a group of doctors including Dr. Bill Rea that all felt they were the subject of sham peer review by the TMB. In October of 2007, they took their case to the Texas legislature. The results were scathing.
The Texas Medical Board took one crushing blow after another from the questions of the legislators on the committee and from the testimonies from the physicians and others at the October 23, 2007 House Appropriations Subcommittee on Regulatory Hearing. This hearing was convened to investigate the abuse of power by the Texas Medical Board. It was a marathon session lasting 11-1/2 hours. Without this hearing we would not have been able to expose the corruption at the TMB. We all owe a debt of gratitude to Representative Fred Brown who, by holding this hearing, demonstrated indomitable courage and determination in the face of extreme political pressure to abandon it.Finally, at this hearing, Mari Robinson stated under oath that Dr. Kuhne signed an affidavit admitting to sexual misconduct. Dr. Kuhne has stated categorically that he signed no such agreement, and so far this agreement has NOT been produced. Mari Robinson is not only the Director of Litigation at the TMB but a licensed attorney. If she did lie under oath that is immediate grounds for removing her from the bar. That doesn't even speak to the criminal liability of potential perjury charges.
The hearing made it clear that there is an unholy cabal made up of Don Patrick, Executive Director, Mari Robinson, Director of Litigation and Enforcement, and Roberta Kalafut, President of the TMB, who have despoiled the TMB. There can be no reform without removing them from the board.
This whole sordid affair continues to unfold. The most shocking part is that charges against both Dr. Chris Kuhne and Dr. Bill Rea still haven't been resolved. Despite the fact that there is overwhelming evidence that the body that pursued them was obscenely corrupt their cases are now in the Texas state court system. (that's because their appeals were exhausted through the TMB system) These cases continue to be a mental, emotional, and financial drain on all the doctors that have been targeted. It is impossible to know for sure just how many doctors were the victims of the kind of sham peer review that these two were, and unfortunately most will never have their stories told.
These two cases, along with that of Dr. Shirley Pigott, are likely to open up a pandora's box of corruption throughout the medical system that infects the state of Texas. I have only begun to discover it all and I will continue to report on it.
Read the conclusion to this series here.
29 comments:
"What is important to understand about osteopaths is that they receive far less training and they don't go to medical school like most doctors. They go to osteopathic school. In fact, you will find your fair share of M.D.'s that consider osteopaths quacks, but in any case, they are not nearly as well trained as regular doctors."
You honestly don't know what you're talking about in regards to the education and training received by D.O.s. Decades ago there was a significant difference between allopathic (M.D.) and osteopathic (D.O.) programs. Today osteopathic medical students follow curricula nearly identical to that of allopaths and draw from a pool of applicants intellectually on par with any physician. There are unique residency programs for D.O.s, but this is more a vestige of the widely-held and uninformed distinction you draw than because of any practical difference in training and abilities of D.O.s.
By the way, I hold a Medical Degree (M.D.) from the New Jersey Medical School and serve in the US Army along with many excellent D.O. physicians.
That's the way to look at the big picture. I break a story about obscene corruption where the Texas Medical Board targets doctors and what you are worried about is that I misrepresented the medical training of osteopaths.
Guess what, if you are on the TMB, then you have been an osteopath for many years. They don't put osteopaths fresh out of school on this board, and thus when you say years ago there were differences, well Dr. Kalafut was trained years ago.
Furthermore, I am quoting doctors that I have spoken with. So, when I say that M.D.'s consider osteopaths to be quacks and inferior that's because that is what M.D.'s have told me.
What is striking is that you read a story in which I showed that multiple doctors were targeted and put through the ringer in a systematic sham peer review and the only think you cared about was the reputation of theoretical osteopaths.
Very impressive.
All the same, it's important to journalistic integrity get all the facts straight. Making broadsides, to the effect that osteopaths are inferior to MDs, based on the unilateral say-so of MDs is an instance of the sort of global condemnation that is at the heart of bad-faith peer-review. Speaking as an MD, myself, I have two extremely bad experiences at the hands of osteopaths but my experience is, of course, anecdotal, and they do not justify a global condemnation of all osteopaths.
Quote of the Year From The Audacity Of Hope… I will stand with the Muslims should the political winds shift in an ugly direction. Senator Barack Hussein Obama
Quote of the Month: “My friends, we live in the greatest nation in the history of the world. I hope you’ll join with me as we try to change it.” - Senator Barack Hussein Obama
Reason Obama said he wanted to be President of ALL 57 states. Keep in mind U.S. doesn’t have 57, but…ISLAM is what he is talking about!
Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) is an international organization grouping 57 states which have decided to pool their resources together, combine their efforts, and speak with one voice to safeguard the interests and secure the progress and well-being of their peoples and of all Muslims in the world.
President Obama A Victory For Islam
If Barack Obama Enters The White House, Islam Will Have Conquered The Heart Of American Civilization.
Said; IsraCast, Menashe Amir an Israeli expert on Iran
How does Iran view the possibility that Barack Hussein Obama, a former Muslim, might win the U.S. presidential election? Menashe Amir, an Israeli expert on Iran, says not only Iran but also the rest of the Muslim world, will view it as victory for Islam. In an interview with IsraCast, Menashe Amir quoted an important Iranian personality who declared: "If Obama enters the White House, Islam will have conquered the heart of American society!" However, President Ahmadinejad has said that he did not believe the U.S establishment would let Obama win. If Barack Hussein Obama wins the U.S. presidential election, Muslims will view it as a victory and forget that he converted from Islam to Christianity" - that's the view of Israeli analyst Menashe Amir. In fact one leading Iranian personality recently said: "If Obama enters the White House, Islam will have conquered the heart of American society.
http://www.dontvoteobama.net
I finally received my letter from the TMB stating that charges against me were groundless and dismissed. This came almost 11 months after I had responded to an outrageous complaint concerning "failure to diagnose Staph infection" as well as an unclear and non-specific charge of "QC PRACTICE INCONSISTENT WITH PUBLIC HEALTH AND WELFARE - QUALITY OF CARE". Never did the TMB give me a clear rundown of actual specific aspects of this patient's care being questioned! I nevertheless presented my narrative and waited well beyond the 180 days allowed for the investigation before being vindicated. This had concerned my care in the emergency department for an elderly, obese, diabetic female who had just been discharged from the hospital in less than a week after experiencing sepsis and a change in her cardiac medication, and arrived in respiratory distress and hypotensive who I successfully intubated under rapid sequence intubation, with recurrent sepsis being considered and was placed on a broad spectrum antibiotic right away, hypotension being controlled with vasopressor therapy, and discussion with her cardiologist and two other physicians who agreed to accept her in transfer. Although in critical condition, she left with normal vital signs and on a ventilator. All that in a very busy large rural emergency room with myself as the sole ED physician. Never did the TMB give me information that would clue me in as to what this patient's family was upset about!
After reading the above accusations against the TMB leadership, I wonder if my being an enlisted Marine in Vietnam or the fact that I am well known as a political conservative contributed to the excessive foot dragging on my investion. Could these TMB attorneys be wolves in sheep's clothing with the agenda of pushing all investigations to the level of requiring all doctors with any complaints against them, regardless of merit, to hire an attorney? Also, extending investigations beyond 6 months for situations, such as my open and shut case for dismissal, would seem to allow for a fishing expedition by these attorneys. Meanwhile, it is a historical fact that a surgeon with many lost malpractice cases and many dead patients can hire a good attorney and stay in practice for a decade while the TMB cannot do its appointed duty when it really counts. Such failures in the past by the TMB, coupled with the apparent need (after the malpractice cap award restrictions) to demonstrate a medical board that can crack the whip, has led to this fiasco which is punishing some of society's most productive and hardworking citizens. I can only add to the previous commentary about the "checks and balances" that reside in our executive, legislative, and judicial form of government by stating that failure to obtain justice from the above governmental processes can lead to evoking the "Fourth Check and Balance" (which our schools do not clearly teach for obvious reasons), namely the Second Amendment.
I suppose the point(which you apparently don't have the capacity to fully grasp),is that your grossly inaccurate statement concerning D.O. training gives little credence to the bigger point you are trying to make about your perceptions of misconduct by the Texas Medical Board.
I can assure you that the majority of M.D.s in the U.S. do not consider Osteopathic Physicians "quacks", but to make such a point I would cringe using silly anecdotal comment such as yours, that may or may not have been made by several M.D.s. you may (or may not) have spoken to.
If some one prefaces a long statement about crime in North America by stating with an air of finality (ostensably based on several informal conversations),that the vast majority of the residents of the City of Detroit are conicted felons, this negates for most educated readers the validity of any furthur points you try to make in the remainder of your statement/blog entry/presentation.
That you are unaware of your rank amateurism in using casual anecdotal references in an attempt to persuade others is indicative I fear of the limits of your formal education.
Your endeavor to persuade rational/highly educated physicians of the credability of ANY of the points raised in your blog entry is thus largely futile.
On what you describe as "the big picture". You would do well to remember this advice in the future in similar endeavors at persuasion using the gift of persuading others via the magic of words.
To the last anonymous poster, you likely should have read the piece over because I changed the language in order to make it more diplomatic. That you didn't read it before commenting in such a condescending way speaks for it self.
Texas osteopathic physicians, the D.O.'s, pass the same licensing examinations and hold the same license to practice as the Texas M.D. There are nonmedical lay people on the board who have no medical training. Any attempt to undermine the D.O. community takes the emphasis off the real problem with the TMB. The real point here is that the TMB is unscrupulus, dishonest, out of control and has no public oversight. The TMB is ruining the lives and practices of both licensed M.D.'s and licensed D.O.'s alike. The TMB must be stopped. Anonymus complaints, anonymus expert witnesses and the TMB's power to punish a physician even after a judge has entered a legal decision that the charges are not valid: this is abuse of power and outright corruption.
It is amazing to me that ALL of you leave anonymous messages on this blog wanting to get rid of anonmyous complaints and witnesses from the Board -- why? What do you have to hide? I am patient from Texas and have seen the doctors mentioned in this post and what about our side? We pay the cost to see these doctors, pay the cost for them to help us get our insurance covered because it states "environmental" even when we are not environmental patients and then they ask us for help (money) for legal defense? The doctors don't "police" each other as I was expermented on and almost died but no doctor in Texas stood up for me and yet they want my help in thier defense??? Maybe if they stood up for thier patients before problems got out of hand than the Board would not be involved!
An anonymous poster leaving a comment bemoaning other anonymous messages. Now, I have seen it all. Give me a break. You level all sorts of charges anonymously against doctors knowing that can't, by law, answer you. Then, you do it hiding behind anonymity. To top it off, you have the nerve to bemoan others for leaving anonymous messages.
The only reason mine was anonymous was because YOUR site would not allow any other entry... Why would you "accuse" me of putting out complaints that doctors cannot, by law you state, defned themselves from? You obviously don't know all the facts because I have defended in a court of law the corrput powers of not only TMB but insurance companies, employers and YES BAD DOCTORS. Look up court records and you will see the initials KJ a lot in reference to these doctors and I was even part of a "lawsuit" to stop the Medical Board from obtaining the records in a corrupt fashion so don't judge me. You have judged DO's and thier training and they are just as qualified as an MD and some MD's are not qualified to practice what they claim to be "certified" in. Doctors have the resources to hire attorneys and get agencies such as AMA to help them, insurance companies have resources to influence law and deny patients, who is on the side of the patient especially when doctors tell them they cannot practice without our support of bills cutting our compensation for damages and they have to charge for insurance fights that end up at the medical board level and then they want to charge us for legal costs. Why don't you look at Bill Rea's letter to patients, posted on on the Internet asking patients to fund his legal battles? I know more than you give me credit and have written, legal proof as well. What do you have to substantiate your claims?
I wonder if you will have the guts to post this!
My site allows for any entry. All you need to do is get a gmail account.
I allow for any comment that doesn't have swearing in it.
The reason that a doctor can't fight back against accusations like yours is because they have sworn to secrecy and confidentiality. You, on the other hand, can say whatever you want against them.
This is not the only piece I have written about the TMB's corruption so anyone that thinks that the TMB is an agent of anything but corruption is either fooling themselves or someone else.
There is of course no way to verify your charges since they are made anonymously. Worse yet, even if they could be verified, the Doctors can't fight back because they have a higher duty than you.
If you were wronged, I doubt that this forum is the best place for your complaints. The fact that you chose this forum speaks for itself.
Thank you for exposing the TMB. It's been long overdue. It's a corrupt organization jam packed with arrogant power hungry bureaucats hell bent on destroying doctors.I'm interested to know why is Mari Robinson still employed there when she is a proven liar.
The Texas Board's corruption is only surpassed by what occurs in Kentucky. All of the Medical Boards are actually private entities that are not part of the state. They do not answer to anyone unless the legislature wants to take notice, and create a Bill!
Thank you for this story.
physicianreview1@aol.com
Wow! What a great question as to why Mari Roinson is still employed at the Texas Medical Board. She is now, in fact, only a young attorney promoted to head of the TMB, and is not a physician. She still can not seem to back up her sworn testimony before the legislature of signed agreed orders proving her slanderous allegations. Mike Volpe is a super star for taking an interest in the tens of millions of dollars each year in pure profit the TMB makes for the State Budget. Is it any wonder why patients do not get the full and frank care they pay for in advance?
My husband had gone to many doctors who diagnosed him with dementia along with HIGH levels of lead and mercury over to two years prior in seeing Dr Rea, MD, Dr Rea, MD helped me understand WHY my husband has dementia.
it's the doctors who are highly paid to do IMES for toxic companies against their employees should be called unprofessional quacks!!!
The Texas Medical Board is a danger to patients throughout the state of Texas. I am the partner of a highly competent physician under constant review by this board. The complaints to the Board are not generated by the patients, but generated by the insurance companies. The more a physician costs the insurance companies, the more the Board will go after them.
Lynn Meyer Brown
I am a medical professional and I want to say something about the comment regarding D.O.'s. D.O.'s are considered physicians in all 50 U.S. states - just like M.D.'s. Their curriculum is the same as any 'regular' medical school, except that they have the extra osteopathic stuff. There are not many of them, but they're found in most residency programs. The quality among individuals varies just like anything else.
The end result is that the patients lose out on access to good doctors because doctors have to constantly look over there shoulders. I would advice all doctors to carefully screen all their patients at intake and do not provide service to the trouble makers. Also if a patient looks like he is going to be a trouble maker, send him or her a termination letter and get rid of them. The TMB is your enemy they like the cops have are quotas and abuse their power.
U.S. Court of Appeals Rules against the Texas Medical Board
http://www.aapsonline.org/newsoftheday/001438
On October 23, 2007, the Texas House Subcommittee on Regulatory Agencies held an unprecedented 11_ hour interim hearing at the State Capitol to investigate the TMB's abuse of power. Many witnesses confirmed the TMB's use of Gestapo-like intimidation tactics, false charges and coerced agreements by TMB members at secretive settlement conferences with physicians. Former TMB member Dr. Christine Canterbury testified in writing that physicians with complaints are presumed guilty by the TMB.
The hearing can be viewed at: www.house.state.tx.us/fx/av/committee80/71023a02r.ram
Contact Gov. Perry today and ask him to stop TMB abusing their power and stop the corruption.
Contact Governor Perry today!
Gov. Perry (Brian Newby, Chief of Staff) telephone - 512.463.1762
Gov. Perry email: Gov. Perry (Brian.Newby@governor.state.tx.us)
The TMB is one of the most inept andcorrupt agencies with which I have ever dealt. Stalin would be proud. I had a routine records isuue before these crooks 2 years ago which was filed as a retaliatory measure by a Govt agent who presented outdated credentials to my staff. records were withheld until proper credentialing was provided. It took the TMB a WHOLE YEAR to finally inform me that the charge had been dropped. I had to respond within 10 days of the DATE OF COMPLAINT. Mari Robinson also attempted to upgrade the charge to a "patient endangerment" issue which was also dropped. These people are crooks. DOs are maleable tools or actually the biggest MD envying criminals (Kalafaut)on the board. If DO training is so high grade, why is the only state DO school TCOM, trying to start an MD program?
The "inadequate or late records dispersal" scam by the extorsionists and racketeering members of the TBME has been very profitable for the state of Texas($1,000 fine per event). Of course, chosing "soft or easy" targets such as busy overburdened physicians and then unconstitutionally violating their rights with additional phoney baseless charges adds to the "ransom" money "fines" required of the victims to return to their profession. (Not counting the thousands spent on legal fees.)Ironically, TMB has been ineffective in finding the real problem physicians (See Dateline 2003 report on the Dr. Bruce HInckley matter) because they are too busy bullying the honest physicians in Texas. I pray that they all get what is coming to them .(KARMA).Kalafut is a sociaopathic criminal who is still active on review committees of the TMB.Osteopaths were elevated to more powerful positions by Perry et al because of the disproportionate number of DOs under scrutiny for actual below standard practices in the late 90s and early 2000s(the DOs were complaining that they were targeted more than MDs). From what I see, the typical DO does have less training and overall knowledge than the typical MD.the TMB DOs losst no time putting it to the MDs as many are employed as Board" Experts". This may also account for the failure to actually identify the real problem physicians in Texas.
i have just completed reviewing just such a DO penned "Expert Opinion" hatchet job as part of a TMB orchestrated overcriminalization campaign against a hardworking honest Texas physician who at one time was vocal about health insurance abuses of docs and patients in the state. These TMB folks are serious thugs, who have long memories. If you are the least bit vocal about your (or your patient's) "rights" and someone "happens to" file an anonymous complaint, you become a DEAD MAN WALKING. If you think that this is an exaggeration, consider that almost all "inadequate" rercords cases progress to fines and higher charges. I have not seen the TMB in the last ten years find in favor of ANY Doctor. Psychopaths? Remember Dr. Chacko and Shah got their start on Texas soil. Good work Mr. Volpe. God Bless You.
Some Texas doctors are talking about some sort of legal group that helps them. I think I found them www.proadvocate.org. not sure really what they do but there is a lot of good information there.
Marie Robinson is a lawyer who is the executive director of the TMB. In other words, she oversees TMB activities and the decisions they make against doctors. This is outrageous. Would the bar association want a doctor to oversee them? The TMB considers themselves above the law, as exemplified in your article. The same has happened to me, as I was cleared of wrong-doing during an initial ISC, and then the case was reopened. This is called double jeopardy, and in criminal law, this is ilegal to do. Comment from the TMB: we don't abide by those laws. So doctors are considered less than criminals in the eyes of TMB. This is a plaintiff lawyer's mentality, and I assume that Marie is spearheading this. The governor and the legislators should throw the TMB members out and put in some physicians who are ethical and know about the practice of medicine, and in the view of fellow physicians.
We need low cost environ healthcare.
I have read the article and responses with great interest. This situation and similar ones are played out all over the country. The board members are appointed by the Governor of state and there is always an agenda. I have seen such a gross misuse of power that it makes me sick. I have seen poor behavior and new members of the board so ill informed and so proud of their position that they follow blindly. I say this because I have seen countless incidents of hatchet jobs by the Board and such an unwillingness to hear anything the doctors have had to say. Peer review is what they call it. That they mete out justice is laughable. If I ever had the choice of going before the Board or the Spanish Inquisition it would be a no brainier it would be the Inquisition except there really isn't much difference. To sum it up there is no justice it is whatever they want it to be and usually perpetrated by people who are less qualified and who have their own agenda The cost of going through this process is not only exhausting, humiliating and so costly no wonder physicians go bankrupt. Even if they go before a justice review it could cost them up to $200,000 only go go before the board and then they can reject it. They are a law unto themselves and no one oversees them so they can do anything they want. You should see what happens when T.V. cameras are present and how they pander to it. Absolute power corrupts absolutely sums it up. With Obamacare coming in and over 30 million will be forced into getting insurance the deficit of physicians in this country will be over 260,000. What that means is that patients will no longer see their physicians but rather nurses and physician assistants. Close your eyes and get ready for a bumpy ride because mistakes are going to happen big time and guess who again will be the fall guy? Attorneys, gear up you will be eating off the fat of the land (I think the expression goes) because you have to know that law suits will be in abundance. And if that happens what do you think the Board of Medicine will do????? I wish we could disband and get rid of the lot. There has got to be a better way!!
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