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Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Some Perspective on Rick Perry

Most heard the news yesterday that Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison announced that she would run for Governor. I am not a resident of Texas and I certainly don't know that much about the inner dynamics of the state. I do know that a corrupt politician is one that we cannot stand for and I believe that Governor Perry is corrupt. I want to lay that case out and leave no doubt that in fact Governor Perry is corrupt.

I have done several stories involving corruption in the Texas Medical Board and the Texas Nursing Board. The first story involved a nurse named Tim Goosby. In this story, Mr. Goosby discovered that a powerful doctor, Dr. Dan Dugi, at his hospital Cuero Community Hospital was using poor patients as human guinea pigs to test drugs for a company that Dugi was a principle of. Goosby blew the whistle on this corruption to his superiors. Rather than taking care of the corruption orchestrated by Dugi, the principles retaliated against Goosby. They eventually brought the Texas Nursing Board into the fray. The Texas Nursing Board attempted to remove Goosby's license because he didn't report a DUI years earlier. Eventually, they did. He was even run out of the state and now lives in Wisconsin. In the middle of this process, he reached out to the Governor, Rick Perry. He told Perry of the systemic corruption in the Texas Nursing Board. Perry's response (in letter that is in the link I provide) was that he would have the Texas Nursing Board investigate the matter. In other words, according to Perry, the same place that was the subject of corruption would investigate itself for the corruption that it was creating.

In October of 2007, the corruption of the Texas Medical Board became so overwhelming that principles of that organization were brought in front of the Texas legislature. At that hearing, members of the Texas Medical Board were castigated for the systemic corruption at that organization. Routinely, doctors would be targeted, threatened, and punished for minor offenses. At the same time, doctors that were a menace to the system weren't investigated. At this hearing, Mari Robinson, executive director of the TMB, lied under oath when she accused a doctor of signing an affidavit admitting to sexual misconduct. To this day, she has been unable to produces said affidavit. To this day, she is still the executive director of the TMB. This is a position that Perry could remove her from at any time.

The corruption at the Texas Medical Board only begins there. For years, the Texas Medical Board Disciplinary Committee was run by Dr. Keith Miller. Dr. Miller was finally forced off the board in December of 2007.

Notorious Texas Medical Board (TMB) henchman, Dr. Keith Miller, abruptly resigned his position on the TMB on Friday, September 7, 2007.

Miller’s resignation was due to the intense scrutiny of his abusive and tyrannical actions against physicians while on the TMB. It was also due to his relationship with Bridget Hughes, his Nurse Practitioner. Bridget Hughes, who was found to be a narcotics addict by the Texas Board of Nurse Examiners while employed by Miller, continues to work as Miller’s nurse practitioner at his office in Center, Texas. Hughes had her prescription writing ability suspended when she was disciplined by the Texas Board of Nurse Examiners (TBNE) on April 16, 2007 for stealing (50) triplicate prescriptions from her previous supervising physician employer and forging his name to obtain narcotics for her own use.

Inside sources have informed us that Ms. Hughes will be charged shortly with narcotic violations by the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) in Federal District Court in East Texas. Why has Dr. Miller continued to employ Bridget Hughes as his nurse practitioner? Why has Miller continued to protect her? What goods does Hughes have on Miller? Do not be surprised if Hughes points the finger at Miller if the Justice Department offers her a shortened sentence for coming clean about her relationship with him.


Dr. Miller used his position of power in the TMB to attack hundreds of doctors with bogus and nonsensical charges. I highlghted two such stories. At the same time Dr. Miller headed the TMB Disciplinary committee, he also worked for Blue Cross Blue Shield's advisory board. As I pointed out, Dr. Miller used these dual positions to do the bidding of the insurance company and thus corrupt the entire medical system. All of this happened on the watch of Governor Perry and he never once tried to reform the TMB or its disciplinary board. In fact, despite lying under oath, Mari Robinson continues to run the TMB today.

Dr. Miller is also a doctor. He had a nurse that worked for him for several years, Bridget Hughes. Hughes admitted to forging at least 50 prescriptions of level II drugs. Those are drugs like oxycondone, morphine, and cocaine. The only drugs stronger than level II are drugs like heroin, PCP, and LSD. Level II drugs are the most potent that can be prescribed. Even though Hughes admitted this, and it was in a report done by the Texas Nursing Board, her punishment for this breach was that she "voluntarily surrendered her license" to prescribe drugs for a year. Keep in mind, Tim Goosby's license was removed because he didn't list a prior DUI. Again, the TNB is part of the executive branch of the Texas government. Perry chooses its members.

Finally, there is the case of Dr. Mark Blotcky. While the TMB was busy going after hundreds of doctors on flimsy charges. They have totally ignored the systemic corruption that Dr. Blotcky has perpetrated on the Texas medical system. For at least six years, the TMB has received multiple complaints about this doctor. None of those investigations resulted in any disciplinary actions. The last time a complaint was presented to the TMB was earlier this year. In that case, Mari Robinson ran interference to make sure that the complaint received as little attention as possible.

Now, some will say that it's unfair to view the corruption at the TMB and the TNB as a reflection of Governor Perry. I think that such a view minimizes the corruption. Clearly, Governor Perry doesn't care. He received first hand knowledge of the corruption by Tim Goosby and he ignored it. The TMB was castigated by the Texas legislature and he did nothing about it. Its main principle, Mari Robinson, lied under oath at hearings in front of the legislature and she continues in her position. Corruption is not a partisan issue and we cannot stand for it. Those that protect or look the other way on corruption allow that corruption to spread like a cancer. The corruption at both the TMB and the TNB have corrupted the entire medical system and that affects the health and safety of all Texans. That Governor Perry ignored all that corruption speaks for itself, and hopefully that puts some perspective on the race.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

So...who else?

If Rick Perry is a no go because he's corrupt, and KBH is a no go because she's a flippin' liberal idiot, who is left?

mike volpe said...

First of all, I didn't endorse a candidate. I do know that someone that brings ideology into a piece on corruption doesn't really care all that much about corruption.

Unknown said...

Before you think about Hutchison remember that she voted for the border fence the turned around and got the funding stopped so it couldn't be built. She is not on the side of Americans.

mike volpe said...

Again, I didn't endorse a candidate. I showed the corruption on Perry's watch in the TMB and TNB and if you think that's all right then vote for him.

GeronL said...

I do nnot think KBH is an improvement. She is a DC insider who tried very very hard to get along with the left. She has a real bad reputation among the conservative staffers who worked for her because she was NOT conservative.

So if not Perry or KBH, who should we support? I am not defending Perry, I'm just sayng that Kay is no improvement.

mike volpe said...

I think that anyone that says that working with Democrats is no improvement to corruption doesn't care very much about corruption.

Kathy said...

Over Perry many would be an improvement. Perry and his appointments have made a mess of Texas.

Shirley Pigott MD said...

Mike, I just saw this story for the first time and have a few facts to correct and a few to add:

1. Keith E Miller MD resigned from the Texas Medical Board on August 31, 2007. My exposure of Miller's malfeasance was a contributing factor.

2. Bridget Yvette Hughes did not have her prescription writing ability suspended; she voluntarily relinquished it.

3. Hughes was not disciplined by the TBNE; her order was NOT disciplinary. I secured a copy of the order under an open records request and published it to the web.

4. I probably was one of your inside sources and I was misinformed about a DEA investigation of her federal narcotics crimes. She was possibly investigated to a minimal extent but was never charged. Equal treatment under the law? Forget it!

5. Miller continues to employ Hughes because he does not risk any consequences for aiding and abetting. She can practice medicine for him in violation of her order while he runs off to pursue his lucrative career in plaintiff expert testimony.

6. On February 6, 2009 I testified under oath to the medical board at its regular meeting during the time allowed for public testimony for the 10 minutes I had been assigned. I enumerated a half dozen felonious actions committed by Executive Director Mari Robinson of which I was personally aware.

7. A few weeks later, with no new complaint against me and no new evidence on any of the several existing complaints Robinson had kept open for several years, I received notice that the TMB intended to suspend my medical license. There was no probable cause affidavit as required by the Medical Practice Act and there had been no probable cause.

8. On March 24, 2009, the TMB suspended my medical license on an emergency basis.

9. On March 25, 2009, the Victoria Advocate (my hometown newspaper) printed a press release the medical board had sent to them saying that they had found me to be "mentally impaired" and that my behavior was "dishonorable and unprofessional".

10. I contacted Chris Cobbler of the Advocate and asked when he would be able to see some of my evidence of malfeasance by the medical board. He told me he probably wouldn't have any time in the near future because why would he question the decision of a state agency? I had been trying to get reporter Gabe Semenza to write up my ongoing saga with the board for over three years.

11. As it now stands, I cannot find work and have no income. My 26 year old primary care practice was destroyed overnight. Some of my patients have actually been harmed.

JULIA FARMER said...

To answer the question who else but Perry or Hutchison; Texans do have another option. Take a look at Debra Medina. She is a true conservative and her campaign is being built by the people, not corporate lobbyists and all their money. Here's her website: http://www.medinafortexas.com/