Conrad Murray Still has his Medical License

On June 25th, 2009, Michael Jackson died after he was administered with Propofol by his doctor, Dr. Conrad Murray. Propofol is a general anesthetic and it's only proper medical purpose is for use in surgery to knock out the patient and to numb them from whatever pain said surgery may create. Yet, this same anesthetic was used by Dr. Murray not in an operating room but at Michael Jackson's home. In fact, this use was so egregious that a new report says that Michael Jackson's death has been ruled a homicide.

Michael Jackson's death has been officially ruled as murder, it was revealed today. The cause of death on the 50-year-old's death certificate has been amended to 'homicide' after months of speculation. According to the document the King of Pop died from 'acute Propofol intoxication' due to an 'intravenous injection from another'. On the original certificate issued on July 7 deputy coroner Cheryl MacWillie refused to give a cause of death.

News reports say that Dr. Murray will soon at least be charged with manslaughter. Whatever legal defense Dr. Murray may employ, he has absolutely no medical defense for his action. He's admitted to administering the Propofol to Jackson. Administering it in the home, not part of an operation, has absolutely no medical defense.

Yet, as of my last check, Conrad Murray maintains his medical license in good standing with the Texas Medical Board. I have confirmed that at least one person, Rohan Morris, has filed a formal complaint with the TMB about Murray. Because the TMB won't comment on ongoing investigations, it's unclear if this matter is still being investigated.

To put this into perspective, when it was revealed that two doctors prescribed the drugs that wound up killing Anna Nicole Smith, their licenses were immediately suspended. Dr. Murray has faced no such suspension yet.

To put even more perspective on all this, let's look at this story from the Dallas Morning
News.

A Dallas mother is outraged that her daughter's molester, a child psychiatrist who is a registered sex offender, has been allowed to retain his medical license

"I'm shocked," said "Debbie," who asked that her real name not be used to protect her daughter's privacy. As a psychiatrist, "this person needs to be imminently trustworthy – and I don't trust him."

Debbie assumed Dr. William Olmsted would automatically lose his license after registering as a sex offender in January following a plea to a charge of indecency with a child.

That particular story recounted several CONVICTED child molestors that were allowed to keep their medical licenses. Soon, Murray may be charged with manslaughter, but if things remain the same (and he makes bail) he'll still be allowed to practice medicine in the state of Texas.

The Texas Medical Board Tolerates Child Molestors

So says this article in the Dallas Morning News.

After its last meeting, in late August, the board announced decisions on four sex-related cases. Two involved doctors whom judges had already sentenced for crimes against children. Two involved psychiatrists found to have had affairs with adult patients – potentially sexual assault under Texas law, but they've not been charged.

The child abusers were allowed to go on practicing medicine, though not with kids. The other two are working without restrictions.

It's all part of a broader pattern of tolerance for misconduct, a News analysis shows. Others who kept their licenses after the August meeting include two doctors convicted of lucrative federal crimes that put patients in harm's way; a neurosurgeon who operated on the wrong body part four times; a cardiologist found to have performed dozens of invasive procedures with little or no cause; and at least seven physicians linked to a death.

In the article, the Texas Medical Board explains this and other problems in their disciplinary process to the process itself.

The "further improvements" reference points back to 2002, when the newspaper series led to reform pledges – and to actual change. The board got money to expand its investigative and legal operations. It began examining malpractice claims, many involving patient deaths, which had been ignored for years. The number of cases resulting in discipline shot up. More doctors began to lose their licenses.

But while playing catch-up, the board also has faced a surge of new business. It granted almost 50 percent more licenses in the recently ended fiscal year than in 2002. The number of patients complaining to the board was up 35 percent.

Texas is "a favorable location to practice medicine" because of a relatively strong economy and caps on malpractice awards, board officials explained in a legislative funding request last year. The caps, which voters approved in 2003, also "may have resulted in patients who previously filed malpractice suits now turning to the state regulatory agency to resolve concerns about their care."

The TMB essentially says that with Texas having a good economy as well as favorable laws for doctors (see tort reform) that their resources are extended. In fact, I think there's a much simpler reason and that's corruption. The reason that the TMB doesn't punish bad doctors is because the TMB is filled with systemic corruption. Besides the four doctors mentioned in the piece that should have their license revoked, I'll add a few more that I know of. First, there's Dr. Dan Dugi of Cuero, Texas. In this early 2007 report, Dr. Dugi was caught by investigative reporters from Houston's KPRC of testing a drug not approved by the FDA without patients' permission.

Food and Drug Administration has launched an investigation into a mysterious medicine that was tested on patients in several small towns southwest of Houston, Local 2 Investigates reported Thursday.

The federal investigation centers around a complaint filed by a nurse anesthetist who reported that he witnessed the unapproved drug being given to patients without their knowledge or consent.

...

emphasized in an elaborate sales packet that Dugi provided to Local 2 Investigates.
Former CEO Buckner said, "When I asked him what was in this product as the active ingredient, he wouldn't disclose it, (saying) 'It's still patent pending, waiting for FDA approval,' and they couldn't share that information with us."

In the promotional literature provided to Local 2 Investigates, Dugi wrote that he had treated "well over 1000 patients" and he reported "a superior success rate" in over 90 percent of the patients he treated.

The sales pamphlet then contains 18 separate entries marked "Case Summary," spelling out how the drug performed when applied to those patients' wounds. Some of the documents are marked, "Confidential," but Dugi admitted to KPRC Local 2 that they were all his patients. Photographs and graphs illustrate the healing of the various wounds.

When KPRC Local 2 Investigates approached Dugi for answers, he invited the camera crew into a back room at one of his clinics, but he said very little.

"No filming! No filming!" Dugi said.

The main source on this story, Tim Goosby, had given all of this information and more to the TMB starting in 2003. Dr. Dugi continues in his position at Cuero Community Hospital to this day. The FDA has since removed the drug. Dugi is now being investigated by the U.S. Attorney in the area for crimes related to this and other events.

Then, there's the case of Dr. Mark Blotcky. Dr. Blotcky has had complaints to the board by three former patients that I've confirmed. The most recent complaint came within the last year. Complaints range from misdiagnosis, misuse of prescription drugs, as well as all sorts of corruption related charges related to his duties as an expert witness in the Dallas County family court system. Dr. Blotcky continues to be a practicing psychiatrist in Dallas today.

On the other side, the TMB often targets doctors for wrongdoing for marginal issues. For instance, there's the case of Dr. Bill Rea. Dr. Rea was investigated by the TMB following an anonymous complaint from a patient in 2005. Soon enough, it became obvious that the complaint was actually coming from Oxford Medical Insurance. Dr. Rea became a leader in the field of environmental medicine and was able to build his practice without accepting insurance. Dr. Rea employed the help of his roughly 30000 patients and many wrote and communicated to the TMB of his effectiveness. Still, the TMB continued to investigate Dr. Rea for the better part of three years.

I've also featured the cases of Dr. Chris Kuhne and Dr. Shirley Pigott . The TMB threatened to remove Dr. Pigott's license for not providing a set of medical tests in proper time to a patient. Dr. Kuhne had a similar situation with a patient that was changing doctors and asked for their records. When those records didn't arrive on time, the TMB went after Dr. Kuhne, in a case that wound up lasting about four years.

The long time head of the TMB disciplinary committee, Dr. Keith Miller, was removed about two years ago for charges related to corruption in his role on this committee. (It's this committee that decides punishments for the likes of Dr. Kuehne, Dr. Rea and Dr. Blotcky) In fact, TMB corruption was the subject of a Texas legislature hearings and the conclusions from the legislature were scathing.

Greetings! Three months of grueling preparation paid off handsomely as 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.

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.

Both Kalafut and Patrick have either left the board, or in the case of Patrick retired, but Mari Robinson is still the Executive Director of the Texas Medical Board. Finally, at those hearings, Mari Robinson claimed that Dr. Chris Kuehne signed an affidavit admitting to sexual misconduct with a patient. Dr. Kuehne denied this charge to me and stated unequivocally that there is no such affidavit. Robinson, to this day, has never produced this affidavit. Since she was under oath in front of the legislature, if this is a lie, that would constitute perjury.

The article I linked at the start is the first article in a long time really lifting the veil of the TMB to come from the MSM. Still, it merely scratches the surface. It remains to be seen of the Dallas News, and the author of this piece, Brook Egerton, will stop here or follow up. There should be no shortage of stories if they choose the latter.

The Nightmare of Dr. Shirley Pigott II

Introduction: The back story is far too long and complicated to explain here. So, if this is your first exposure to this story, here is the back story.

According to the Victoria Advocate, Dr. Shirley Pigott has been convicted of two felonies for evading arrest with a motor vehicle.

Shirley Pigott, former Victoria doctor, was convicted Thursday of two felonies for evading arrest with a motor vehicle.

The charges stem from a September 2007 traffic stop when she refused to cooperate with Department of Public Safety troopers and fled the stop twice, once at speeds of 100 mph, according to a news release from the Wharton County district attorney's office.

The jury acquitted her of aggravated assault of a public servant for attempting to force a DPS trooper out of her way with her vehicle, according to the news release.

Pigott faces two to 10 years in prison and is not eligible for probation. She elected to have the judge set punishment. The punishment hearing will be Oct. 30.

The conviction stems from this incident.



Now, like I said, the back story on this is too long to explain here. So, please check it out here again. (I'll assume everyone reading from here forward is aware of the back story)

Here's what is of note. This incident occurred in Wharton, Texas. Dr. Pigott's hometown is Victoria, Texas, about fifty miles away. The Victoria Advocate is the hometown newspaper of Dr. Pigott. This story along with another that reported Dr. Pigott's medical license suspension stemming from this incident are the only two mentions of Dr. Pigott in her hometown newspaper.

Judging by the comments, (30 and counting on this story and 69 comments from the previous story) every time she's mentioned it attracts viewers to their site. Dr. Pigott has tried to get the Advocate to publish her story on numerous occasions, and she's been denied each and every time. In fact, she's been mentioned more times by me, from Chicago, than her home town paper.

Both times her story was mentioned in the Advocate, she wasn't given a chance to tell her side. Dr. Pigott is in her 60's. She has no criminal history and she was a doctor for nearly thirty years until her license was suspended in March. The area in which Dr. Pigott was convicted has a history of corruption and a source tells me that more evidence will come out between now and sentencing at the end of September.

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.

Dr. Blotcky Strikes Again

I recently had a chance to speak with an individual that was involved in a custody dispute in which Dr. Mark Blotcky acted as a psychitric expert. I have written before about Dr. Blotcky who often acts as a psychiatric expert witness in custody disputes in the Dallas area. She asked me to keep her name out of any story and so I will relay what happened entirely anonymously.

She had been married and divorced t her ex husband twice. In fact, their divorce,along with custody, had long been settled at the end of last year, when her husband brought the case back into family court seeking a reversal in primary custody. Her ex husband hired the well known divorce law Dallas area firm, McCurley and McCurley. Unbeknownst to my source, her kids had already been taken to Dr. Blotcky for a couple months prior to formal proceedings starting up again.

My source is far less wealthy than her ex husband and so after a few months of legal wrangling, she ran out of money. She was forced to seek the counsel of a free legal aid, which she received.

Dr. Blotcky was authorized to provide psychiatric evaluations of all parties, children and parents, and make a recommendation for which party should have primary custody. In his initial meeting with my source, Dr. Blotcky told her that her daughter, a teen ager, had repeatedly said that she, her mother, was "crazy". She later confronted her daughter and her daughter vehemently denied saying this in fact she said that Dr. Blotcky made this accusation more than once

your mother is crazy, right?

In fact, her daughter furiously denied the accusation each and every time he brought it up. My source also told Dr. Blotcky that her ex husband had a history of abuse. There were several police reports and Dr. Blotcky directed her to bring them in along with three eyewitness accounts. She did that at the next meeting. At that meeting, Dr. Blotcky spent most of the time pressuring her to accept the new arrangement in which her ex husband would receive primary custody even though he now had confirmation of a history of abuse.

It was at this point that fate and the power of the internet stepped in. After this meeting, she did an internet search of Dr. Blotcky. She found several stories that I had written about him. These stories frightened her. There was one that frightened her in particular. At one point in this story, Dr. Blotcky prescribed a nine year old a cocktail of psychiatric drugs and the combination caused the child to gain about 17 pounds in ten weeks. Fearing that Dr. Blotcky would try a similar treatment on her kids, she agreed to allow her ex husband to take primary custody but made sure that as part of the agreement Dr. Blotcky would no longer be involved in their psychiatric care.

To date, Dr. Blotcky has not made public to either party the psychiatric evaluation that he was charged to create. Yet, he has charged both parties a total of $10,000 for his services. My source tells me that she spent no more than 5 hours interacting with Dr. Blotcky. Her total of the bill is $2500 and her ex husband is to pay the rest. For a while, a rumor was floated that Dr. Blotcky had diagnosed her with multiple personality disorder. She called Dr. Blotcky multiple times and left messages wondering if this was true. He never answered. Only recently was it confirmed that no such diagnosis was made because in fact no evaluation has been completed.

Ironically enough, my source tells me that since her husband's business caused him to travel a lot over the last few months, while she has lost primary custody, she sees her kids about as much as she did before getting them on all his business trips.

Prior to the three, now four, exposes of Dr. Blotcky that I did, very little has been written about him. In fact, until recently, Dr. Blotcky was most famous for publishing these books for children and on child psychiatry. The only serious expose done of Dr. Blotcky came from Dallas Observer reporter, Glenna Whitley. Ms. Whitley wrote an expose of the demise of Woodlawn Psychiatric Hospital in Dallas in the mid 1990's. This expose is not avaiable on the internet however. Dr. Blotcky was one of the top brass at Woodlawn in the mid 1980's to early 1990's. At this time, he was also the dean of their teaching program in psychiatry. He began to date one of the students, Dr. Lisa Crumpton, and eventually the two got married. The relationship caused Dr. Crumpton to become isolated from her colleagues who resented that she was dating the dean. Eventually Dr. Crumpton fell into deep depression and committed suicide. Yet, Dr. Blotcky has likely taken advantage of hundreds if not thousands of people in the way I just described and much worse.

His systematic corruption of the child custody system in Dallas has not been reported on until the three stories I did. I believe that the case I just recalled is the first of many in which potential victims will be able to size up Dr. Blotcky for who he is before he's able to do irreversible damage to their children. Maybe soon, Dr. Blotcky will finally face justice for the multitudes of crimes he's committed.

While I can appreciate that it's hard to trust a story done entirely anonymously, I believe taken in whole there is no doubt that Dr. Blotcky is exactly as I have described him. This is the fourth such story and if you read all four I believe that everyone will conclude, as I have, that his evil knows no limits. Here are the three other stories I have done on Dr. Blotcky.

The Stunning Hubris of the Texas Medical Board

Dr. Pigott,

The Texas Medical Board's policy regarding appeal by a complainant of the dismissal of a complaint is set out in Section 178.8 of the Board Rules.


Sincerely, Joan Donley,

CNITexas Medical Board

Joan Donley is an investigator with the Texas Medical Board. The complaint she refers to is a complaint filed against Dr. Mark Blotcky. Dr. Mark Blotcky is an psychiatrist that also works with the Dallas County Family Court System as a court appointed expert witness and psychiatrist in cases of child custody.

I have recently written three horrible stories about obscene amounts of corruption and criminality perpetrated by Dr. Mark Blotcky. In one story, Dr. Susan Diamond is accused of having Munchhausen by proxy by Dr. Blotcky even though he had never had Dr. Diamond as a patient. In another story, a child gains more than 20 pounds in about ten weeks when he is only 9 as a result of the prescription cocktail that Dr. Blotcky prescribed him. In the third story, he helped to orchestrate child abuse charges against a 270 pound man against his 12 year old son, even though he never files charges anywhere but the Dallas Family Court System.

As a result of these three stories, Dr. Shirley Pigott, who this email is addressed to, filed a formal complaint with the Texas Medical Board. This is the first time we have heard from Ms. Donley however another person responded to this inquiry so far. This was the Mari Robinson , and attorney and currently the Interim Executive Director. Here is what she said.

A thorough review of this matter has now been completed. An investigation was not filed because the initial review provided for in Sec. 154.058 does not indicate that the actions referenced in your complaint fall below the acceptable standard of care.

First of all what is interesting is that the head of the board is heard from about the status of the investigation before the lead investigator. The lead investigator said nothing when Mari Robinson sent this email to Dr. Pigott.

Second of all, think about just how the Texas Medical Board is treating Dr. Pigott. Does this sound like open and honest government? I should mention that none of the victims I wrote about were ever contacted during the course of the so called investigation that the Texas Medical Board claims to have conducted. The head of the board dismisses the investigation without an explanation. Then, the only thing the lead investigator communicates is pointing Dr. Pigott to some obscure rules if she wants to challenge their findings.

In other words, here is what this medical board has done so far. They have allowed this corrupt doctor to operate in exactly the manner I describe for years. He makes millions doing it. In the meantime, hundreds if not thousands of parents have lost custody of their children for no other reason than that system was totally, completely, and utterly corrupt. When overwhelming evidence is brought that shows that at the minimum he needs to be full investigated, they claim they have without doing a thing. Offer no service whatsoever. Impersonally point the person who brought the charges to some code rather than explaining exactly what they have done. That's not merely corrupt but frankly it is one of the most stunning acts of hubris I have ever witnessed.

Here is Mari Robinson's email, mari.robinson@tmb.state.tx.us

Here is Joan Donley... Joan.Donley@tmb.state.tx.us

The Texas Medical Board is chosen by the Governor. Here is Rick Perry's contact information.

Here is the contact information for the District Attorney of Dallas County, Craig Watkins.

Every single one of these folks has jurisdiction to stop all of this right now. Please ask them why they let it go on.

Why Is the Texas Medical Board Protecting Dr. Mark Blotcky

Introduction:

Since July, I have chronicled the corrupt practices of Dr. Mark Blotcky, a psychiatrist and expert witness in Dallas. Three witnesses came forward, Dr. Susan Diamond, Katherine Tranum, and Darcy Boatman. Furthermore, several more people left comments in response like this one from Dr. Fred Maese.

I have had a similar experience with Dr Blotcky when he was hired by my ex-wife's attorneys in 5-2007 to testify at Judge David Hantschen's court in Dallas that she had "Battered Woman's Syndrome" during our divorce case involving the custody of our 3 children. He pulled this diagnosis out of a hat even though none of the 4 accepted diagnostic criteria were not met. His supportive evidence came from very brief interviews of the elder children (ages 10 and 11)and her, and reports of the psychologist and psychiatrist that her attorneys had encouraged her to see, without ever corroborating the veracity of such information. The younger child has a learning difference and he can be made to say whatever an adult tells him to say. Daniel, the older one told him he loved me and wanted to spend more time with me. Dr Blotcky would get angry with him or ignore him if he said anything kind about me. The children were very upset that they were being taken to see this guy. He came across in court as an arrogant buffoon and I do not believe the Judge took him seriously. However, earlier in the case he also participated in a hearing against me at Judge
Nicholson's Court(the associate Judge, for the purpose of gaining a protective order against me, which was granted, causing untold pain for both the kids and myself as well as grossly elevating all fees (my case lasted 1.5 years and cost us approximately 2.5 million in legal fees).

The court appointed psychologist in our custody case was Dr Ray McClung, another "Blotcky"! He is an elderly gentleman whose ethics, negligence, incompetence, bias and greed I would be happy to expose. His prejudicial findings and recommendations were so far out there that he also came across as out of tune with the reality of the situation. Another paid "expert", charging whatever he wanted without the Judge making him accountable. In the end he also contributed to increasing the duration of the case and unnecessary pain to the kids and myself. His incestuous relationship with her attorneys (McCurley Law Firm) is hideous.I can tell you so much about what I call "The Sherry Lane Racket". We ended up with shared custody and I have extended standard possession on weekends 2,4 and 5 of each month as well as every Tuesday night for dinner. I love my children , I am a Cardiologist and like Dr Diamond, a huge target for this broken system!

I am considering filing a complaint with the Texas State Board of Psychologists and perhaps a lawsuit. Would this board react differently than the TSBME? What would you recommend? Has this Dr McClung been under the radar before? Thanks for any input, Dr Fred Maese MD FACC.

In the case of Dr. Diamond, Dr. Blotcky "diagnosed" her as having Munchausen by Proxy. This was a rather bizarre diagnosis since he did without ever examining her. No matter because once he rendered this diagnosis as an expert witness in court she didn't stand a chance and lost custody of all her children. In the case of Katherine Tranum, Dr. Blotcky put her son a cocktail of drugs that caused him to gain about 30 pounds over a ten week period when he was nine. In the case of Darcy Boatman, Mr. Boatman, who weighs approximately 270 lbs, was accused of child abuse against his then teen-age son. While this charge was leveled within the family court system, neither Dr. Blotcky nor his partner on this particular case, Dr. Benjamin Albritton, saw fit to report him to DCFS or the police and the D.A. in the area. For all of this, Dr. Blotcky routinely charges anywhere between $200-$400 per hour for his services.

Furthermore, Dr. Blotcky also gives seminars to attorneys in techniques for defending child molestors. In the early 1990's, Dr. Blotcky was employed at the Timberlawn Psychiatric Hospital. While there he dated and married another colleague, Dr. Lisa Crumpton, a child psychologist, who he began dating while she still doing her residency at Timberlawn. As such, he began dating her while he was her professor. On December 8, 1992, Dr. Crumpton committed suicide from a massive dose of Valium and anti-depressants.

...

Now then, upon publishing these three pieces, Texas Medical Board Watch took up the case of Dr. Mark Blotcky. The organization, headed by Dr. Shirley Pigott (herself featured in this story) filed a formal complaint against Dr. Blotcky with the Texas Medical Board.

The Texas Medical Board has gone through its own upheaval over the last year or so. The head of its disciplinary committee, Dr. Keith Miller, stepped down in September of 2007. (His corrupt exploits are featured here) In private practice, Dr. Miller employs Bridget Hughes, who herself has admitted to forging 50 schedule 2 prescriptions.

Since Dr. Miller left the TMB, the board appears to take its marching orders from Mari Robinson, the interim Executive Director of the Texas Medical Board. Robinson is an attorney by trade and in her thirties.

So far, the email correspondence that I have been privy to have Robinson as the front person in the "investigation" of Dr. Blotcky. The case assigned case # 09-0368 has been assigned to Joan Donley. Donley has been unavailable for comment. Robinson did brief Dr. Pigott on the status of the investigation a couple of days ago.

A thorough review of this matter has now been completed. An investigation was not filed because the initial review provided for in Sec. 154.058 does not indicate that the actions referenced in your complaint fall below the acceptable standard of care.

In other words, the TMB will take no further action against Dr. Blotcky as a result of these stories. Of course, it is difficult to believe that a "thorough review" occurred since none of the victims that I featured were ever contacted by anyone at the TMB. If you are familiar with any of the pieces I wrote, this should come as no surprise. That's because complaints were filed in each of the three cases already at the time each was victimized. In each of these cases, their complaints were similarly dismissed? As such, the only question remaining is why is the Texas Medical Board protecting Dr. Mark Blotcky.

Dr. Mark Blotcky: Divorce is My Business and Business is Good II

Since writing this piece, the subject of this particular story has told me that the attention from it has hurt them and their family personally and they've asked me to take it down.

I generally don't like to take down stories even at the request of sources. That, I feel, is corrupt journalism. That said, I don't want someone hurt unless they deserve it. The subject doesn't need to suffer pain. Furthermore, I have three other stories involving Dr. Mark Blotcky everyone can assume that this one is also similar.

Here is one other story of Dr. Blotcky's corruption, a second, and also one more.

Bridget Hughes: The Addicted Nurse

According to this order from the Texas Nursing Board (link download attachment) this is a damning indictment of Bridget Hughes, a nurse practioner in Texas. Between July of 2004 and September of 2005, Hughes was employed at the office of Dr. Craig McMullen in Center, Texas. Dr. McMullen confirmed to me that everything in this order is in his judgment exactly 100% accurate.

According to this order, beginning in July of 2004 through September of 2005 (when McMullen finally removed Hughes and reported her to the TNB) Hughes began forging at least 50 triplicate prescriptions of Level II drugs. According to the DEA, here is how Schedule II drugs are described.

A) The drug or other substance has a high potential for abuse.

(B) The drug or other substance has a currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States or a currently accepted medical use with severe restrictions.

(C) Abuse of the drug or other substances may lead to severe psychological or physical dependence.

Some examples of Schedule II drugs are morphine, cocaine, oxycodone (Percodan®), methylphenidate (Ritalin®), and dextroamphetamine (Dexedrine®). In fact, Schedule II drugs are the most potent and addictive drugs that can be prescribed. The only thing more potent is Schedule I which includes such drugs as heroin, marijuana, LSD, PCP, and crack cocaine.

While her motives for this mass forgery was never revealed in the report, the sheer quantity of the drugs leads to all sorts of speculations including chronic personal use and/or selling.

Furthermore, according to this order, on December 11, 2006, Hughes admitted that shea an addiction to Hydrocodone and she had that addiction since December of 2003.

While what Hughes was found to have done was indeed shocking, what is really shocking is the punishment (or lack thereof) that the TNB handed down. Keep in mind that everything I just listed was stipulated as fact by the TNB and Hughes herself. For forging 50 Schedule prescriptions and maintaining a near three year addiction to Hydrocodone Hughes "Voluntarily surrendered her license to prescribe medicine" for one year. Hughes voluntarily surrendered her license to prescribe medicine for one year as part of a sort of probation that could have meant the end of her license to practice nursing entirely with further violations.

This rather light punishment is shocking and peculiar. It is even more peculiar in light of the draconian punishment the TNB handed down to Tim Goosby. Goosby had not reported an earlier DUI to the TNB when he first came to work in the state of Texas. For this violation, Goosby had his nursing license removed for one year, and he could only apply, though was not guaranteed, to have it reinstated. Hughes forged at least 50 prescriptions for the most addictive drugs that can be prescribed and admitted to a near three year drug addiction. For this, she "voluntarily surrendered her license to prescribe drugs". Keep in mind that during this year, she still maintained gainful employment as a nurse.

How did all of this come about? Another piece of this puzzle is the doctor that employed Hughes when the TNB rendered its findings, Dr. Keith Miller. Dr. Miller was also then a doctor in Center, Texas, however he was also concurrently head of the Texas Medical Board's Disciplinary Committee. ( I have written multiple pieces about Dr. Miller's involvement in corruption within the Texas medical community) While there is no direct evidence that Dr. Miller played any role in Hughes rather light sentence, there are several things we can conclude. First, Dr. Miller hired Bridget Hughes despite knowing full well that her previous employer, Dr. McMullen, had caught her forging at least fifty prescriptions for extremely addictive drugs. She admitted to continuing to being addicted to Hydrocodone even while she was employed by Miller himself. Yet, despite all of this, she continued to be in his employment and in fact continues in his employment today.

Finally, the story took another bizarre turn in April of 2008, less than a month before her one year "voluntary surrender of her license to prescribe drugs" expired. A source tells me that an undercover agent was sent into see Bridget Hughes posing as a patient. This undercover agent witnessed Hughes not only prescribe drugs to them but Hughes called the prescription into the local CVS herself. All of this was in direct violation of Hughes order.

Hughes was reported to the TNB but she faced no further punishment. In fact, she is now allowed to prescribe drugs and faces no more sanctions from the TNB. In fact, not only has she faced no more sanctions from the TNB, no other investigative agency in Shelby County or the state of Texas has ever brought charges against her. After all, forging prescriptions is illegal and just compare how she was treated by law enforcement to say Rush Limbaugh. Furthermore, to understand how truly corrupt her case was handled by the TNB just compare her situation again to Tim Goosby. Given that she worked at the time for Dr. Keith Miller, then head of the Texas Medical Board Disciplinary Committee, this presents strong evidence that the corruption in medicine in Texas is widespread and systemic.

Responding to Mr. Merian: BCBS Vs. Private Family Physicians the Follow Up

Introduction: A couple of months ago, I wrote this piece. The piece focused on the story of Dr. Shirley Pigott. Dr. Pigott is a private family physician in Victoria, Texas and has been for more than two decades. She has also been active within the Texas Academy of Family Physicians. In 2002, she had a billing dispute with her biggest insurance provider BCBS of Texas. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas is not only the biggest insurer of the patients of Dr. Pigott, but they insure about one third of the folks in Texas altogether. In other words, it is difficult to be a physician in Texas unless you are a part of their network.



At roughly the same time that this billing dispute began, Dr. Pigott and her colleagues also began complaining to each other about how difficult the insurance companies were making it on them. Keep in mind that private family physicians have no salary. Everything they make comes from whatever they charge their patients. Since one third of patients in Texas can be expected to be covered by BCBS, BCBS is in a position to make things very difficult for family physicians if they so choose.



In about 2004, Dr. Pigott formed a group called the group of 35, of family physicians around the country, that decided that enough was enough. They decided that it was time for the American Academy of Family Physicians to fight harder for private family physicians. Initially, this group took three demands, or mandates as they are called, to the state levels of the AAFP. Dr. Pigott was given the responsibility of presenting these mandates to the Texas Academy of Family Physicians. The mandates essentially simply asked the TAFP to recognize the struggles that family physicians go through and fight harder for them.



Dr. Pigott presented the mandates to the proper committee within the TAFP. It was completely well received except for one doctor. That doctor's name is Dr. Doug Curran. Dr. Curran was then the President Elect of the TAFP. He wasn't even on the committee and was merely visiting the committee that day. Despite his objections, the three mandates passed the committee, the full TAFP, and eventually the AAFP.



At about this same time, Dr. Pigott received a complaint from the Texas Medical Board Disciplinary Committee. At the time, this committee was headed by Dr. Keith Miller. (as you can see if you go to most previous link Dr. Miller has been the subject of controversy and eventually resigned from the committee) In fact, this particular link minced no words in describing Dr. Keith Miller.

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.

(This will become important because my accuser will also go on to defend Dr. Miller)



The dispute involved a patient that demanded their medical records. Dr. Pigott customarily reviewed the medical records at a follow up appointment. This patient didn't make a follow up appointment and rather demanded the records be sent to their home. Since this broke protocol, Dr. Pigott didn't mail out the records for significantly longer than the law required which is 15 days. While this is a technical violation of the rules of medicine, it is a very mild one and should be the subject of a very mild punishment, if any at all.



Instead, because these records weren't mailed out on time, Dr. Pigott began a nearly four year battle against the TMB disciplinary committee. At one point, the board threatened all sorts of draconian punishments: one year probation during which she would be monitored by another physician, provide the board with random patient records upon request, a $500 fine and force Dr. Pigott to pay for the doctor that would monitor her, and this is among a whole host of punishments numerated 1-10 with several subsets for most. Again, these draconian punishments were in response to Dr. Pigott sending out medical records in an untimely manner. Furthermore, Dr. Keith Miller was later the subject of investigation of much corruption, including another story by me, and his nurse practioner Bridget Hughes was found by the Texas Nursing Board (must then click link download attachment) to have doctored 50 prescriptions of drugs like methadone. Furthermore, it was Dr. Craig McMullen, the doctor that employed Hughes prior to Miller, that discovered this. In other words, Dr. Miller hired Hughes despite knowing full well that she had committed a serious breach medical ethics.



Now, while her proceedings against the TMB disciplinary committee were going on, Dr. Pigott was continuing in a leadership role within the group of 35. She continued presenting mandates and continued fighting on behalf of private family physicians. At one such meeting, she came up against Dr. Doug Curran again. He was now the President of the TAFP and he visiting the committee she was presenting to, again, even though he wasn't a member of the committee. Once again, he confronted and objected to everything Dr. Pigott presented only this time most of the committee objected with him. Dr. Pigott told me that not only were her mandates rejected but she felt humiliated to the point of tears.



At around this time, Dr. Pigott discovered that Dr. Curran was the subject a full spread photo advertisement for Blue Cross Blue Shield, and then within weeks, she discovered this puff piece about Dr. Curran in which members of BCBS are quoted in glowing praise of him. Dr. Pigott began complaining to members of the TAFP as well as other medical authorities that she believed that Dr. Curran had a conflict of interest between his representation of doctors and his close alliance with BCBS.



Her complaints became so noisy that Dr. Curran confronted her and in the middle of their conversation Dr. Pigott says that he told her this...

Do you know that I am a member of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Texas Medical Advisory Board with Dr. Keith Miller, and Dr. Fred Merian.

Now, Dr. Keith Miller I have already touched on but Dr. Fred Merian is also the former President of the Texas Medical Association. Throughout my original piece, I refer to the BCBS Texas Medical Advisory Board as super secret. Of course, this is a bit provocative. It isn't hidden like secret parts of the CIA, however, you will find scant little information about it on the internet. You will certainly not be able to confirm on the internet who serves on this board. Most importantly, why are three doctors also working for the insurance company. This is of course an inherent conflict of interest.



Ultimately, Dr. Pigott discovered enough about what happened and then hired a legendary attorney and she wound up being given a slap on the wrist.



Several months later though, Dr. Merian's son found my article and found plenty to object to. Here is his first comment.

You have a lot of nerve maligning my father like that. I am Dr. Merian's son. My father is the most ethical and caring doctor there is. And your labeling him as some corporate shill is downright libeleous. And since when is it wrong to go after doctors who are overcharging their patients?Do you even attempt to contact the three Doctors whom you labeled with this article? I know all three, and they have impeccable reputations with both their patients and their fellow Doctors.All of these Doctors earned their positions, is being from a small town mean you are not qualified to make policy in this state? Do you have to be from Houston or Austin in order to be qualified to hold a position of leadership?

Now, on one hand, I can understand and admire Mr. Merian's instinct to furiously defend his father's reputation. On the other hand, I found it rather peculiar that Mr. Merian was the one up in arms. After all, his dad was mentioned in passing and only because Dr. Curran identified him as one of three on this BCBS Medical Advisory Board. Furthermore, at this point, there is a mountain of evidence that Dr. Keith Miller is NOT a doctor of "impeccable reputation". I, myself, have presented several cases of corruption he was involved with. The Texas Medical Board's Disciplinary Committee was the suject of an investigation by the Texas legislature.



Furthermore, the reputation of the three is beside the point, the story that is the subject of the original piece speaks for itself. You either believe it and draw appropriate conclusions or you don't. That said, Mr. Merian wrote this response in which he attempted to take me to task for my reporting. Let's take things one by one. Here is how he concludes.

My father practiced medicine in Yoakum, Texas (pop 6000) before moving to Victoria, Texas (pop 45,000). Your implication here, of course is that individuals from small towns are inherently unqualified to serve in high profile positions, and therefore can only reach those positions through corruption and collusion. Again, you make this statement with no proof to back it up. In order for your allegation (that my father was put in the Presidency of the TMA by BCBS) to be true, you need to be able to back it up. My father (and Dr. Curran) were elected to their positions by the membership of their organizations. You are accusing thousands of Doctors of selling out to BCBS, all the while offering no proof at all. But challenging me to refute it. This is a logical fallacy known as "Shifting the burden of Proof" The burden is on you to prove your allegations, otherwise they are invalid and not credible.

This statement is absurd on its face. The original story is split into three parts because it is so long. Even the introduction to this piece is probably too long and yet that is the only way I can present all of the relevant information of the story. Furthermore, this is not the only piece I have done about corruption within the Texas Medical Board. You either believe the story or you don't. I believe I have given plenty of supporting evidence to make my reporting solid. The audience can judge.



That said, if you believe this story, and furthermore, if you believe my other stories about the corruption at the TMB, it absolutely leads to troubling conclusions? I never said that doctors from small towns can't be in positions of power. I said that given the evidence I presented, we should all ask how these three got where they got. I find it very troubling that three doctors are in positions of power within the medical community all the while they are also working for the biggest insurance company in a position for which you can find scant information about.



We don't allow lawyers to represent both the plaintiff and the defendant. A lobbyist that concurrently represented a pro family group while they represented Planned Parenthood would be the subject of serious questions. Mortgage brokers can't also work for banks. By the same token, there is a serious conflict of interest if a doctor represents other doctors while they are also representing the interests of the insurance companies. That's exactly what is happening when Dr. Merian is President of the Texas Medical Association while working for the BCBS Medical Advisory Board.



Mr. Merian claims his dad is a pillar of the community and has dedicated his life to doing good. I don't doubt that however so are tens of thousands of doctors in Texas, and yet, it is his dad that concurrently was President of the TMA and part served on a board for the biggest insurance company in Texas. Given what happened to Dr. Pigott, and the role BCBS Texas Medical Advisory Board played, this should be troubling to everyone.



Then, Mr. Merian says this about the BCBS Medical Advisory Board.

A simple Google Search of the BCBSTX.com site pulled up quite a bit of information on it. Including this description:

The Texas Medical Advisory Committee and the Texas PeerReview
Committee serve in an advisory capacity to the Medical Director and HMO Blue Texas regarding health care delivery issues that affect members and participating network Physicians and other Professional Providers. The Committees participate in the development, implementation, and evaluation of required peer review activities

.


That's not quite a bit of information. In fact, this is a snippet as part of a web page related to something totally different within BCBS of Texas. This medical advisory board doesn't have its own web page. BCBS doesn't disclose who is on it and how they got there. They don't publish the minutes of the meetings. All that BCBS does is define what it is as part of a totally different web page. Again, given the role that BCBS Medical Advisory Board played within this story I find this lack of disclosure very troubling.



Then, Mr. Merian says this.

Now, it is obvious this board is not "super secret" so we will move on to
some of your other allegations against my father.You also alleged:

Three doctors, Dr. Doug Curran, Dr. Keith Miller, and Dr. Fred Merian, were simultaneously in significant positions of power in the Texas medical community. Dr. Curran was the head of the Texas Academy of Family Physicians. Dr. Miller was head of the Texas Medical Board's Disciplinary Committee. Dr. Merian was head of the Texas Medical Association. At the same time, these three were also members of the super secret BCBS Texas Medical Advisory Board. In other words, they were playing both sides of the fence. They represented the interests of doctors, and at the same time represented the interests of BCBS against doctors.Dr. Curran was not sworn in as President of the TAFP until 2006, and he served 1 year (not several years as you claimed), Dr. Miller was not appointed to the Board of Medical Examiners until 2003. And my father took his office as President of the TMA in 2002, and he also only served one year. So, you are wrong in alleging that these three men held their offices simultaneously. Also, the President of the TMA while being the visible face of Doctors in Texas, holds NO power outside the TMA. The TMA is not involved in the certification, regulation or discipline of Doctors in Texas. It is also not involved in negotiating with insurance companies for doctors, nor in
the distribution of benefits. Therefore, there is no conflict of interest. Besides, that is a determination for the TMA Board of Directors, the ethics committee and house of Delegates. Both of which were aware of my fathers position, neither of which objected.

This may technically be true, however all of this folks were in positions of power within each of organization long before they became head of each of their organizations. Again, it is just absurd to say that being President of the Texas Medical Association, which he himself says is the face of Doctors, doesn't represent doctors. Furthermore, the fact that no one objected to Dr. Merian simultaneously serving on the BCBS Medical Advisory Board should be troubling not some validation. Furthermore, while the TMA may not have been involved in discipline and certification, the TMB Disciplinary Board was, and Dr. Keith Miller was head of that for several years, while he was part of this group.

Then, Mr. Merian said this.

Physicians advisory boards advocate FOR doctors. You asked how I knew such
boards existed? Simple internet search. (and, I have worked in or around the insurance industry for over 10 years, there are all kinds of advisory boards) Here is the information for the board at Aetna Insurance. The kicker? 19 state Medical
Associations asked for such a board to be created. If such boards were so Anti-doctor, why would 700,000 Doctors demand such a board be created? They wouldn't.

This so called internet search is a google search of the words "physicians advisory board insurance". Of course, some combination of those words will come up a lot. That's how a google search works. Furthermore, if BCBS uses it in a nefarious manner it is reasonable to believe other corrupt insurance companies might want to create one as well. What's more, one paragraph after Mr. Merian painstakingly tried to convince the audience that the TMA doesn't represent doctors, he proclaims that 19 Medical Associations asked for such a board to be created. Who exactly were they representing when they asked for this?

I would also be in favor of such a medical advisory board. Only, if this board actually represented doctors, they wouldn't be a part of the insurance company. A board that looks to try to hash out the differences between doctors and insurance companies in a manner that is beneficial to both wouldn't be a part of the insurance company. Such a board would have representatives of doctors and representatives of the insurance companies working independently of either. Furthermore, their actions would be out in the open. They would have a web site. They would publish their minutes. They would publish their conclusions. This particular board does none of those things. It is very easy to take a well meaning concept and corrupt it. I never said that medical advisory boards are necessarily a bad idea. I said this one is corrupt and I proved it by several stories all split into three parts.

Furthermore, as it applies here, the board was used as a tool of intimidation. If you believe Dr. Pigott, then clearly Dr. Curran wanted her to believe that being a part of this board meant that he could damage her.

Which brings me back to the beginning. In his defense of his father, Mr. Merian never challenged any of the contents of the story. Dr. Pigott did become a leader within the community of private family physicians. She did work painstakingly to make the TAFP and the AAFP work more on behalf of private family physicians. While she was doing this, she was simultaneously brought in front of the TMB disciplinary committee because she didn't send out medical records in a timely manner. They did attempt to punish her in a draconian manner, and it was only after she identified this group within the BCBS that the TMB backed down. Those are the facts. I have backed up each of those facts.

My favorite latin phrase is Res Ipsa Loquitor, the facts speak for themselves. I believe the facts of this story speak for themselves.

Dr. Mark Blotcky: Divorce is My Business and Business is Good

As far as divorces go, Dr. Susan Diamond's divorce beginning in February of 1999 with her husband, Rick San Soucie, got rather nasty. Diamond was (and continues to be) a successful doctor specializing in patients with the HIV virus. San Soucie found his own financial success in business. Beyond that, Diamond already had four children with San Soucie and a fifth on the way when the divorce started.

Their second child, "Daniel" (name changed to protect a minor patient), had become a source of not only great stress but also disagreement. Daniel was a troubled child for years and yet at the time of the divorce had never been treated. When the divorce began it landed in the court of family court judge Frances Harris. Since there was a dispute over the treatment over Daniel, Harris appointed psychiatrist, Dr. Mark Blotcky, as the court appointed psychiatrist to treat and evaluate Daniel. Dr. Blotcky began treating Daniel in the summer of 1999.

As it turns out, being a court appointed psychiatrist is rather lucrative business. That's because, unlike in private practice, a doctor like Blotcky can charge whatever he chooses and both sides have no choice but to pay the bill. In Dr. Blotcky's case, he performed two functions. The first function was forensic psychiatric consultations.

In custody disputes they may be called upon to assess how autonomous and authentic the expressed wishes of a child of a certain age can be. They evaluate and testify in cases of alleged emotional harm and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Here it is necessary to reach a deep understanding of the person's life history, so as to identify prior experiences that may have created a special vulnerability to trauma (as opposed to prior impaired functioning), as well as to distinguish genuine trauma from faking, malingering, exaggerating, or misattributing.

Because this is a somewhat nebulous term, Dr. Blotcky often charged for these consultations when he called lawyers for either side with updates, often times updates that the lawyers never necessarily asked for. For this role, Dr. Blotcky charged $375 per hour.

In his other role, he treated Daniel. For this, he charged $180-$240 per hour. He initially diagnosed Daniel with Bipolar Disoroder and prescribed Depakote, a drug primarily used as a mood stabilizer in seizures and in Bipolar Disorder. Besides Depakote, Dr. Blotcky also prescribed RisperdalBipolar, another anti psychotic used commonly in Bipolar Disorder.

The diagnosis was not a surprise to Dr. Diamond because her husband's mother was also diagnosed with bi polar, and she suspected that her husband also suffered from the disorder. Her husband had never been evaluated though so that was always just a suspicion. That said, the prescription of Depakote was peculiar and surprising. That's because in the case of her husband's mother she used Lithium effectively to control her moods. Normally, a psychiatrist would conduct a family history and would prescribe drugs that had worked effectively for other members of the family. In this case, Dr. Blotcky ignored the effectiveness of lithium in treating Daniel's grandmother and instead prescribed a drug with no history of success in the family.

By May of 2000, Dr. Diamond watched Daniel, who was then living with her, deteriorate and the drug was only marginally effective. In a move that was not only desperate but dangerous, Dr. Diamond prescribed Daniel with lithium herself.

At the same time Dr. Blotcky had Daniel on this combination of drugs, he failed to perform any blood work on the child which is the standard of care. When Dr. Diamond prescribed Lithium for Daniel she also did blood work. That is the first time Daniel had ever had any blood work done (his pediatrician at the time did not do blood work with his physical exams). The blood work revealed that Daniel had developed hyperglycemia (an elevated blood glucose or sugar that is the precursor to Diabetes) as a side effect of the drug cocktail Dr. Blotcky prescribed. Diabetes and hyperglycemia are known side effects of Risperdal and that's just one reason why blood work is mandatory in conjuction with prescribing it. Fortunately, the elevated blood sugars did resolve once the medication was withdrawn, but in other cases the damage has been know to be permanent. Also, by doing the blood work it was discooverd that Daniel had hypothyroid (his thyroid function was low and did not function adequately). In monitoring Daniel Dr. Blotcky should have discovered this as well. He is a psychiatrist, which is an MD and he did go to medical school for 4 years. Certainly, the rather large fees he charged for treating Daniel warranted such a level of care.

In the fall of 2000, Daniel had a violent psychotic episode. His father had come to pick him up for a scheduled visit. He picked up a knife and ran outside with it toward his father. Unfortunately, this was not the first of his episodes. Normally, these episodes would exhaust him and eventually he would pass out in exhaustion. That's exactly what happened in this episode as well and fortunately no one was hurt as a result.

By August of 2001, Dr. Blotcky wrote up a report in evaluating Daniel. Among his many findings, Dr. Blotcky evaluated Dr. Diamond as having Munchausen by proxy. This was another curious medical diagnosis. That's because Dr. Diamond was never Dr. Blotcky's patient. He had no business offering any diagnosis of her. He was treating her son, Daniel, and that was the only person he should have diagnosed. Yet, for whatever reason he offered this diagnosis of Dr. Diamond.

By this point, she had butted heads with Dr. Blotcky over several issues. She had already complained multiple times that the drugs he prescribed were ineffective. So much so that she illegally prescribed lithium herself out of desperation. Furthermore, Dr. Blotcky had charged the family about $70,000 in the first two years of treating Daniel. In fact, Dr. Diamond had already made a formal complaint over his billing practices to the Texas Medical Board. The TMB claimed that because this was part of court proceedings they had no jurisdiction. (of course based on that logic Dr. Blotcky, or any doctor, could lie, make up evaluations, or do just about anything in their role as an expert witness with impunity since the TMB was claiming that they had no jurisdiction to oversee doctor's behavior if it is part of court proceedings) Dr. Diamond would wind up complaining to the TMB three times about the behavior of Dr. Blotcky, and each time the TMB refused to investigate citing a lack of jurisdiction. (if you've read my work before, you should not be surprised at all to find the surprised to find the Texas Medical Board caught up in corruption)

Then, ironically enough, on September 11th, 2001, the family court heard testimony in the child custody dispute between Dr. Diamond and her husband. By this point Frances Harris had recused herself due to scheduling conflicts and was replaced by Judge Ruth Blake, a visiting family court judge. Blake should never even have heard any evidence. That's because Texas is what is known as a one strike state. That means that either side can ask that one judge be removed for any reason. That's exactly what Dr. Diamond's attorneys asked of Blake but Blake refused the order.

Not only did Dr. Blotcky testify in court that in his "expert opinion" Dr. Diamond had Munchausen by Proxy, but Dr. Diamond's maid, Margarita, testified that during the incident in the fall of 2000, Dr. Diamond encouraged Daniel to attack his father with a knife and even handed one to him. Dr. Blotcky confirmed that this is the way Daniel described the story as well. Furthermore, Dr. Blotcky also testified that Dr. Diamond prescribed lithium for Daniel against his wishes. (according to documents that Dr. Diamond discovered later, within weeks Margarita quit her duties as maid and went to work for her ex husband at a salary of $3000 per month. You can do the math on what that means)

Of course, it should be noted that for whatever reason these explosive accusations weren't repeated to any other body. If, in fact, Dr. Diamond had attempted to use her son to murder her ex husband, that would be a serious crime. Furthermore, such an unbalanced person has no business practicing medicine. Neither the appropriate D.A. nor the Texas Medical Board were ever contacted regarding this incident.

By August of 2002, on the strength of Dr. Blotcky's findings as well as the accusation of Margarita, Dr. Diamond lost custody of her children. Because Blake had not recused herself despite a legally binding request, the verdict was immediately appealed to the Appellate Court in the Fifth District in Texas. By 2005, nearly three years later, the court finally rendered their decision and agreed with Dr. Diamond and her attorneys that Blake had her the case unconstitutionally.

By 2006, the case was back in Dallas County Family Courts this time in front of Judge Craig Fowler. The second trial was however a near exact replica of the first. Once again, Dr. Blotcky repeated his charges that Dr. Diamond had Munchausen by Proxy and the incident was introduced again. Once again, Dr. Diamond lost custody of her children and this time for good.

By this point, the divorce had cost her nearly $1,000,000 in total fees. Fortunately, she was well enough off to absorb it. Dr. Blotcky had charged about a quarter of those fees to her. All of this was paid in order to watch her kids wind up with her husband.

Epilogue and Conclusion: I firmly believe that Dr. Blotcky is serially corrupting the Dallas County Family Court System in order to benefit himself financially. I have identified three other cases so far in which others were similarly targeted like Dr. Diamond. As you can see, being an expert in the Dallas County Family Court System is quite financially fruitful for Dr. Blotcky. Furthermore, the entire family court system is open to corruption. There is rarely a Constitutional issue in child custody cases. As such, family court decisions are final, and unlike a regular court case, they are always decided by a judge. Furthermore, all the players judges, lawyers, and experts, are more naturally beholden to the system than their own side. That's because they will spend their entire careers within the confines of the system. Most of the players know each other very well, whereas individual clients come and go. They can count on referrals and other business from everyone else in the system. In fact, experts like Dr. Blotcky are recommended into the system by judges and lawyers that work in it. This natural tendency toward corruption can easily be exploited.

Furthermore, there is plenty to exploit. In this trial, the total bill was well within the millions. Since most get paid for their time, each player has every incentive to extend the trial as long as possible. For instance, visiting judges like Judge Ruth Blake get paid by the case. Had she recused herself as the defense asked, that would have cost Judge Blake financially. While it certainly can't be proven, a cynic might hypothesis that the whole affair took seven years only to bleed Dr. Diamond of even more money. Keep in mind that as the losing party she ultimately paid for both sides of the legal fees.

Furthermore, the only other media that picked up this story is this piece from the Dallas Observer and much of that has to do with the media's lack of interest in any story that has as its nexus a divorce. Because of the sheer magnitude of the emotions involved in any divorce, the media is apt not to believe any story that comes out of it. More times than not any accusation is chalked up to jilted spouse looking for revenge. As such, much of the corruption that infects the system goes uncovered by a media that has no interest in most stories that originate from a divorce. So, folks like Dr. Blotcky can continue corrupting the system with little media attention.

Here is another example of Blotcky's corruption.

Also, please take a look at this case of bank fraud discovered in researching this case.

Human Guinea Pigs, Sham Peer Review, and the Governor

This particular story was the climax of a nearly five year ordeal for a nurse anasthesist that found him the target of a sham peer review that dwindled his savings and nearly cost him his license.

The Texas agency in charge of disciplining doctors has launched its own investigation into the drug testing allegations uncovered by Local 2 Investigates at Cuero Community Hospital.

Former staff members at the publicly funded hospital near Victoria say patients were used as "human guinea pigs" without the patients' knowledge, with a drug that was never approved for trials or use on humans.

The Texas Medical Board was made aware of the allegations nearly two years ago, but the agency's enforcement director said the case had been closed since patient names were not included in the complaint.

What you can't tell from this story is that the main source for it is a nurse anesthetist that worked alongside Dr. Dugi at Cuero Community Hospital. You won't find the name of this nurse anesthetist anywhere in this particularly referenced story, and he is only mentioned in passing in the series of stories that the news station, KPRC in Houston, did on this investigation. (for now I will also not reveal his name but that's only dramatic effect because his name along with his entire story will be revealed in part two of this series) That's too bad because the investigation that KPRC uncovered was only the beginning of his long ordeal.

Dr. Dugi, the doctor referenced, worked at Cuero Community Hospital in Cuero, Texas a town of a few thousand. He lead what eventually amounted to a pseudo mafioso group of doctors that became the de facto rogue and corrupt administration. The actual administration was weak and powerless to stop Dr. Dugi from controlling the hospital. Cuero is a town of mostly Hispanics, poor, and many illegals. As such, Dr. Dugi turned many of his elderly patients into guinea pigs for testing a drug that he wanted to bring onto the market. Rather than going through a formal FDA process, Dr. Dugi thought it would be easier to simply test the drug on real patients at his own hospital.

This nurse anaesthetist discovered what was happening and reported it to the administration. As a result of his whistle blowing, he was retaliated against and ultimately wound up facing an even more corrupt Texas Board of Nursing. He had to battle for over four years against what amounted to nothing more than trumped up charges and eventually even had his license revoked by the state for a year. The whole process has left him nearly broke and has totally shattered any semblance of a medical career.

Not only is none of this mentioned in the piece, but most of the same players that corrupted the TNB continue to lead it to this day. The nurse anaesthetist took his pleas all the way to the governor's office of Rick Perry. His pleas were met with a letter that told him that they would have the Texas Nursing Board look into it. Let's make sure everyone understands this. It was the very same Texas Nursing Board that he wanted to have investigated. Thus, the governor's office wanted the corrupt nursing board to investigate itself. That speaks for itself.

Furthermore, while this nurse anesthetist was being systematically targeted the TNB was showing shocking leniency for real bad apples. For instance, this particular case linked regards Mark Crawford. Crawford was himself a nurse anesthetist at Cuero Hospital through a bulk of 2003. In 2007, he was caught practicing with a falsified medical malpractice license. Four years earlier, while at Cuero, he was caught falsifying bills and doctoring prescriptions to feed a drug habit. The TNB let Crawford off with a warning and a fine.

So, why wasn't the whole story told? That I don't know, however I do know the investigative reporter, Stephen Dean, was told the whole story and chose only to focus on the corruption at Cuero Community Hospital for his own investigation.

It's too bad because had he focused on the entire story, he would have discovered a corrupted TNB that targets certain nurses on sham charges while protecting other nurses. He would have found a link between the corrupt Texas Nursing Board and the equally corrupt Texas Medical Board. Furthermore, he would have found a governor's office that looked the other way and did nothing while all of this corruption went on.

As such, I guess that leaves it to me to tell the entire story. That of course is part two of this series.