Two nurses face jail time for reporting a doctor to the Texas Medical Board

in Physician | 37 responses

There’s a disturbing case in Texas, involving two whistle-blowing nurses who reported a physician to the Texas Medical Board (TMB).

Apparently, they took offense at the physician who was peddling herbal medications in the emergency room, among other deeds. Unable to convince hospital administration to discipline him, they reported him to the Board.

And here’s where it gets disturbing.

Angered by the action, the physician then filed a criminal complaint, alleging harassment. According to hospitalist Chris Rangel, who covered the case, “the two nurses were indicted for misusing privately protected patient information for a non-governmental and nefarious reason (to harm a private citizen),” which is considered “a third-degree felony that carries potential penalties of 2 to 10 years’ imprisonment and a maximum fine of $10,000.”

Once they were identified, they had very little legal protection, and now both nurses face a real possibility of jail time. They are currently free on bond.

Dr. Rangel and David Gorski, who blogged about the case over at Better Health, both come down hard on the TMB. Indeed, Dr. Rangel writes, “the so-called anonymity provided by the TMB in the complaint process is largely an illusion and a pathetically weak substitute for real and effective legal protections. In reality, as this case shows, accusers can be easily tracked down and made to suffer.”

Dr. Gorski is no kinder: “This case is bad. Real bad. Nurses and other health care professionals are reluctant enough as it is to report a bad doctor or a doctor peddling dubious therapies as it is. What makes this case particularly outrageous is not only because it appears to be a horrible abuse of power by Sheriff Roberts, but, even worse, it sends the clear and unmistakable message to nurses in Texas: Don’t get out of line or the medical powers that be will make you pay.”

A tragic case, and hopefully the impetus for some reforms within the Board.

Comments

Anonymous
Texas Tort Reform and TBM protection = no shortage of doctors. Whistleblowing Nurses = bye bye Texas!
Doc99
If the FDA would classify these supplements as medicine instead of food, cases such as this would cease to be a problem. Subjecting the “supplements” to evidence-based scrutiny is long overdue.
http://www.drjshousecalls.blogspot.com Dr. Mary Johnson
Medical whistleblowers have little or no real protection against retaliation by a hosptial. It’s been a huge, albeit under-reported problem for years and years. Doctors have been literally destroyed. The AMA doesn’t care. JCAHO doesn’t care. DHHS doesn’t care. And our individual state medical boards do not care.
I did battle over this story over on Orac’s “Respectful Insolence” a week or so ago . . . describing/linking my own decade-long story of medical-legal woe in my (NC) hometown (while I was in public service to a “non-profit” no less).
I was threatened, then fired for saving a newborn’s life and reporting it to peer review (and later, the NC Medical Board). My life was subsequently turned to trash as I was legally assaulted for telling the government I served the truth. And OBTW, in the wake of that cluster-screw, I’ve reported MULTIPLE FELONIES (black & white perjury/contmept/fraud) on the part of the two “non-profit” executives who did every despicable thing one could think of to shut me up/destroy me – and I can’t get anyone at the state or Federal level to even investigate. It’s ridiculous! The lid is clamped down tight – and it’s because I took on a bunch of mill-town good-ole-boys with friends in high places (of course, in my neck of the words, the high places have been run by Democrats for years and years – the same Democrats whose hearts supposedly bleed for public service programs such as the one I served in).
Anyway, for my trouble over at Orac’s, I was told that I had “no credibility” . . . because I dared pointedly criticize President Obama’s plan to “reform” healthcare without offering any substantive protection whatsoever to medical whistleblowers . . . or doing anything to fix the holes in HIPPA and HCQIA (medical peer review) that whistleblowers can fall through (as these nurses clearly have).
What the President is doing (without a real clue as to what he is doing) IS an “Obamanation”.
This story out of Texas is an abomination – just as much as mine is. Doctors and nurses do the right thing by patients and are crucified for it . . . and no one in a position of oversight cares.
Occasionally, someone in the blogosphere will throw out a bone – a particular case is “disturbing” or merits (only very temporary) outrage. But no one (particularly not the Fourth Estate) is doing anything to help – or stop what has been going on.
I’ve been at this eleven years (much longer than these unfortunate nurses). It just gets old.
http://www.cityofparis.us Lena
It doesn’t matter whether supplements are classified as medicine or food, the point is that a physician should not be PEDDLING anything to patients. But the bigger point is, who is TMB accountable to? And where are TMB’s ethics guidelines?
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http://fathersanddoctors.blogspot.com/ Dan
Since reports to any medical board are taken so seriously, and may be simply angry patients “getting even”, it seems to me that anonymity should not be allowed. This is too important. By the same token, it’s absurd for these nurses to face jail time. This could have been resolved without punishment. The docs crime is pretty petty and he could have simply been counseled on whether his practice was allowed or not. It’s hard to believe.
Anonymous
It appears that anonymous and doc99 have both missed the point of this post. THis case is not about the prosecution of a good intentioned doctor. This is about the out of control Texas Medical Board and the simple fact that nurses are being prosecuted for rightfully looking out for patients. This doctor was not just suggesting herbal remedies, my understanding is that he was actually trying to sell them directly to patients while in the ER. I’m pretty sure you can’t do that. Even if it is legal for a doctor to use the ER as his personal AMWAY sales venue, nurses should be able to report questionable medical practice without fear of being locked up. Texas is kind of old school. Doctors are still pseudo Gods and reporting a bad doctor is difficult, even when the physician is obviously bad and the fact is well known by other
physicians and administrators. Having a bad doctor removed from practice via the hospital or physician credentialing procedures is
nearly impossible. Reporting a bad doc to the board may be the only option if someone is
truely concerned about a doctors practice. Unfortunately the Texas Medical Board has a long history of being out of control. They
operate under the assumption that a doctor is guilty until proven innocent, and they are
devastatingly slow.
The TMB has struggled with allowing anonymous complaints, and they never were
very anonymous at all. This obviously puts
nurses in a tough spot. It is a sad testament
to our system when nurses cannot voice their
concern for patient safety.
Leave MD’s alone
I guess it’s OK for chiropracters to crack your spine and get paid for it, acupuncturists to poke you and get paid, healing touch practicianers to rub you and get paid, herbalists to sell you herbs, massage therapists rub you and get paid, etc….. but if an MD tries to sell herbal products/vitamins or even medications its a crime. Makes perfect sense.
http://www.drjshousecalls.blogspot.com Dr. Mary Johnson
I have not heard good things about the Texas Medical Board.
Dan, you are spot on about anonymity. Despite a little thing called “due process” (medical licensure and hospital privileges, once granted, are protected property rights), many Medical Boards still cling to anonymity as an investigative tool – on the premise that medical badness will not get reported because those doing the reporting are afraid.
The thing IS that NO ONE can remain anonymous in a serious complaint – particularly in smaller hospitals. There is no real security there. If medical whistleblowers were truly protected and could sign their names to legitimate/good-faith complaints without fear of reprisal, they would not need to be anonymous.
Of course, those of us who have been in the blogosphere for a while saw what anonymity did for our dear, departed Flea.
“Leave MD’s Alone”, doctors are paid to practice medicine.
Personally benefiting from (i.e. directly selling) what they “prescribe” (even herbs or vitamins) is called a conflict of interest.
newsdoc
This story is too vague and confusing to make a good deliberation on it. What and when was this physician peddling? Why wouldn’t a hsopital administration be interested? very odd…I cannot comment on “other deeds” since it is not specific. The charge against the nurses sounds HIPPA like. Did they contact the patients personally? or use the patient information in another way?
Leave MD’s alone
Mary: Optometrists sell glasses, contacts, medications, etc. Dentists sell false teeth, whiteners, toothbrushes, etc. Patients are not being forced to buy anything. It seems that physicians are being singled out and your response indicates that you have been brain-washed as well that it is wrong for physicians to be entrepreneurs.
http://fathersanddoctors.blogspot.com/ Dan
I have to support “Leave Doctors Alone”. I agree that we have been brainwashed while having our pockets picked at the same time. No docs want their kids to be docs because the profession has been crippled. I see no conflict of interest.
Regarding BOM’s, I don’t know about Texas, but many states investigate ANY complaint against a doctor and it can really ruin your day/life. You need to know your accusor. I still don’t see why punishment is doled out when it is so much better to educate rather than punish. I believe the board should represent doctors, not police them. But I also believe the police should protect the public, not watch them.
Regarding this article. Did the nurses talk to the doc directly first, as human beings generally should do to resolve conflicts?
Timeshares in the ER?
Hey, I see an ethical problem with an ER doctor trying to sell herbal remedies to his patients. It’s one thing for a patient to seek out a doctor who employs or discusses alternative treatments. It’s another one to get stuck with one who forces you to listen to a sales pitch for medicine’s he sells on the side for profit.
The ED sort of sticks you with a doctor to treat your emergency. The audience, if not captive in the legal sense, is in the practical sense. If you don’t listen to his sales pitch, will he treat you as well as if you did? It seems improper to me.
http://scienceblogs.com/insolence Orac
I guess it’s OK for chiropracters to crack your spine and get paid for it, acupuncturists to poke you and get paid, healing touch practicianers to rub you and get paid, herbalists to sell you herbs, massage therapists rub you and get paid, etc….. but if an MD tries to sell herbal products/vitamins or even medications its a crime.
Actually, personally I don’t think any of those things are necessarily OK, either. Except for the massage therapy (as long as the therapist isn’t into therapeutic touch or other woo), the rest is usually quackery. Stick to the case at hand.
The point is that the doctor being investigated used his position of authority to sell dubious herbal remedies to patients in the ER. Not ethical, and reporting him was the correct thing to do.
http://www.drjshousecalls.blogspot.com Dr. Mary Johnson
Newsdoc: “Why wouldn’t a hospital adminsitration be interested?” You’re kidding, right? The very same hospital that crucified me (a lowly Pediatrician) for saving a baby’s life developed a great case of torticollis when it came to looking in the direction of one of its big-money OB’s (who only had an extramarital affair with one of the LDRP nurses and wound up aborting his own child). Ethics smethics. It’s been my experience that many administrators only care about the warm bodies that serve their mission – and that mission is PROFIT.
HIPPA ties your hands in a lot of things. Hospitals can get away with a whole lot of ugly hiding behind patient privilege, privacy and confidentiality. It’s definitely NOT to the patient’s benefit – and often not to his/her doctor’s.
“Leave MD’s Alone”, I’ve got to wonder. You woudn’t happen to be the doctor – or a friend of the doctor – who lodged the bogus criminal charges against these nurses?
Dan, we clearly disagree about conflicts of interest, but you are spot-on about the duty of a Medical Board not only to discipline/punish, but also to represent them – in an environment where power has been increasingly taken out of their hands and handed over to the corporate types with no appreciation for the ethics of the profession and no requirement to honor them. Just ask JCAHO. They’ve developed all kinds of ways to go after “disruptive” doctors – but have no mechanism in place to address corrupt administrative behavior.
You’re also a little naive, if you feel that a nurse – or even group of nurses – would be confortable directly challenging a doctor about percieved bad behavior. As this case clearly demonstrates, these nurses couldn’t expect anyone to have their back.
http://daedalus2u.blogspot.com/ daedalus2u
If you look at the lawsuit that the nurses filed, it is pretty clear that virtually all of the problem is not with the TMB.
The sheriff (who happens to be the business partner of the doctor in selling naturopathic crap) committed perjury in getting a search warrant to access the computer the letter to the TMB was written on. The TMB specifically told the sheriff (in writing) that the information the nurses provided to the TMB was not a violation of HIPAA.
If you can be prosecuted, convicted, and imprisoned in Texas for something that is not a crime, the problems of Texas go far beyond the TMB.
Of course the problems of Texas do go far beyond the TMB. A man was convicted of setting fire to his house and murdering his young daughters based on a bogus investigation. He was executed even though there was substantial evidence that there was no arson and that he was innocent. Of course the governor of Texas is trying to cover up the investigation and fired the head of the team investigating it and installed his own lackey.
http://fathersanddoctors.blogspot.com/ Dan
Yes, the TX arson case was insane. Yet, here in NH a man was arrested because he moved his dad’s ashes to the mantel and his mom wanted them somewhere else. There’s no end to the craziness and I wish it would stop.
Without being specific about TX, I still resent the conflict of interest. Of course, in my mind I don’t picture a high pressure sales pitch. I picture him mentioning the herbs in passing and asking if there is interest. There are an awful lot of people interested in herbal medicine and it is also a legitimate field. We certainly don’t own the knowledge base on medicine. We kill more people with NSAID’s and bitch about addiction to opiates which are safer but addictive. How do we treat addiction? Send them to NA with a 95% failure rate. Maybe herbal therapy would be better.
I think it’s sad that the nurses could not approach the doc, but this clearly involves personalities. Maybe the doc was not approachable. Maybe the nurses were vindictive. Who knows?
Why is medicine held to a different standard than other professions? If a roofer sells you on a certain membrane, it may affect whether your family survives a hurricane or it could be bogus. Either way, lives are at stake. If we are to be held to this deity-like standard than show me the money, or respect, or autonomy, or SOMETHING.
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http://www.drjshousecalls.blogspot.com Dr, Mary Johnson
Ah, good-ole-boy justice. I know it well.
Perjury, for all of the hoopla about accountability and transparency in law and medicine is very rarely prosecuted as the serious crime it is – unless a DA wants to make a name from him/herself. I reported multiple felonies (on the part of “non-profit” hospital execs) back in 2003 and have yet to get the US or NCAG to even take a look. No investigation. No nothing.
The sheriff’s shenanigans sound very much like a case we in North Carolina are currently watching play out in Lincolnton. That sheriff was indicted for obstruction of justice.
I’m not prepared to let the TMB off the hook so easily. It is the pattern of these insulated/politically-incestuous state medical boards to sit on the sidelines and say/do very little while good people suffer and stew. The TMB’s stance – as well as that of the Texas Nursing Board – should be a whole lot more IN YOUR FACE in terms of protecting these nurses from what is clearly malicious prosecution.
Orac is right. The nurses did what they were supposed to do. And they should have been protected from crap like this. It never should have happened.
Same old, same old. Different day. And most folks don’t care.
Karl Riber
Any Doctor peddling herbal remedies is a quack and should loose their license to practise medicine. If a Doctor, who went through eight years of gruelling education, is trying to push “naturopathic” and “herbal” medications as a viable alternative to scientifically proven methods, then either those eight years were clearly wasted or the good Doctor’s IQ has suddenly plummeted into the mid double-digits.
Mr Fife
Trust no one!
Suuuure
Hey Mary,
“What the President is doing (without a real clue as to what he is doing) IS an “Obamanation”.”
Really? He hasnt done ANYTHING yet and you are blaming him…. Do the 8 years prior to his election even register in your head? Because this was an issue long before you had a scapegoat.
cb
so how many “real” doctors do you know that actually sell things for personal gain? yeah… they write perscriptions maybe even sell you braces or other such equipment from the hospital… but what of that goes into there pocket… none. yeah they get paid for perscribing you things but they dont sell you things and SHOULD NOT. if its a conflict of intrest to get a vacation for perscribing you drugs then its damn well a conflict of intrest to peddle fake medication to a group of people pritty much traped in a room with the dipshit.
yes i acknowlege that we dont know everything that is going on… maybe the doc was just offering advice to people that wanted to chat with him… but being stuck in an ER waiting room who dosnt want to talk to a doc? no matter what was going on he was taking advantage of people and the nurces should be rewarded for their effert to protect the people. but a doctor that persicutes nurses like this probly isnt a nice guy that would take personal/profesional advice very well, especally from a subordinate.
cb
sorry about my horrible spelling.
simon
I am outraged! But at this time I am not sure who to be outraged at! Can someone please help me?
http://fathersanddoctors.blogspot.com/ Dan
FYI, when I practiced in Florida, all the plastic surgeons and dermatologists had lines of skin care products that they sold through their office. Don’t know if that still is the case, but is that unethical?
http://www.drjshousecalls.blogspot.com Dr. Mary Johnson
“Suuure”.
I did this over at Orac’s with the Obama lovers, but I can repeat myself a little bit here.
Did you ever hear the words “hope” and “change” in the Obama campaign?
“He hasn’t done anything.” Why yes, I know that. But that does not make him blameless. Because, you see, NC&USDHHS know I’m here. The NC (Roy Cooper) & US (Eric Holder) AG’s offices know I’m here. We’ve had ten months of listening to these partisian blow-hards pontificate about healthcare reform . . . my case in North Carolina – and this case in Texas – SCREAMS about all of the reasons why we need it . . . and yet the Obama administration has done a whole lot of nothing . . . with cases that would be comparatively easy to pursue/fix (perjury is pretty much black and white – malicious prosecution can be quickly nipped in the bud) and would send a very strong message to hospitals who might trounce on medical whistle-blowers. So I’ve got to thank you for making my point.
I’ve been fighting my battle since the Clinton administration. I will assume you remember the “man from Hope” and Hillary’s village? I begged then-DHHS Secretary (Shalala) for help in enforcing the government’s own (NHSC) site agreements, and was essentially treated like I did not exist for almost nine months (DHHS desk-dwebs even parroted the beyond-warped legal postition of the hospital – until a Congressman intervened and they actually had a lawyer with a brain in Bethesda look at the case). Then they threw me one bone (the required payment of my my malpractice tail) and took another dive (completely ignoring the lost Federal funds and the destruction of a practice) – never to be heard from again – even as I legally twisted in the wind – under attack for fighting back.
But hey. Let’s do what John Kerry and John Edwards (on behalf of the the sane folks in the state of North Carolina – those of us who always knew Edwards was a poser and a fake – I’d like to apologize to the American people) and even Obama want – and create MORE public service (translation: indentured servitude) programs for young/naive/idealistic doctors to get screwed in.
North Carolina has been under the control of Democrats for nearly my entire adult life. Our medico-legal system is so corrupt and slanted towards the corporate that doctors have NO CHANCE of pulling themselves out of any hole they might fall into.
Meanwhile, our so-called “advocacy” (the AMA and state medical societies) and regulatory agencies (JCAHO and DHHS) are a huge, worthless joke.
OBTW, Obama is married to an ex-hospital executive (who is credited with helping craft a patient-dumping scheme in Chicago). Do you think my “Scapegoat-in-Chief’s” point of view on doctors might be a little scewed?
It certainly was here: http://drjshousecalls.blogspot.com/2009/08/obama-slams-pediatricians-mr-president.html
And here: http://drjshousecalls.blogspot.com/2009/08/physician-shortages-up-close-personal.html
I’d like to say one more thing – to the gutless coward who came over to my blog this morning (presumably an Obama fan directed there from here) and told me I was “another NC Rep full of sh*t” and to “keep crying”. (1) I’m an Independent. (2) You didn’t get published at Housecalls, but I’m happy to address you here. (3) Trying growing up and dropping the nasty ad hominems and maybe listening to those of us who once drank “the village’s” Koolaid and saw our lives poisoned for it. (4) I don’t cry anymore. I make the people who hurt me cry.
If Obama did not want to talk about cases like mine, he should not have brought up the subject of healthcare reform.
Thank you, Kevin, for putting up this post and giving me room to make my points.
Rilla
If the judge has any sense he’ll throw out the case against these nurses.
J. Smith
I’m a cardiothoracic ICU nurse in Florida, and I think it’s asinine that these nurses are being hauled up on charges for doing their job…which is to act as the patient’s advocate. It was absolutely appropriate for these people to question a doctor who was attempting to sell herbal remedies in a hospital ED for personal gain. Patients are in an extremely vulnerable position when they’re in the hospital or ED. This doctor appears to have been using his position as a doctor and the patient’s medical crisis to profit personally, which I believe is unethical. These nurses sould be applauded for bringing to light a situation in which a fellow medical professional was taking advantage of the patients in his care.
Lmaris
Mary apparently is under the impression that the President (this one, but not the last one) can snap his fingers and make laws by himself. Of course the last one chose to violate the constitution and used signing statements to pick and choose which laws he’s signed he’d enforce. But since President Obama remains faithful to the Constitution he swore to uphold, he’s being condemned?
This case isn’t about the President or how you don’t like him. It is about the Texas medical board, how it protects doctors at the expense of patients, and how willing it is to violate privacy themselves to allow doctors to prosecute their accusers.
And as for Dan, you still don’t seem to grasp the difference between voluntarily choosing a doctor and having one assigned without any opportunity for choice as in the ER. An ER doctor selling snake oil to his patients has them at a serious disadvantage. He has far more control of the situation than a patient who has gone to get their eyes checked. If that patient feels its a hard sell, they can walk out and go to a different doctor. An ER patient is risking his life to do that. Apples and Oranges.
And as for tort reform in Texas, there are actually fewer OB/Gyn practitioners in rural areas. Only increases are in urban centers. The only people to benefit form this are the doctors who can err at will with little cost to themselves.
Doc Stone
Once upon a time, physicians compounded and sold nearly all the medicines that they recommended to their patients. Some worried about the conflict of interest involved in both recommending and selling the medications. Meanwhile the number of medicines increased and the complexities of obtaining them, compounding them, and storing them became more and more of a challenge so that it became more common for physicians to “outsource” this ancient art of theirs to a new profession. The selling of pharmaceuticals directly to patients has never been removed completely from the scope of medical practice and it supported by law in all but a few states. Herbs have always and still constitute a part of the medical pharmaceutical armamentarium.
Oddly, Texas is one of the few states that severely restricts this ancient privilege of physicians with respect to prescription drugs. There is a valid question as to whether this is an anticompetitive antitrust violation. But what does all that have to do with non-prescription remedies?
I accept that this behavior on the face of it may seem cheesy. Cheesy however is not synonymous with unethical. It seems to me that whether or not it is unethical towards patients depends on whether he was advising and then attempting to sell remedies for the purpose of profiting himself without regard to harm to or lack of benefit to patients. If the remedies recommended were those that in his best professional judgement are those that were most likely to benefit the patients, the fact that he was to further profit by their sale does not make their sale automatically unethical. It does raise the question of his objectivity however.
It of course also raises questions of objectivity when I pay my dentist 70$ for an exam and he recommends $10,000 of gold onlays to be done by him, or when one pays a cardiologist for a consultation and the consultation result is a recommendation for $12,000 of further studies and tests–to be carried out by the cardiologist on equipment owned by him, or one is sent to an MRI scanner owned by the neurologist who declares it’s necessity. . . and on and on. Medicine is rife with conflicts of interest which is why character is a valid criterion for the profession.
Other ethical issues might of course be raised by the specific circumstance of the context of the care–the ER. Was he an employee and therefore not fully the owner of his own time while in the ER or was he billing the patients? Was the crises of emergency situations used to excessively influence vulnerable patients to agree to expenditures unrelated to resolution of their emergency? We all know that not everyone in the ER is having an emergency and that, regardless of what brought people in, advice regarding non-emergency and chronic care issues is often sought. We all also know that an incredible percentage of the prescriptions given are never filled. Can’t one argue that it is better for the patient to leave with the necessary remedies in hand?
Another question to be considered is this: Where does the notion that physicians should never sell medications (prescription or otherwise) fit in with the growing phenomenon of pharmacies themselves hiring limited license practitioners as employees to provide urgent care services on their own premises, where almost without exception the recommended remedies will then be sold?
The potential conflict of interest in pharmacy clinics is much greater, at least in theory for two reasons:
1. The ratio of pharmaceutical sale income to practitioner fee income, and therefore the pressure to bend objectivity, is potentially much greater. Physicians who sell pharmaceutical typically find them a small addition to their bottom line. For pharmacies, it is the anticipated added traffic to the pharmacy that is at the heart of the business model of clinics.
2. The non-physician practitioners hired to work in these clinics are from newly defined professions that do not have 2500 years of ethical tradition of independent objectivity bearing on them and in their relatively brief history have largely functioned as employees with duties to an employer–which is now the pharmaceutical company itself.
I bring up these questions which are not central to the main issues above because they are pertinent to some of the discussion and bear consideration. It is of some concern that the original blog labeled the behavior “inappropriate” but doesn’t demonstrate with details nor cite a final finding by the medical board. I think that judgement is prematurely echoed above. However horrified we are by what happened to the nurses, we ought to not pre-judge the original question of the ethics of his practice–a judgement which requires far more specific information than we now have.
http://www.drjshousecalls.blogspot.com Dr. Mary Johnson
Doc Stone, be it “cheesy” or unethical, going after the nurses for reporting a legitimate concern about this doctor to the TMB is fundamentally WRONG on so many levels.
Lmaris, it would seem to me that President Obama was under the mistaken impression that he could just snap his fingers and make the entire medical system bend/jump to do his bidding. If memory serves, he was going to ram reform down our throats this past summer (the Dems were acting like a bunch of sailors drunk with new power) – but some folks concerned about Constitutional checks and balances stopped him.
The Texas Medical Board is not the only medical board in the country with big problems in terms of doing right by medical whistle-blowers. I met with the President and lead attorney of the N.C. Medical Board back in June to discuss my case – a case that they freely admitted had fallen through some BIG cracks. It’s been several months, and I’ve not heard ONE WORD out of the Board or the NC/US AG’s office (calls were supposed to be made on my behalf). I’m so disgusted, I’m ready to sue the Board, JCAHO and NC/USDHHS.
If I am forced to file that lawsuit, I can guarantee you, it will be a thing of beauty.
And/so I know EXACTLY how these nurses (totally abandoned to the good-ole-boy wolves) feel.
This case – in which two nurses were fired and are being maliciously prosecuted (a crime in and of itself) for doing their duty . . . and mine – in which a Pediatrician in public/Federal (key word: FEDERAL) service was fired and maliciously battered in civil court for doing hers . . . could VERY EASILY be dealt with by the powers-that-be in the state and US Attorney General’s offices.
But cases like mine/like that of these nurses are not important enough to pursue. Incredibly, when I met with an investigator from the IRS, this is actually what I was told.
Here’s an example of what might happen if someone in the Obama adminsitration snapped those fingers: If they did not “pony up” and do the right thing by the professionals they retaliated against, the hospitals involved could lose their Certificates of Needs and their funding for various projects – even their “non-profit” status. In my case, the executives involved could be prosecuted for FEDERAL crimes (i.e. brazenly lying about the “confidentiality” of their “non-profit” books and salaries).
In other words, MUCH PRESSURE could be brought to bear against those who would retaliate against medical whistle-blowers IF the govennment (and assorted regulatory bodies) would acknowledge that the problem of retaliation exists. Maybe it would take more than a “snap” of Obama’s fingers, but it could be done a whole lot more easily than some of the other things he’s trying to ram down our throats
And it would send a very clear message that retaliation against medical whistle-blowers is not something that is going to be tolerated by the “hope and change” crowd.
HCQIA (peer reveiw) needs to be fixed. HIPPA needs to be fixed. Medical Boards should be advocates for the profession – in addition to providing discipline. DHHS needs to protect its own. JCAHO needs to wake up and stop dumping on “disruptive” doctors and nurses and start looking at the things going on that might be making them “disruptive” (like bad/corrupt administrators).
But these things have not been fixed. Bad laws are made by politicians with no clue, and good people are left to swing in the wind – because the politicians won’t take your calls if your case demonstrates a problem with their law. Since you’re not the one swinging, I totally understand why you don’t get why I’m a little put out by the abject hypocrisy I’ve witnessed on the part of the do-gooding Democratic party (both in Raleigh and Washington) my entire professional life.
Apparently now, after years of hard work trying to keep my head above water (all the while being stomped on & ignored by the likes of Hunt/Easley/Perdue/Clinton/Edwards/Perdue – because I’m just not “right people”), I’m just a warm body to see the masses of people Obama & company want to add to the Federal entitlement roles.
Speaking of the Constitution, personal property rights, and the re-distribution of “wealth” . . . as doctor (especially one in primary care) I apparently have no rights or dreams of my own. The fruits of my labor belong to someone else. I am “a dime a dozen”.
I’ve got news for the President and his team (you’re right, of course – I do not like them – mostly because of their ignorance and their arrogance): Ignoring the problems that good doctors and nurses have faced down in the current way-beyond-messed-up system is not a good formula upon which to base their precious “reform”.
Eric Holder (in the US Attorney’s office) would much rather spend his time ensuring the rights of the terrorists at Gitmo . . . making sure they have nice linens and TV’s and reading materials . . . than doing what is necessary to help productive, law-abiding citizens who have been screwed over by warped interpretations of Federal contracts and laws.
I don’t want to hear about GW (and yes, I agree, his Justice Department could have done something to help me and didn’t). You see, GW is back in Texas now. I want to know what this President – the one who made all the promises – is going to do besides posture and preen for the cameras – accepting awards he in NO WAY has earned.
pat
Where is the ACLU?
http://www.drjshousecalls.blogspot.com Dr. Mary Johnson
You’re kidding right?
The ACLU is where is ALWAYS is when it comes to protecting the civil rights of doctors and nurses.
Under the table.
Might as well be JCAHO or the AMA.
Florence
I’m a nurse at this hospital. I can assure you there is FAR MORE to this story than has been released! These nurses are NOT supported by their fellow coworkers. They’re an embarrassment to our hospital and to the nursing profession. We hope they finally get put in their place. The solicitation of outside support is only going by what information they have been provided, which is one-sided and mis-leading!!!!Time will tell and the truth will come out!Don’t be so quick to jump to their defence until the end!
http://www.drjshousecalls.blogspot.com Dr. Mary Johnson
Florence (as in Nightinggale?), perhaps you’d like to sign your real and/or last name as you fling the mud? Have you ever heard of the concept of “due process”?
For you’ve essentially made yourself an accuser with this classic “insider”/”trust me because I know more than the rest of you” comment. You’re “safe” because there’s no way the nurses, while under indictment, can counter your slur right now.
Been there done that.
I’ll be the first to acknowledge that,case there is probably a much more complicated back-story here – to which the general public is not privy. “Whistle-blower” cases are generally very convoluted.
Several issues roll into one story: (1) the doctor’s behavior – and whether it merited discipline or not, (2) the motivation & clincial/personal credibility of the nurses who reported him (i.e. was it in good or bad faith?), (3) the behavior of hospital adminstration in the matter (were they trying to cover up . . . for the doctor . . . or even for the nurses?), (4) the policies of the TMB towards medical whistle-blowers, and (5) the (fairly incomprehensible) actions of the law enforcement & prosecutors.
Whether their co-workers at the hospital “support” these women for reporting this doctor, I would suggest that prosecuting the nurses on a legally bogus charge is NOT the way to “put them in their place”.
Your comment here – which you represent to the sentiment of a number of people at the hospital (a hospital that might just be economically hurting since this story hit the fan) sounds a tad vindcitive and retaliatory to me.
It’s called bad faith – and malice. And it will get you into trouble.
The hospital’s law firm probably just collectively winced.
All of this emphasizes the reasons why anonymous complaints should carry no weight in medical peer or board review . . . it’s why whistle-blower should be required to sign their names – and be protected when it is determined they acted in good faith.
Here’s the thing: I’ve been fighting my fight for over eleven years. I had quite a few supporters amongst my coworkers (doctors and nurses) at the hospital in the beginning (many of whom told me that they were terrified to speak out for fear of losing their jobs – as I had). But as the years passed, quite a few of them got disgusted and left (moving on with their lives while I was legally battered). Meanwhile, for the most part, those who I reported stayed and flourished.
Given the bodies I have unburied in my own case, how do you think my ex-coworkers at the hospital feel about me now?
And do you think I care?
pat
I am sure that this issue is more complicated than we know. For one thing, not all the details have been made public. My concern is that I feel it’s unbelievable that two nurses should be subject to criminal charges for reporting behavior they felt to be unethical. At most it would seem that the doctor and/or hospital could bring a civil suit against them. Expressing a professional opinion should not be a crime. It seems to me that constitutional rights are being violated here.

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Two nurses face jail time for reporting a doctor to the Texas Medical Board

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