Some NC Newspapers Think That Hospitals Retaliating Against Physicians Who Report Bad Care Is VERY Relevant. Just Not The N&R. Or The Courier.

One day after being banned by the N&R's John Robinson . . . for a comment precipitated by three years of arrogance and smug journalistic indifference on his part . . . my Blogfather, Mr. P forwarded me this link to the Asheville Citizen-Times.

Dr. Aloha Bryson, who resigned from the hospital (Haywood Regional Medical Center in Clyde, N.C.) in December, alleges in the lawsuit and in letters sent to the hospital’s board that two people died after mistakes, and four others weren’t properly cared for in October and November 2007.

The hospital administration pushed her out after she reported problems, Bryson said in the lawsuit.

“My client wants her job back,” said her attorney, David Wijewickrama, of Waynesville. “My client has been blackballed in the Western North Carolina medical community for being a whistleblower.”

Been there done that, got all the T-Shirts. Been hit by all those black balls (in my case, in the Piedmont). Dr. Bryson is very fortunate in that when she filed her lawsuit, someone actually reported on it. And it seems someone in Raleigh is actually paying attention . . . as opposed to diving under a desk.

Of course a whole lot of corruption has been uncovered in North Carolina healthcare between my time and hers.

Has anyone noticed that it's usually the girls who get in trouble for speaking out?

Let's review. In early 1998, within weeks of completing a three-year public service obligation to the National Health Services Corps and the NC Office of Rural Health, I was fired. I had been complaining about problems at my hometown hospital for quite some time . . . and had finally been told by the hospital brass to "shut up or else".

I still have the letter that issued the threat (yes, the idiots put it in writing).

Two nights after the threat was delivered (in the wee hours of the morning) I had to make a choice. And I chose the patient - because there really was no choice. Two weeks later I was out of a job. The doctor who screwed up and I rescued (employed by a Moses Cone affiliate) was barely slapped on the hand.

Every contract I signed - with the hospital and/or the Feds - was blatantly breached. The hospital's oh-so-honorable Board of Directors could have cared less. I spent a year going through all the right channels trying to get these people to play fair.

Every (public) dime that was spent to bring me home and "serve the underserved" was wasted as my practice was decimated and absorbed by Bob and his "team".

My lawsuit (filed in 1999) was ignored by the local newspapers (yeah, yeah, I know. It's not part of JR's "wiring").

But when Randolph Hospital used the law as a weapon and counter-sued me for "libel" in 2000 (over a confidential complaint I sent to then-USDHHS Secretary Donna Shalala - and copied to JCAHO), it was front-page news.

The tactic is called a "slapp-suit"). It's about humiliation and degredation . . . about destroying reputations . . . and fiscally wearing the defendant down so they give up. The legal fees of Randolph Hospital's well-paid executives were, of course, absorbed by the "non-profit".

But when other doctors confirmed my version of events, hospital executives had to tuck tail and run.

To minimize damages, Bob Morrison and Steven withheld public documents and perjured themselves to a settlement that David Renfro's Courier Tribune down-played as a second-page short-take.

I ultimately discovered the perjury . . . being prompted to do some digging through legal files after Randolph Hospital executives continued to treat me like dirt.

The Randolph Hospital Board of Directors and Randolph County District Attorney have known about this for over five years.

Telling the truth in a Court proceeding is the cornerstone of our legal system. I am the victim of a (white-collar) crime. And I should not have to file a lawsuit (against anyone) to get the Randolph County District Attorney to do his job.

Perjury has no statute of limitations in North Carolina. And make no mistake, I want the heads of Bob Morrison and Steven Eblin on platters.

Yet Bob Morrison and Steve Eblin still have their jobs. The hospital has never moved to make amends . . . or proper restitution based on the lies these men told. And the case has never been referred to the SBI/Attorney General (as I requested in 2003) for a full and independent criminal investigation.

The state/Feds have done NOTHING.

All of this has been a personal/professional nightmare from which I have yet to wake up.

The Asheboro City Council has know about all of this since April 2004 - when I appeared before them and begged for help. My Father (now deceased) stood with me. My appearance was not reported by the Courier Tribune. In fact, the Courier's reporter was observed to put down her pen.

Still, the Council appointed Bob Morrison to front their pre-annexation strategic-planning dance (called "Asheboro 20/20). It so totally fits that Asheboro's leaders picked a man that THEY KNEW WAS/IS A LIAR to be the face of the future they want to impose upon the rest of us.

But hey. My case is not "relevant" to current events.

John Robinson is so full of useless hot air, I cannot tell you.