In The Spirit Of Change: I've Been Wanting To Say This For Four Years: Roch Smith, Jr., KISS MY ASS!

I did not mean to go there. I've been studiously avoiding Edward Cone's blog for quite a while now. But I was sucked back in by an N&R editorial . . . fascinated & inspired by the tenacity of a "cheripickr" on a tortuous thread . . . and then nauseated by crocodile tears.

But the tears actually led to a give & take on journalists, and how their opinions shape what they write. I posted there, referencing an e-mail conversation I was having with someone else - about my history in the GSO blogosphere:

I came to the blogosphere in 2005 - despairing of the Courier Tribune's black-out of my story in Asheboro - and answering the general invitation of John Robinson to participate in the grand experiment called "citizen journalism". I jumped in with both feet - and have experienced all the marginalization tactics you are now (and then some).

The doctor I rescued in Asheboro worked (at the time) for Asheboro Family Physicians - then owned by LeBauer which is owned by Cone. Ergo, my story is "embarrassing" not only to Randolph Hospital, but the Cone system as well. It would not look good that the Cone System employed a doctor who would have let a baby DIE rather than admit he was in over his head. It does not take a rocket scientist to connect the dots or see the hypocrisy. I have little doubt that the N&R was instructed to ignore me - and Edward Cone was given leave to dispatch me in the blogs.

Not only did Ed NOT dispatch me - he has only PISSED ME OFF MORE - and made me more determined than ever to someday see my story on 60 Minutes - or memorialized in a best-selling book - humiliating all the "right people" in the original liberal/elite GSO citizen-journalism clique who've want to shut me up and shut me down."

Predictably, Roch Smith, Jr, of We 101, popped in to tell me that, in his learned/informed estimation, my case isn't "newsworthy". You see, it's Roch's job to put the "crazy woman" in her place . . . to dismiss and discredit her before others can take interest.

I must be kept "obscure in my labor".

And I am sorry, on this Inauguration Day, where hope and change apparently apply to everyone but me, I have to admit, I just lost it. The two-by-four-upside-the-head that the We 101 Wizard has so deserved for so long got whipped out. Here is my response to Roch:

No Roch, you are a guy who sits at a computer all day long making superficial judgements about the mangled lives and sacrifices of others - while letting people like Spag fight your own oh-so-noble legal battles (I would suspect pretty much pro bono).

"I read everything you made available" is a cop-out. I've not posted everything online (as you well know) . . . a lot of it because of issues of privilege and confidentiality (and that has evolved as those involved talk openly and some cases become public record). But I've made it clear since day one that I was willing to sit down with a local journalist and share/go over all the material - even contact some of the patients and doctors involved if he/she wanted clarity and support for the story. But NONE of the citizen-journalists in Greensboro are interested - especially not the journalistic scion of the Cone family.

We have to protect the family name. It's easier to call Dr. Mary a "wack-job".

Again, I'm supposed to go tell it to Bledsoe.

Well, Jerry's busy . . . telling the other story (about another public servant who got the shaft) that the journalists at the race-baiting GSO N&R got completely, utterly WRONG.

(Brevity's not his strong point either.)

Moreover Roch, as our Edward cries his crocodile tears (Spag nailed that one on the head), your "research" (such as it is) boils it all down to me "regretting a settlement" . . . not newsworthy . . . not relevant . . . and that could not be a more pathetic, inaccurate assessment of why I, as a doctor wronged, have fought for so long.

Let me try one more time to get this through your thick skull: I am VERY, RIGHTEOUSLY ANGRY that (1) a doctor in public service was threatened - literally told that her concerns about BAD CARE and BAD BEHAVIOR were valid, but she had to "shut up or else", because it was "embarrassing" for the "non-profit" hospitals involved; (2) despite the threats, the (female) doctor STILL goes in to rescue another (male) physician who was in over his head and could not admit it . . . by ALL accounts, the actions of the lady doctor saved a baby's life . . . and again, despite the threats hanging over her head, she does what she'd supposed to do, and reports what happened (to hospital peer review and the NC Medical Board) . . . yet, in the end, the female doctor is fired - while the male is barely slapped on the hand and ultimately promoted to Chief of Staff; (3) believing in the system and hoping to cast light on what is going on, the female doctor files a lawsuit - but it is IGNORED by the local press for well over a year (in deference to the economic well-being of one of the area's largest employers) - until the hospital files it's own "SLAPP" suit - using the legal system as a weapon (on the public's dime) to fiscally bully & intimidate the doctor into silence; (4) when that does not work, and the hospital has to RUN from its own false claims, its lawyers & administrators LIE REPEATEDLY UNDER OATH in order to save some money - this is a CRIME, a fraud, and beyond contemptuous of the Court - yet the doctor, who has lost a practice and a good portion of her life to the battle, is supposed to just roll over and get over it; (5) in ALL of this, the tax-paying public (not just the "irrelevant" lady doctor) was SWINDLED out of the money that was spent to bring the doctor home and help her set up practice - a practice she would still be in today if ANYONE had treated her fairly; and (6) the SAME damned thing could happen to another young physician RIGHT NOW/TODAY and that physician would/could suffer the SAME loss & humiliation.

NOTHING HAS BEEN DONE. Our systems of medical and legal oversight DO NOT WORK. People - children - have been harmed - have died. Good doctors - trying to the right thing - have endured horrific insults to their lives and careers.

Yet the liars keep collecting their 200-400K paychecks and the doctor in this case is still on the road - at a time when Pediatricians are in shortage. And that's just cool with the lawyers running our state. Meanwhile, the fourth estate (our last/best defense against corruption) couldn't care less.

But hey, I'm just regretting a settlement. I've had it with you, Roch. How fricking/fundamentally CLUELESS can you be? HOW can you be okay with ANY this? What planet do you live on to think that this is ONLY about me being unhappy with a settlement? I have done my best not to call people names in this medium (even when provoked/sorely tempted), but your assessment of my case and what I am upset about/trying to change is just beyond MORONIC - especially since I have explained it over and over again on my blog . . . a blog that both JR and Cone delinked and you tried to ban from We 101.

Moreover, having done everything I was supposed to do - having played by every rule and jumped through every hoop and given/given/given at the office (playing no favorites and treating everyone equally), I am sick and tired of having LESS rights than your average illegal alien or crackhead Mom having her tenth welfare baby.

As a white woman, I'm actually DElighted that a black man is taking the Presidential Oath today (for all that I still think John McCain was far more qualified for and deserving of the job). Because we've got some real problems in medicine - and a lot of them have to do with things we as a society have let go on unchecked for far too long - because we were too busy pussy-footing around the smokescreens of race/guilt/entitlement and NOT dealing with reality. I have great hope that once the party in Washington (much of which has been sickening to watch) is over, we can finally confront some of these issues head-on. A black man is top dawg. No excuses.

Edward Cone's tears are fake, phony, only and all about him. He "fears" for the life of Charles Davenport - targeted by the nurse-who-wasn't. Yet he can't whip up any empathy for Dr. Mary Johnson. What if the life she saved had been his daughter?

I wonder if, as a "journalist", Edward (and the N&R) would have been more interested in the story . . . more "emotional" . . . if Dr. Mary Johnson was black?

Now I'm gonna go watch the snow. And probably cry.

I cannot stand hypocrisy . . . almost as much as I cannot stand liars. At WordUp, "tolerance" and "inclusion" are just pretty words. Emotion is false and self-serving. And so, after parsing one final insult, I've left Cone's blog behind. His brand of citizen journalism . . . Roch's brand . . . has proven ineffectual and irrelevant for this bruised and battered doctor . . . this public servant who came to them four years ago only asking . . . begging . . . for help.

I don't care what they think. Because they are wrong.

But I am taking heart. As of right now, there is a new sheriff in town. He has promised change and fair-play. He has promised a truly color-blind government that is accountable . . . a government that is responsible to all of its citizens (not just the "right" ones) . . . a government that works.

This is something I would like to see.

So, even though I think a good many of Ann Coulter's jabs are spot-on, I am going to take a leap of faith - something I have not been able to do for a very long time. I am going to believe . . . if only for a little while . . . that yes, WE (not he) can do it.

And I am going to hold President Obama . . . and those who supported him . . . to the promises they made . . .

. . . starting with accountability for two greedy, lying "non-profit" hospital administrators in Asheboro, North Carolina who treated a good doctor like dirt just because they could.

Right is right. Wrong is wrong. And if Roch Smith, Jr., the "Wizard" of the GSO blogosphere, doesn't think that fight is relevant or newsworthy, he can so kiss my ass.