This morning, while waiting for a newborn to be admitted (i.e. be put into the computer because nobody exists these days unless they are in the computer), I did a quick surf and happened upon CNN.
With a couple of clicks, I caught live coverage of the shuttle Endeavour landing. It was picture perfect.
Call me Cronkite. But it's always a wondrous thing.
Friday, July 31, 2009
Thursday, July 30, 2009
A Corona Light With Fresh Lime, Please, Mr. President
In my wilder dreams, I am invited to the White House for a "teachable moment" to discuss the abject failure of the National Health Service's physician-loan-repayment-for-service program in Asheboro, North Carolina . . .
. . . the success of these government programs recruiting and retaining primary care physicians to under-served areas being so "relevant" to healthcare reform and all . . .
. . . and the judgments of local VIP bloggers and journalists notwithstanding;)
I'm not sure I'd want Joe Biden at the table though . . . because his bad eye-job at the hands of a "specialist" (obviously having a not-so-hot day in the OR) makes me nauseous.
My drink-of-choice would be 1/2 sweet, 1/2 un-sweet tea with lemon.
But if it were a beer summit, and beer was mandatory, I'd have a Corona Light with lime.
7/31 Update: I've been a little out-of-sorts over the last couple of days . . . very disgusted with the behavior of a colleague-who-is-not-acting-like-one.
As I drifted off to sleep last night (after saying the same prayer I've said nearly every day/night for eleven years), it occurred to me: Break all the rules . . . behave like an entitled ass, and you get whatever you want . . . in this particular case, globs of media attention and even an invitation to the White House to have beer with the President.
But do your job . . . your duty . . . do it conscientiously and well . . . your only sense of entitlement being one of appreciation for the hard work you do - and of fair play when the chips are down . . . and get taken-for-granted, and stomped on and spat-on by everybody.
You could call it a teachable moment.
. . . the success of these government programs recruiting and retaining primary care physicians to under-served areas being so "relevant" to healthcare reform and all . . .
. . . and the judgments of local VIP bloggers and journalists notwithstanding;)
I'm not sure I'd want Joe Biden at the table though . . . because his bad eye-job at the hands of a "specialist" (obviously having a not-so-hot day in the OR) makes me nauseous.
My drink-of-choice would be 1/2 sweet, 1/2 un-sweet tea with lemon.
But if it were a beer summit, and beer was mandatory, I'd have a Corona Light with lime.
7/31 Update: I've been a little out-of-sorts over the last couple of days . . . very disgusted with the behavior of a colleague-who-is-not-acting-like-one.
As I drifted off to sleep last night (after saying the same prayer I've said nearly every day/night for eleven years), it occurred to me: Break all the rules . . . behave like an entitled ass, and you get whatever you want . . . in this particular case, globs of media attention and even an invitation to the White House to have beer with the President.
But do your job . . . your duty . . . do it conscientiously and well . . . your only sense of entitlement being one of appreciation for the hard work you do - and of fair play when the chips are down . . . and get taken-for-granted, and stomped on and spat-on by everybody.
You could call it a teachable moment.
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Way Too Wiped Out
There is so much to post on tonight. President Obama in Raleigh (in what amounted to a campaign stop - as opposed to a real discussion of the details). Those who oppose the Obamation's attempts at healthcare "reform" . . . also meeting in Raleigh. The N.C. State Bar waking up from its lazy/corrupt stupor to go after a legislator (really, reading some of the hyperbole in that story had me laughing out loud . . . I mean, anytime lawyers start talking about the honesty, trustworthiness, or fitness of another lawyer, it's good for a belly laugh). The Medical Board quietly parsing new legislation behind the scenes (as is always the case with that crowd, one must read the fine print and between the lines - so I've got to find the time to do that). And, of course, what I promised yesterday (Ed Cone visited my blog! He commented on my blog! I'm just pinching myself!). But I'm just way too wiped out.
Tomorrow is another day.
Tomorrow is another day.
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
The Lady Had Guts
It's been a busy day, and the promise I made in Sunday's "blogger lament" (i.e. to finally publish the letters of support parents sent to Randolph Hospital Board members and the newspaper on my behalf . . . letters that had the lawyers backtracking and board members flat out lying and the publisher of the Courier Tribune hiding under his desk) will have to wait until tomorrow. President Obama will be in North Carolina tomorrow, so maybe it's appropriate.
OBTW, Ed Cone deleted one of my comments on his blog today. I'm honored. It was acutally fairly benign. I admonished Cheripicker that blogger-king/super-journalist Ed doesn't venture out much from Word Up. You're supposed to come to him. It's a matter of "class";)
I think I will start off by linking the letter I still value most. It's from one of my favorite nurses at Randolph Hospital . . . or anywhere . . . ever.
She had guts talking back to the brass.
OBTW, Ed Cone deleted one of my comments on his blog today. I'm honored. It was acutally fairly benign. I admonished Cheripicker that blogger-king/super-journalist Ed doesn't venture out much from Word Up. You're supposed to come to him. It's a matter of "class";)
I think I will start off by linking the letter I still value most. It's from one of my favorite nurses at Randolph Hospital . . . or anywhere . . . ever.
She had guts talking back to the brass.
Conrad Murray: Please, Please, Please Spare Us The OJ Defense
All day, DRUDGE has featured two "ordinary" black Cambridge cops who stand behind their white colleague. They were articulate (as any Ivy League professor) and extraordinarily moving as they defied racial stereotypes . . . and in doing so (in my humble opinion) outclassed an American President.
You could call it a "teaching moment".
Meanwhile, across a continent, over on the west coast, cops appear to be in hot pursuit of at least a manslaughter charge against Michael Jackson's live-in doctor . . . who reportedly has admitted to regularly dosing up The Gloved One with the general anesthetic propofol in order to sleep. It makes me think the LAPD has the post-mortem results back, but has not released them.
But hey, according to his lawyers, "Murray never prescribed or administered anything that could have killed Jackson".
Guess the good doctor didn't read the label.
As a brief aside, one of the YaYa's has a son in his twenties who has lived in LA and New York City (insert hick accent for emphasis), and has hung out with some fairly big names. And when I expressed my incredulity that this particular drug was being given/taken by Jackson at home, he rolled his (very pretty) eyes at me and said, "Oh Mary, puhlease, it's LA. Even B-listers can get anything they want."
Well, okie-dokie then. This doctor from the backwoods sticks is just not hip. Of course, this doctor from the backwoods sticks doesn't have a small flotilla of lawyers delicately side-stepping a manslaughter charge on her behalf either.
Getting back on point, the doctor, Dr. Conrad Murray, is black (I've actually heard some white medical professionals say, "Thank God!"). And, in fact, if this plays out the way it looks like it's gonna play out, this was a black-on-black crime . . . all about money (medical sycophant Murray was paid $150,000/a month) . . . just in a fancy multi-million dollar mansion.
I don't know why the life and death of Michael Jackson bothers me so much. I was not what anyone could call a fan before he started carving up his face, and sleeping with boys and grabbing his crotch as a dance move.
But it does bother me. I care.
Anyway, here is what birthed this post. As I perused the commentary on the CNN story early this afternoon, a comment jumped of the screen like hot spit in the eye. Here it is . . . word for word . . . no spelling corrections:
" . . . don't think the doctor killed MJ and having Dr. Conrad as main target for killing him i think is just to ruin his reputation. I think they are only targeting him cause he is black and i could remembered just a few days ago a white police had wrongfully arrested a black professor, that President Obama requested that he appologise and the police refused. Also i could also recall that toxicology is not even out as yet and they are still making these allegation that Dr. Conrad Murray administerd detrimental drugs to MJ. It's not like they care that they care bout MJ's death. I think it's just a reason to bring down another successful black person."
Heavy sigh. Speaking as a doctor, if Dr. Conrad Murray did what it certainly looks like he did, then he deserves to be charged and prosecuted, and I don't give a rat's tail what color he is. There is no excuse. And I cannot stand behind him. For he took advantage of a man in deep pain . . . a man in desperate need of help . . . a very rich man who paid top-dollar for bad care.
And there will be no "reform" for Michael Jackson.
I am so sick of the OJ defense. Sick of it in my bones.
8/24 Update: It's official. It was homicide: Valium, Ativan, Versed, Ativan again, and Propofol!?!?!? In other words, the doctor . . . in the bedroom . . . with a needle.
Heavy sigh.
You could call it a "teaching moment".
Meanwhile, across a continent, over on the west coast, cops appear to be in hot pursuit of at least a manslaughter charge against Michael Jackson's live-in doctor . . . who reportedly has admitted to regularly dosing up The Gloved One with the general anesthetic propofol in order to sleep. It makes me think the LAPD has the post-mortem results back, but has not released them.
But hey, according to his lawyers, "Murray never prescribed or administered anything that could have killed Jackson".
Guess the good doctor didn't read the label.
As a brief aside, one of the YaYa's has a son in his twenties who has lived in LA and New York City (insert hick accent for emphasis), and has hung out with some fairly big names. And when I expressed my incredulity that this particular drug was being given/taken by Jackson at home, he rolled his (very pretty) eyes at me and said, "Oh Mary, puhlease, it's LA. Even B-listers can get anything they want."
Well, okie-dokie then. This doctor from the backwoods sticks is just not hip. Of course, this doctor from the backwoods sticks doesn't have a small flotilla of lawyers delicately side-stepping a manslaughter charge on her behalf either.
Getting back on point, the doctor, Dr. Conrad Murray, is black (I've actually heard some white medical professionals say, "Thank God!"). And, in fact, if this plays out the way it looks like it's gonna play out, this was a black-on-black crime . . . all about money (medical sycophant Murray was paid $150,000/a month) . . . just in a fancy multi-million dollar mansion.
I don't know why the life and death of Michael Jackson bothers me so much. I was not what anyone could call a fan before he started carving up his face, and sleeping with boys and grabbing his crotch as a dance move.
But it does bother me. I care.
Anyway, here is what birthed this post. As I perused the commentary on the CNN story early this afternoon, a comment jumped of the screen like hot spit in the eye. Here it is . . . word for word . . . no spelling corrections:
" . . . don't think the doctor killed MJ and having Dr. Conrad as main target for killing him i think is just to ruin his reputation. I think they are only targeting him cause he is black and i could remembered just a few days ago a white police had wrongfully arrested a black professor, that President Obama requested that he appologise and the police refused. Also i could also recall that toxicology is not even out as yet and they are still making these allegation that Dr. Conrad Murray administerd detrimental drugs to MJ. It's not like they care that they care bout MJ's death. I think it's just a reason to bring down another successful black person."
Heavy sigh. Speaking as a doctor, if Dr. Conrad Murray did what it certainly looks like he did, then he deserves to be charged and prosecuted, and I don't give a rat's tail what color he is. There is no excuse. And I cannot stand behind him. For he took advantage of a man in deep pain . . . a man in desperate need of help . . . a very rich man who paid top-dollar for bad care.
And there will be no "reform" for Michael Jackson.
I am so sick of the OJ defense. Sick of it in my bones.
8/24 Update: It's official. It was homicide: Valium, Ativan, Versed, Ativan again, and Propofol!?!?!? In other words, the doctor . . . in the bedroom . . . with a needle.
Heavy sigh.
The Not-So-Honorable, Representative John Conyers: The People Of Michigan Should IMPEACH This Idiot
Sometimes politicians say things that are so STUPID you can't help but get angry.
Very angry.
House Judiciary Chairman, John Conyers (DEMOCRAT, Michigan) seen here had this at a National Press Club luncheon.
“I love these members, they get up and say, ‘Read the bill," said Conyers. "What good is reading the bill if it’s a thousand pages and you don’t have two days and two lawyers to find out what it means after you read the bill?”
Well, Sir, it's your *&^%$#@! JOB (there are at least four days in your work week - yes?) to READ the bill and chat up the *&^%$#@! lawyers (you mean you're not one?) and KNOW what it says BEFORE you vote on it . . . because if you don't, that means that some poor schmuck in the real world will be dealing with a whole lot more than two lawyers for huge chunks of their life - in order to cope with what you were dumb enough to vote into law without reading.
Of course, my own experience with lawyers freely and broadly "interpreting" the (in my case, fairly simple) language of government agreements wouldn't be relevant to anything like that.
And if you, Sir, are too doddering and too dense to do that . . . then you need to GET THE HELL OUT OF WASHINGTON.
One thing is for sure. This ain't "change".
Very angry.
House Judiciary Chairman, John Conyers (DEMOCRAT, Michigan) seen here had this at a National Press Club luncheon.
“I love these members, they get up and say, ‘Read the bill," said Conyers. "What good is reading the bill if it’s a thousand pages and you don’t have two days and two lawyers to find out what it means after you read the bill?”
Well, Sir, it's your *&^%$#@! JOB (there are at least four days in your work week - yes?) to READ the bill and chat up the *&^%$#@! lawyers (you mean you're not one?) and KNOW what it says BEFORE you vote on it . . . because if you don't, that means that some poor schmuck in the real world will be dealing with a whole lot more than two lawyers for huge chunks of their life - in order to cope with what you were dumb enough to vote into law without reading.
Of course, my own experience with lawyers freely and broadly "interpreting" the (in my case, fairly simple) language of government agreements wouldn't be relevant to anything like that.
And if you, Sir, are too doddering and too dense to do that . . . then you need to GET THE HELL OUT OF WASHINGTON.
One thing is for sure. This ain't "change".
Oh Come All Ye Suckers And Gaze Upon The-Snake-Oil-In-A-Pretty-Progressive-Package That President Obama Is Coming To Raleigh To Sell You
My Blogfather, otherwise known as Dallas, otherwise known as "Mr. P", otherwise known as "Ticker", sent me a link to a post on his blog today. It summarizes the finer points of the bill that the President wants the American people to support/accept in his zeal to "reform" healthcare.
I must admit I've not sat down and read all of the House's Healthcare Bill (posted in its 1018 page entirety here). Being a lowly grunt on those "front lines", I've not had the time. I have read various rants about bits and pieces of the bill in the blogosphere.
But there's little question in my mind about the President's agenda. It's called Political Pandering 101 . . . wealth re-distribution (in order to buy votes and guarantee power to the enlightened and diverse Democratic Party for years to come). And his plans will most certainly ensure a future of indentured servitude to a socialist state for me and my kind.
Of course, I got royally screwed in indentured servitude to the government before . . . back when another passel of do-gooding Dems were in power in Washington (and Raleigh).
Nobody in government "oversight" cared about little ol' me. Doctors like me were "a dime a dozen". Even though I'm not. We aren't.
Today, I'm going to sit down and go through the points "P" posted and compare them page by page with the House Bill. Despite all of the AMA's and Kevin Pho's reassurances, the little bit I've been able to do so far is downright scary.
It look like that pretty soon, a whole lot of people are going to find out how it feels to be little ol' me. Those who close their eyes to the past . . . who refuse to learn from it . . . are doomed to repeat it.
And it appears we have reason (see page 30) to be very concerned about who becomes Surgeon General.
Because that person is going to have a WHOLE LOT OF POWER.
I must admit I've not sat down and read all of the House's Healthcare Bill (posted in its 1018 page entirety here). Being a lowly grunt on those "front lines", I've not had the time. I have read various rants about bits and pieces of the bill in the blogosphere.
But there's little question in my mind about the President's agenda. It's called Political Pandering 101 . . . wealth re-distribution (in order to buy votes and guarantee power to the enlightened and diverse Democratic Party for years to come). And his plans will most certainly ensure a future of indentured servitude to a socialist state for me and my kind.
Of course, I got royally screwed in indentured servitude to the government before . . . back when another passel of do-gooding Dems were in power in Washington (and Raleigh).
Nobody in government "oversight" cared about little ol' me. Doctors like me were "a dime a dozen". Even though I'm not. We aren't.
Today, I'm going to sit down and go through the points "P" posted and compare them page by page with the House Bill. Despite all of the AMA's and Kevin Pho's reassurances, the little bit I've been able to do so far is downright scary.
It look like that pretty soon, a whole lot of people are going to find out how it feels to be little ol' me. Those who close their eyes to the past . . . who refuse to learn from it . . . are doomed to repeat it.
And it appears we have reason (see page 30) to be very concerned about who becomes Surgeon General.
Because that person is going to have a WHOLE LOT OF POWER.
Jihad, Southern Style
Still mulling this over. Terroist plots and cells hatched in Johnston County, North Carolina?
They were living "simply, quietly and kindly". Right under Roy Cooper's nose.
I didn't bother commenting on the story. I could tell the thread was going to get shut down.
They were living "simply, quietly and kindly". Right under Roy Cooper's nose.
I didn't bother commenting on the story. I could tell the thread was going to get shut down.
I Submit "Change"
I suppose so. GW did most of his vacationing at his eco-friendly/"green" Texas ranch (I know comparing his digs to those of Nobel-prize-winner Al Gore is lost on all the "progressives" out there).
Obama says, "Let 'em eat cake, I'm going to the Vineyard".
Obama says, "Let 'em eat cake, I'm going to the Vineyard".
Monday, July 27, 2009
I Wonder If Hasbro Will Modify It's Characters And Game Pieces?
If AP reports are correct, it appears, in our little game of "Clue", my "suggestion" was correct.
The "D" however, was not Demoral, but Diprivan (Propofol). Incredible. Just incredible.
The "D" however, was not Demoral, but Diprivan (Propofol). Incredible. Just incredible.
This Means WAR: Kevin MD Is A Total Blogging HACK For Obama's Agenda And The AMA
As regular readers know, lately I've been put out with Kevin Pho, of Kevin MD.
Kevin has really declared himself as a total hack for the AMA (American Medical Association) . . . whose definition of physician "advocacy" over the years has translated to selling the rank and file down the river. I could respect his position if he/the AMA tolerated dissent.
But they've got the Dems "progressive" playbook down pat. Silence/ban/marginalize/delete. AMA President James Rohack puts up a post at Kevin's and comments are closed.
Shades of Cone/JR and the GSO crew. Lamentable.
And/so you've got ask yourself, if it's so important to pull back that veil, why IS (don't you just love that word) that?
Right now, as Obama's healthcare agenda implodes, Kevin is trying to rehab President Obama's pick for Surgeon General, Regina Benjamin . . . who is being (unfairly, I think) targeted by critics because (of all things) they think she's fat.
It's an especially low blow when there are other things to question more relevant to the problems at hand.
I'm wondering if Kevin is carrying the deep blue water because he wants to be nominated if her nomination tanks.
I posted a comment on the thread, knowing full well that Kevin would probably delete it. You see, although he "sympathizes" and "gets it" when it comes to my situation, I've been barred from discussing my past experience on his blog.
I saved it.
The comment would have been number seven by my count.
I'm "large-boned" myself, so I don't understand the business about the weight. The points already made here are good ones. Dr. Benjamin will probably live longer than some TV-screen-perfect, pencil-thin diva (ala a female Gupta), and while she may be a little hefty, she's not fat.I don't understand the business about the weight - and the points already made here are good ones. She'll probably live longer than some TV-screen-perfect, pencil-thin diva (ala a female Gupta), and while she may be a little hefty, she's not fat.
There is a different issue for me, and it's hard to address it here because of Dr. Pho's previous admonishment that I cannot discuss my past experience in public service on this blog (although everyone else here can talk all day about their life experiences - even when they're not signing their real names) because it annoys some his nameless readers (probably the ones that belong to the AMA and don't allow comments on their posts).
President Obama is billing this woman as an NHSC (National Health Service Corps) "success story" (it reminds me of John Edwards touting the same kinds of programs in his Presidential campaign, while completely ignoring the abject failure of one just a few miles from the mill town he bragged about coming from).
Nevermind that being in hock up to your eyebrows to keep your rural clinics open in the face of natural and man-made disasters is not my definition of "success".
If Obama wants to talk about REAL reform he needs to acknowledge the failures or programs like this - be the sad/sorry story of Dr. Mary Johnson's return to her hometown . . . or the fact that Dr. Regina Benjamin was left to struggle - after the government dropped the relative pittance it did to pay off her medical school loans, and then ran.
The NHSC's "mission" was not accomplished because of the government. The "mission" was accomplished because, "fat" or not, Benjamin appears to be a woman of determination and substance.
She is still In Louisiana (against hard odds) because she chose to stand and fight. I am not in Asheboro, North Carolina because I fought just as hard and lost (even though techincally, I "won") . . . because the fight was rigged. And it's a-okay with the government I served that it was rigged. Because, in the words of the "non-profit" administrator who kicked me to the curb for defying his asinine edicts in order to save a child's life, "Good Pediatricians are a dime a dozen".
Reform that. For both of us.
OBTW, if this comment is deleted, it will be posted on my blog with appropriate commentary and links.
The language is clean. The criticism (of Kevin, the NHSC and the President/his party) is fair and factually-based. Oh, and I signed my name. There is simply no justification for deleting this comment.
Unless you're a hack and afraid of the truth in the comment.
I thought about closing my own comments on this post. Nope. I'll just continue to moderate them.
And I'll play fair.
Kevin has really declared himself as a total hack for the AMA (American Medical Association) . . . whose definition of physician "advocacy" over the years has translated to selling the rank and file down the river. I could respect his position if he/the AMA tolerated dissent.
But they've got the Dems "progressive" playbook down pat. Silence/ban/marginalize/delete. AMA President James Rohack puts up a post at Kevin's and comments are closed.
Shades of Cone/JR and the GSO crew. Lamentable.
And/so you've got ask yourself, if it's so important to pull back that veil, why IS (don't you just love that word) that?
Right now, as Obama's healthcare agenda implodes, Kevin is trying to rehab President Obama's pick for Surgeon General, Regina Benjamin . . . who is being (unfairly, I think) targeted by critics because (of all things) they think she's fat.
It's an especially low blow when there are other things to question more relevant to the problems at hand.
I'm wondering if Kevin is carrying the deep blue water because he wants to be nominated if her nomination tanks.
I posted a comment on the thread, knowing full well that Kevin would probably delete it. You see, although he "sympathizes" and "gets it" when it comes to my situation, I've been barred from discussing my past experience on his blog.
I saved it.
The comment would have been number seven by my count.
I'm "large-boned" myself, so I don't understand the business about the weight. The points already made here are good ones. Dr. Benjamin will probably live longer than some TV-screen-perfect, pencil-thin diva (ala a female Gupta), and while she may be a little hefty, she's not fat.I don't understand the business about the weight - and the points already made here are good ones. She'll probably live longer than some TV-screen-perfect, pencil-thin diva (ala a female Gupta), and while she may be a little hefty, she's not fat.
There is a different issue for me, and it's hard to address it here because of Dr. Pho's previous admonishment that I cannot discuss my past experience in public service on this blog (although everyone else here can talk all day about their life experiences - even when they're not signing their real names) because it annoys some his nameless readers (probably the ones that belong to the AMA and don't allow comments on their posts).
President Obama is billing this woman as an NHSC (National Health Service Corps) "success story" (it reminds me of John Edwards touting the same kinds of programs in his Presidential campaign, while completely ignoring the abject failure of one just a few miles from the mill town he bragged about coming from).
Nevermind that being in hock up to your eyebrows to keep your rural clinics open in the face of natural and man-made disasters is not my definition of "success".
If Obama wants to talk about REAL reform he needs to acknowledge the failures or programs like this - be the sad/sorry story of Dr. Mary Johnson's return to her hometown . . . or the fact that Dr. Regina Benjamin was left to struggle - after the government dropped the relative pittance it did to pay off her medical school loans, and then ran.
The NHSC's "mission" was not accomplished because of the government. The "mission" was accomplished because, "fat" or not, Benjamin appears to be a woman of determination and substance.
She is still In Louisiana (against hard odds) because she chose to stand and fight. I am not in Asheboro, North Carolina because I fought just as hard and lost (even though techincally, I "won") . . . because the fight was rigged. And it's a-okay with the government I served that it was rigged. Because, in the words of the "non-profit" administrator who kicked me to the curb for defying his asinine edicts in order to save a child's life, "Good Pediatricians are a dime a dozen".
Reform that. For both of us.
OBTW, if this comment is deleted, it will be posted on my blog with appropriate commentary and links.
The language is clean. The criticism (of Kevin, the NHSC and the President/his party) is fair and factually-based. Oh, and I signed my name. There is simply no justification for deleting this comment.
Unless you're a hack and afraid of the truth in the comment.
I thought about closing my own comments on this post. Nope. I'll just continue to moderate them.
And I'll play fair.
Sunday, July 26, 2009
This Blogger's Lament
I'm still pondering Cone's blogger's lament. For something that was originally billed as a grand treatise on local blogging and local bloggers, it felt flat and empty.
And that's not because Cone never poked out an e-mail . . . or picked up the phone to call me (because there are a world of colorful characters in the local ether to choose from). It's because he did not deliver.
Of course, it's not the first time.
I also lament, but for different reasons . . . the primary one being that the Greensboro News and Record never lived up to its promises . . . the ones that first brought me to the blogosphere in 2005, the day after my Father died. Since I (naively and enthusiastically) dived in way back when, I've been banned and de-linked and generally treated like pond scum by people who like to tell the world that they are so "progressive" and enlightened and that justice is for everyone.
Just not Mary Johnson.
Cone says people acted like people. I say people acted like self-interested partisan jerks.
On that note, and with President Obama coming to Raleigh this week to push his healthcare agenda, I thought I'd get back to a project that sort of fell by the wayside earlier this summer. It fell by the wayside because I was the only Pediatrician covering hospital call at a small rural hospital 24/7 for almost three months straight. I got a little bogged down. And I came very close to burning-out, and giving up completely on the assignment and the community. But I've finally gotten some help and relief . . . my schedule is settling back into what I originally signed-on for and envisioned . . . and I hope & think it can all work out. My life will remain very compartmentalized, but it's a livable life.
I really do like the area - and the hospital . . . and especially the nurses I work with. I laugh a lot with these ladies. Work, even hard/difficult work, is rewarding and (dare I say it?) fun.
We primary care providers spend a lot of time waiting and hoping for the time things will get better and sail smoothly.
There was a time in Asheboro that I could almost see the light at the end of the tunnel. We came so close to blue skies and smooth sailing. When I think about that (very brief period of) time, I want to cry. Turns out the light was an oncoming train. And I still have the track-marks on my head and the black hole in my heart. Some wounds never heal.
Getting back to the reason I am practicing in Eastern North Carolina as opposed to the hometown where I still maintain my primary residence (one of the Yas lives in my home as a permanent house-sitter . . . it's a co-dependant relationship that works well for both of us), in honor of President Obama's upcoming visit to North Carolina, I am going to pull out the legal files again and start publishing the letters from parents who were very happy with my work and my service to them . . . and extremely unhappy with Randolph Hospital for kicking me to the curb (with no fair warning or notice to them).
These are the letters & opinions that Randolph Hospital Board members IGNORED (there's just no other way to put it) in deference to a few outspoken people with grudges or agendas. Board members, in fact, responded to these parents with half-truths and outright lies about what was actually going on (in carefully-crafted cookie-cutter letters - courtesy of the hospital's corporate attorneys who, in truth, screwed up and were scrambling to cover their asses) . . . because their executives, Bob Morrison and Steven Eblin, had to be protected at all costs.
These are also the letters that Asheboro's local daily newspaper, the Courier Tribune, would not print (David Renfro being bought and paid for) . . . and the letters that the Greensboro News & Record has not seen. You see, despite the fact I've been pouring my guts out for four years, the kings of "citizen journalism" at the N&R deem what happened to Dr. Mary Johnson, in public service during the Clinton administration, "irrelevant" to any of the reasons why healthcare needs reform. They've never been able to spare a reporter for the few hours it might take to actually look at the evidence proving that two "non-profit" hospital executives committed crimes in their zeal to keep most of Asheboro's Pediatric "business" to themselves . . .
. . . it's just like Edward Cone, the mighty blogger-journalist, wants his subjects to come to him.
I really do envy the folks at Lake Norman Bath. They actually have a newspaper.
These are also the letters that Bob Morrison and Steven Eblin did not want read in open Court.
I digress. Tomorrow, or the next day (depending on how things go), I shall start publishing the letters . . . one at a time . . . until I've gone through the file.
These letters are from what I like to call Asheboro's "wrong people" . . . the ordinary folks left high and dry . . . doctorless and angry because Randolph Hospital executives were too busy sucking-up to "VIP's" like Cheryl Freeman and Mick Irwin to care about the truth . . . or ethics . . . or simple right and wrong.
Speaking as the "dime a dozen" Pediatrician who got shafted in the MOTHER of all government-service shafts, I think it's a good way to showcase what's wrong with healthcare . . . especially healthcare oversight in North Carolina.
I think it's also a good way to demonstrate what I "lament" most about blogging: That newspapers these days, for all of their pretty talk about impartiality and accountability and transparency, just don't give a damn about "ordinary" people, their problems or the injustices they face/fight . . .
. . . they do not care about those of us who do not bear a name like Cone.
*Bleary-eyed Monday morning Addendum: This post was tweaked a bit this morning.
And that's not because Cone never poked out an e-mail . . . or picked up the phone to call me (because there are a world of colorful characters in the local ether to choose from). It's because he did not deliver.
Of course, it's not the first time.
I also lament, but for different reasons . . . the primary one being that the Greensboro News and Record never lived up to its promises . . . the ones that first brought me to the blogosphere in 2005, the day after my Father died. Since I (naively and enthusiastically) dived in way back when, I've been banned and de-linked and generally treated like pond scum by people who like to tell the world that they are so "progressive" and enlightened and that justice is for everyone.
Just not Mary Johnson.
Cone says people acted like people. I say people acted like self-interested partisan jerks.
On that note, and with President Obama coming to Raleigh this week to push his healthcare agenda, I thought I'd get back to a project that sort of fell by the wayside earlier this summer. It fell by the wayside because I was the only Pediatrician covering hospital call at a small rural hospital 24/7 for almost three months straight. I got a little bogged down. And I came very close to burning-out, and giving up completely on the assignment and the community. But I've finally gotten some help and relief . . . my schedule is settling back into what I originally signed-on for and envisioned . . . and I hope & think it can all work out. My life will remain very compartmentalized, but it's a livable life.
I really do like the area - and the hospital . . . and especially the nurses I work with. I laugh a lot with these ladies. Work, even hard/difficult work, is rewarding and (dare I say it?) fun.
We primary care providers spend a lot of time waiting and hoping for the time things will get better and sail smoothly.
There was a time in Asheboro that I could almost see the light at the end of the tunnel. We came so close to blue skies and smooth sailing. When I think about that (very brief period of) time, I want to cry. Turns out the light was an oncoming train. And I still have the track-marks on my head and the black hole in my heart. Some wounds never heal.
Getting back to the reason I am practicing in Eastern North Carolina as opposed to the hometown where I still maintain my primary residence (one of the Yas lives in my home as a permanent house-sitter . . . it's a co-dependant relationship that works well for both of us), in honor of President Obama's upcoming visit to North Carolina, I am going to pull out the legal files again and start publishing the letters from parents who were very happy with my work and my service to them . . . and extremely unhappy with Randolph Hospital for kicking me to the curb (with no fair warning or notice to them).
These are the letters & opinions that Randolph Hospital Board members IGNORED (there's just no other way to put it) in deference to a few outspoken people with grudges or agendas. Board members, in fact, responded to these parents with half-truths and outright lies about what was actually going on (in carefully-crafted cookie-cutter letters - courtesy of the hospital's corporate attorneys who, in truth, screwed up and were scrambling to cover their asses) . . . because their executives, Bob Morrison and Steven Eblin, had to be protected at all costs.
These are also the letters that Asheboro's local daily newspaper, the Courier Tribune, would not print (David Renfro being bought and paid for) . . . and the letters that the Greensboro News & Record has not seen. You see, despite the fact I've been pouring my guts out for four years, the kings of "citizen journalism" at the N&R deem what happened to Dr. Mary Johnson, in public service during the Clinton administration, "irrelevant" to any of the reasons why healthcare needs reform. They've never been able to spare a reporter for the few hours it might take to actually look at the evidence proving that two "non-profit" hospital executives committed crimes in their zeal to keep most of Asheboro's Pediatric "business" to themselves . . .
. . . it's just like Edward Cone, the mighty blogger-journalist, wants his subjects to come to him.
I really do envy the folks at Lake Norman Bath. They actually have a newspaper.
These are also the letters that Bob Morrison and Steven Eblin did not want read in open Court.
I digress. Tomorrow, or the next day (depending on how things go), I shall start publishing the letters . . . one at a time . . . until I've gone through the file.
These letters are from what I like to call Asheboro's "wrong people" . . . the ordinary folks left high and dry . . . doctorless and angry because Randolph Hospital executives were too busy sucking-up to "VIP's" like Cheryl Freeman and Mick Irwin to care about the truth . . . or ethics . . . or simple right and wrong.
Speaking as the "dime a dozen" Pediatrician who got shafted in the MOTHER of all government-service shafts, I think it's a good way to showcase what's wrong with healthcare . . . especially healthcare oversight in North Carolina.
I think it's also a good way to demonstrate what I "lament" most about blogging: That newspapers these days, for all of their pretty talk about impartiality and accountability and transparency, just don't give a damn about "ordinary" people, their problems or the injustices they face/fight . . .
. . . they do not care about those of us who do not bear a name like Cone.
*Bleary-eyed Monday morning Addendum: This post was tweaked a bit this morning.
Welcome To North Carolina, President Obama: Put That In Your "Crucible" And Stir It
The N&O is very excited about Obama's upcoming visit to Raleigh. North Carolina is a "crucible" for the great healthcare debate. The commentary has been lively as the story quickly moved from featured to sidebar. I left my two cents and bowed out to let others brawl:
The President nominated an NHSC (National Health Service Corps) "success story" for Surgeon General (if you call being in hock up to your eyebrows in order to keep your clinics open "success").
If he comes to Raleigh next week, and wants to talk to this NHSC "total-failure-of-the-mission-in-Asheboro-N.C. story" (please see the sidebar at Dr. J's Housecalls) . . . if he wants to HEAR and LEARN from what went wrong (and OBTW maybe help fix it) . . . then I will believe that he really wants REAL reform . . . and that "change" might be real.
Otherwise President Obama is just blowing smoke - just like every Democrat we've sent to Raleigh or Washington since Bill and Hill Clinton.
The President nominated an NHSC (National Health Service Corps) "success story" for Surgeon General (if you call being in hock up to your eyebrows in order to keep your clinics open "success").
If he comes to Raleigh next week, and wants to talk to this NHSC "total-failure-of-the-mission-in-Asheboro-N.C. story" (please see the sidebar at Dr. J's Housecalls) . . . if he wants to HEAR and LEARN from what went wrong (and OBTW maybe help fix it) . . . then I will believe that he really wants REAL reform . . . and that "change" might be real.
Otherwise President Obama is just blowing smoke - just like every Democrat we've sent to Raleigh or Washington since Bill and Hill Clinton.
What Mary Sleazely Deserves: Poop In Her Hand! Poop In Her Hand!
The N&O has yet another article up today on Mary Sleazely's appeal of her termination from NCSU. Apparently, the underlings kept logs of her coming and goings (like to Southport four days a week). Nice work if you can get it. Of course, you can only get it if you're sleeping with the Governor.
I love this excerpt (it's in blue because it's just so "progressive"): In 2006, (former N.C. State Provost Larry Nielson) wrote to her: "Although I haven't seen or heard about your teaching (except from you), I am quite confident that your teaching has also been successful.
Can't you just hear the sucking noises?
I am surely going to Hell, because in terms of what "Queen Mary" deserves at this point in the game of sticking it to her former subjects, all I could think about was the three spy gerbils behind bars chirping, "Poop in her hand, Poop in her hand!"
I love this excerpt (it's in blue because it's just so "progressive"): In 2006, (former N.C. State Provost Larry Nielson) wrote to her: "Although I haven't seen or heard about your teaching (except from you), I am quite confident that your teaching has also been successful.
Can't you just hear the sucking noises?
I am surely going to Hell, because in terms of what "Queen Mary" deserves at this point in the game of sticking it to her former subjects, all I could think about was the three spy gerbils behind bars chirping, "Poop in her hand, Poop in her hand!"
Channeling My Inner Catholic As Cone "Laments"
Joe's out for a while, so I feel obligated to pick up his "Catholic" slack;) I know it's way back in the family tree somewhere.
Without much comment for the moment because I'm still absorbing it (except that if this procedure was truly so "immediately life-threatening" and "necessary" at the time, why couldn't the nursing supervisor jump in and help out . . . instead of "forcing" an employee with a conscientious objection to do it?), I present the story of a Brooklyn nurse "forced" to assist in a late-term abortion.
One thing is for certain. Win or lose, the hospital is going to PAY on this one.
And based on what I'm reading in this story (coercion, outright lying, threats, and retaliation), it should.
Of course, I wouldn't know anything about coercion, outright lying, threats and retaliation for following one's conscience. And what I know isn't "relevant" to what's going on these days in medicine.
OBTW, on a related note, we in the GSO blogosphere waited WEEKS for this?
When I stop yawning, I'll try to get something up.
Without much comment for the moment because I'm still absorbing it (except that if this procedure was truly so "immediately life-threatening" and "necessary" at the time, why couldn't the nursing supervisor jump in and help out . . . instead of "forcing" an employee with a conscientious objection to do it?), I present the story of a Brooklyn nurse "forced" to assist in a late-term abortion.
One thing is for certain. Win or lose, the hospital is going to PAY on this one.
And based on what I'm reading in this story (coercion, outright lying, threats, and retaliation), it should.
Of course, I wouldn't know anything about coercion, outright lying, threats and retaliation for following one's conscience. And what I know isn't "relevant" to what's going on these days in medicine.
OBTW, on a related note, we in the GSO blogosphere waited WEEKS for this?
When I stop yawning, I'll try to get something up.
Saturday, July 25, 2009
When Stupid Gets Stupider: I Present For Your Consideration, John Mayhew, Spokesman For The Lincoln County Sherff's Department
I hate to disappoint, but as stupid as this is, it has nothing to do with President Nifong.
Late last night, bleary-eyed and head pounding after composing several posts, I made my last visit to Fec's. It takes a lot to make Fec's head hurt (I'm not so lucky), so I did not wait until morning to follow the link.
Wrap your head around this:
A criminal summons has been issued for the editor and publisher of news@norman, alleging that he harassed the spokesman for Lincoln County Sheriff Tim Daugherty.
Lincoln County Magistrate Paige Peeler Beale confirmed Friday that she signed a summons for Ken H. Fortenberry to appear in court to answer the complaint filed by Jon Mayhew, operator of carolinascoop.com and spokesman for Sheriff Daugherty.
Like many of the astounded readers of Lake Norman Bath, I blinked, my eyes bulged, I could not breathe, I almost wet myself in RAGE.
You see, a few years back - prodded by all the oh-so-progressive & enlightened know-it-alls in the Greensboro blogosphere, I printed out my criminal complaint, marched over the to Randolph County Sheriff's Department and, as Jane Q. Citizen, tried to swear out a warrant against Robert Morrison and Steven Eblin for perjury, contempt and fraud.
I was told I could not swear out the warrant!?! I was TURNED AWAY.
I was referred back to the District Attorneys (that would be Garland Yates, Andy Gresgon, and King Dozier) who had already refused to refer this case to the North Carolina Attorney General's Office (where a half-dozen lawyers and an off-duty judge have opined it BELONGS).
Sans investigation, Garland doesn't "think" a crime was committed.
In short, my CRIMINAL ACCUSATIONS against the well-connected executives of "non-profit" Randolph Hospital HAVE NEVER BEEN PROPERLY INVESTIGATED BY LOCAL, STATE or FEDERAL LAW ENFORCEMENT.
It's not important enough for anyone to care. I'm supposed to "move on" and get over it.
But this Mayhew clown, who apparently has never heard of the First Amendment, can walk into the magistrate's office in Lincoln County and drag a newspaper reporter to court for "harassment" (read the story - I cannot make this stuff up!).
In my meeting with the Medical Board last month, the Board's lead attorney blinked and said, "You're accusing your District Attorney of corruption."
Well yeah, Bub. Damned straight I am.
It's been a STONE WALL. The lawyers here in the great state of North Carolina call it "habitual intemperance". But don't let the big words fool you. The fact that they have a name for it does not mean they do anything about it.
But ALL of this is a-okay with high-minded blogger royalty like Ed Cone and Sue Polinsky and Roch Smith Jr. and (lest we forget) GSO N&R Editor & "citizen journalism" king, John Robinson.
Let's review what they don't think is newsworthy: A home-grown doctor in public service gets unjustly fired for standing up to the amoral/greedy cretins running her mill-town hospital, and saves a baby's life. Her practice, built with state and Federal money is destroyed. Idiot that he is, one of the executives involved opines that, "Good Pediatricians are a dime a dozen." When the doctor dares to fight back against the mill-town kings (despite what John Edwards used to say, life in a mill town is not always so idyllic), she gets sued for telling the government she served the truth. To top it all off, she gets swindled at settlement - after those same amoral/greedy cretins lie their butts off in discovery and negotiate a deal on their lies. Throughout all of it, our state and Federal systems of oversight and accountability have been proven to be a meaningless, pathetic JOKE.
(You know, if the government had just enforced some of the laws it already had, and gotten rid of all the bad apples, we might not need so much healthcare reform now.)
That's ALL a-okay with Ed and Sue and Roch and John (and David Renfro). It's not "relevant" to anything.
I posted a comment at Fec's and at News@Norman.
And you know what? Unlike the Courier Tribune (you know Asheboro's sad, pathetic, in-the-hospital's-pockets RAG that once splattered the headline I was a "liar" all over it's front page on a Sunday morning . . . but could only manage a second page "short take" to "report" my legal "victory"a few YEARS later), NewsNorman posted my comment.
You see, it's a real newspaper.
Figuratively speaking (figuratively, because I don't want the idiots in the Lincoln County Sherriff's Department conducting illegal searches on my blog) I hope Ken Fortenberry splatters John Mayhew all over the courthouse wall.
This is America, people! Please wake up!
Afternoon Update: The Charlotter Observer has picked up the story. Lake Norman Bath rocks.
Of course, in order to rock, it had to have some help from local journalists . . .
. . . journalists who had not sold their souls.
7/27 Update: This is for the brave (unpublished here) anon from Hickory, N.C. (and it appears not a fan of Lake Norman Bath) who suggested that I'd be more worthy of help if I cleaned up my "mouth" and my "attitude" . . . and "upgraded my vocablulary to sound like high school graduate".
First, that was recently addressed here . . . and even earlier, here.
And second, this DOCTOR spent/wasted YEARS of her life very earnestly and politely and patiently and eloqently begging and pleading with well-connected and/or well-named liars and thugs (from Asheboro all the way to Washington) to play fair.
It didn't work. I've been treated like DIRT.
And/so I'm pissed off. And I'm here. DEAL WITH IT. Come back when you can sign your name to the insults you hurl, you GUTLESS wonder.
Late last night, bleary-eyed and head pounding after composing several posts, I made my last visit to Fec's. It takes a lot to make Fec's head hurt (I'm not so lucky), so I did not wait until morning to follow the link.
Wrap your head around this:
A criminal summons has been issued for the editor and publisher of news@norman, alleging that he harassed the spokesman for Lincoln County Sheriff Tim Daugherty.
Lincoln County Magistrate Paige Peeler Beale confirmed Friday that she signed a summons for Ken H. Fortenberry to appear in court to answer the complaint filed by Jon Mayhew, operator of carolinascoop.com and spokesman for Sheriff Daugherty.
Like many of the astounded readers of Lake Norman Bath, I blinked, my eyes bulged, I could not breathe, I almost wet myself in RAGE.
You see, a few years back - prodded by all the oh-so-progressive & enlightened know-it-alls in the Greensboro blogosphere, I printed out my criminal complaint, marched over the to Randolph County Sheriff's Department and, as Jane Q. Citizen, tried to swear out a warrant against Robert Morrison and Steven Eblin for perjury, contempt and fraud.
I was told I could not swear out the warrant!?! I was TURNED AWAY.
I was referred back to the District Attorneys (that would be Garland Yates, Andy Gresgon, and King Dozier) who had already refused to refer this case to the North Carolina Attorney General's Office (where a half-dozen lawyers and an off-duty judge have opined it BELONGS).
Sans investigation, Garland doesn't "think" a crime was committed.
In short, my CRIMINAL ACCUSATIONS against the well-connected executives of "non-profit" Randolph Hospital HAVE NEVER BEEN PROPERLY INVESTIGATED BY LOCAL, STATE or FEDERAL LAW ENFORCEMENT.
It's not important enough for anyone to care. I'm supposed to "move on" and get over it.
But this Mayhew clown, who apparently has never heard of the First Amendment, can walk into the magistrate's office in Lincoln County and drag a newspaper reporter to court for "harassment" (read the story - I cannot make this stuff up!).
In my meeting with the Medical Board last month, the Board's lead attorney blinked and said, "You're accusing your District Attorney of corruption."
Well yeah, Bub. Damned straight I am.
It's been a STONE WALL. The lawyers here in the great state of North Carolina call it "habitual intemperance". But don't let the big words fool you. The fact that they have a name for it does not mean they do anything about it.
But ALL of this is a-okay with high-minded blogger royalty like Ed Cone and Sue Polinsky and Roch Smith Jr. and (lest we forget) GSO N&R Editor & "citizen journalism" king, John Robinson.
Let's review what they don't think is newsworthy: A home-grown doctor in public service gets unjustly fired for standing up to the amoral/greedy cretins running her mill-town hospital, and saves a baby's life. Her practice, built with state and Federal money is destroyed. Idiot that he is, one of the executives involved opines that, "Good Pediatricians are a dime a dozen." When the doctor dares to fight back against the mill-town kings (despite what John Edwards used to say, life in a mill town is not always so idyllic), she gets sued for telling the government she served the truth. To top it all off, she gets swindled at settlement - after those same amoral/greedy cretins lie their butts off in discovery and negotiate a deal on their lies. Throughout all of it, our state and Federal systems of oversight and accountability have been proven to be a meaningless, pathetic JOKE.
(You know, if the government had just enforced some of the laws it already had, and gotten rid of all the bad apples, we might not need so much healthcare reform now.)
That's ALL a-okay with Ed and Sue and Roch and John (and David Renfro). It's not "relevant" to anything.
I posted a comment at Fec's and at News@Norman.
And you know what? Unlike the Courier Tribune (you know Asheboro's sad, pathetic, in-the-hospital's-pockets RAG that once splattered the headline I was a "liar" all over it's front page on a Sunday morning . . . but could only manage a second page "short take" to "report" my legal "victory"a few YEARS later), NewsNorman posted my comment.
You see, it's a real newspaper.
Figuratively speaking (figuratively, because I don't want the idiots in the Lincoln County Sherriff's Department conducting illegal searches on my blog) I hope Ken Fortenberry splatters John Mayhew all over the courthouse wall.
This is America, people! Please wake up!
Afternoon Update: The Charlotter Observer has picked up the story. Lake Norman Bath rocks.
Of course, in order to rock, it had to have some help from local journalists . . .
. . . journalists who had not sold their souls.
7/27 Update: This is for the brave (unpublished here) anon from Hickory, N.C. (and it appears not a fan of Lake Norman Bath) who suggested that I'd be more worthy of help if I cleaned up my "mouth" and my "attitude" . . . and "upgraded my vocablulary to sound like high school graduate".
First, that was recently addressed here . . . and even earlier, here.
And second, this DOCTOR spent/wasted YEARS of her life very earnestly and politely and patiently and eloqently begging and pleading with well-connected and/or well-named liars and thugs (from Asheboro all the way to Washington) to play fair.
It didn't work. I've been treated like DIRT.
And/so I'm pissed off. And I'm here. DEAL WITH IT. Come back when you can sign your name to the insults you hurl, you GUTLESS wonder.
Friday, July 24, 2009
Amazing Grace
I attended a newborn infant this week whose story . . . or more accurately, his Mother's story . . . I would be honored to blog.
Actually, I have blogged it already. Several months ago . . . long before I actually had a professional relationship with the family. But I won't write about it (or link it) now without her permission, and I won't be asking permission.
Suffice it to say that this child is LOVED. And his Mother is one of those luminous beings that sometimes crosses one's path if one is very lucky.
I've spent all week thinking about this young woman - and what I would do were I in her shoes. Would I be so brave? So selfless? Suffice it to say that she has my undying admiration. It is a privilege to breathe the same air.
And now, I pray for a miracle. I ask my readers to do the same. Surely God can spare another one.
Actually, I have blogged it already. Several months ago . . . long before I actually had a professional relationship with the family. But I won't write about it (or link it) now without her permission, and I won't be asking permission.
Suffice it to say that this child is LOVED. And his Mother is one of those luminous beings that sometimes crosses one's path if one is very lucky.
I've spent all week thinking about this young woman - and what I would do were I in her shoes. Would I be so brave? So selfless? Suffice it to say that she has my undying admiration. It is a privilege to breathe the same air.
And now, I pray for a miracle. I ask my readers to do the same. Surely God can spare another one.
Agreeing With "The Medical Establishment" On HealthCare Reform: It's Like Sitting Down With Darth Vader, Voldemort And A Bunch Of Klingons
WRAL reported tonight on a "healthcare policy forum" sponsored by the Raleigh Chamber of Commerce, and held at Raleigh's Sheraton hotel today . . . attended by some of North Carolina's biggest fat cats in insurance and big business (doctors' "advocacy", hospitals, big Pharm, medical technology, etc.) . . . while angry pro-Obama protesters stomped outside the building.
The North Carolina Medical Society's Bob Seligson was there, as was Hugh Tilson of the North Carolina Hospital Association, and Bob Greczyn, the exceptionally well-paid CEO of the monopolistic & massive North Carolina Blue Cross Blue Shield (since I got stiffed on Randolph Hospital's COBRA plan, BCBS is the medical insurance company that gets my nearly $700/month).
They know that "status quo" is not going to be the answer.
I really need to sit down and watch the video (almost two hours long). Trouble is, I'm on-call, and I'm quite sure I'd need a very stiff drink in order to digest it . . . especially since I likely agree with the "fat cats" (some of them who have treated me/my case like dirt) in principle on many of the finer points pertaining to the bigger picture of healthcare reform.
It's my humble opinion, these people would have much better credibility with the angry public stomping outside, if they had done more in their illustrious careers to cull out bad apples in their respective industries. As it is, they have "circle the wagons" and "profit-at-all-costs" down to a fine art.
At some point in that video, I am sure Bob Seligson will talk earnestly about primary care shortages and the dire need for more "loan-repayment-for-service" programs to stock "underserved" areas. I'm sure he'll also praise the Medical Board for its recent feeble attempts to ensure more physician accountability. And when that happens, I will have to pause the video for another drink.
Of course, this blog exists because the "missions" of both the NHSC (National Service Health Corps) and N.C. Department of Rural Health FAILED miserably in my hometown of Asheboro (not that's it's relevant to anything we're talking about on the national scene now). They failed because regulatory bodies (like the Medical Board and JCAHO and DHHS), and "advocacy" organizations (like the NCMS, NCPS, and AMA), and law enforcement sat on their pompus, useless, ineffectual butts and totally sucked-up to the kind of people sitting on this panel.
Knowing full well that it's not "all about me", apart from telling my own story, I've also blogged on the issues faced by physicians in the military and public service.
For all of his real purty talk, the FACT "IS" that Mr. Seligson and his really-fat-cat-counter-parts at the N.C. Hospital Association have long stood by deaf, dumb and mute while doctors like me were raped, robbed and left for dead by people like him - people in business suits with MBA's.
In my case, the nearly two-hundred-thousand state & Federal taxpayer dollars spent to bring two Pediatricians to Asheboro in 1995 were poured down the drain when those doctors were literally driven from town by hospital executives protecting their "turf".
The doctors lost or gave up their practices (YEARS of hard work & sacrifice wound up being for naught). Patients were forced to scramble.
NO ONE IN A POSITION TO STOP IT, STOPPED IT.
And incredibly to me (eleven years later in this era of accountability, transparency and reform), the vice president of "non-profit" Randolph Hospital STILL has a job . . . this after opining that, "Good Pediatricians are a dime a dozen". Moreover, he and his well-connected boss were not FIRED/PROSECUTED when it was discovered/reported that they repeatedly lied under Oath in order to save themselves some money when one of those Pediatricians ultimately dragged them to Court.
In fact, over time, they got hefty RAISES (Google their salaries at "Guidestar.com").
The N.C. Medical Society and N.C. Hospital Association did not so much as blink. Peer reform? Who needs it? Whistle-blower protection for doctors and nurses? Are you kidding?
But the next generation of healthcare providers is supposed to trust them.
If I were to sit down at a table with these people, it would be like Dr. McCoy breaking bread with Darth Vader, Voldemort and a bunch of stinky/blood-thirsty Klingons. Yet I still agree with their overall approach to healthcare reform . . . reform which does NOT give control to the government . . . the government that let people like them screw me.
Politics does indeed make for strange bedfellows.
The North Carolina Medical Society's Bob Seligson was there, as was Hugh Tilson of the North Carolina Hospital Association, and Bob Greczyn, the exceptionally well-paid CEO of the monopolistic & massive North Carolina Blue Cross Blue Shield (since I got stiffed on Randolph Hospital's COBRA plan, BCBS is the medical insurance company that gets my nearly $700/month).
They know that "status quo" is not going to be the answer.
I really need to sit down and watch the video (almost two hours long). Trouble is, I'm on-call, and I'm quite sure I'd need a very stiff drink in order to digest it . . . especially since I likely agree with the "fat cats" (some of them who have treated me/my case like dirt) in principle on many of the finer points pertaining to the bigger picture of healthcare reform.
It's my humble opinion, these people would have much better credibility with the angry public stomping outside, if they had done more in their illustrious careers to cull out bad apples in their respective industries. As it is, they have "circle the wagons" and "profit-at-all-costs" down to a fine art.
At some point in that video, I am sure Bob Seligson will talk earnestly about primary care shortages and the dire need for more "loan-repayment-for-service" programs to stock "underserved" areas. I'm sure he'll also praise the Medical Board for its recent feeble attempts to ensure more physician accountability. And when that happens, I will have to pause the video for another drink.
Of course, this blog exists because the "missions" of both the NHSC (National Service Health Corps) and N.C. Department of Rural Health FAILED miserably in my hometown of Asheboro (not that's it's relevant to anything we're talking about on the national scene now). They failed because regulatory bodies (like the Medical Board and JCAHO and DHHS), and "advocacy" organizations (like the NCMS, NCPS, and AMA), and law enforcement sat on their pompus, useless, ineffectual butts and totally sucked-up to the kind of people sitting on this panel.
Knowing full well that it's not "all about me", apart from telling my own story, I've also blogged on the issues faced by physicians in the military and public service.
For all of his real purty talk, the FACT "IS" that Mr. Seligson and his really-fat-cat-counter-parts at the N.C. Hospital Association have long stood by deaf, dumb and mute while doctors like me were raped, robbed and left for dead by people like him - people in business suits with MBA's.
In my case, the nearly two-hundred-thousand state & Federal taxpayer dollars spent to bring two Pediatricians to Asheboro in 1995 were poured down the drain when those doctors were literally driven from town by hospital executives protecting their "turf".
The doctors lost or gave up their practices (YEARS of hard work & sacrifice wound up being for naught). Patients were forced to scramble.
NO ONE IN A POSITION TO STOP IT, STOPPED IT.
And incredibly to me (eleven years later in this era of accountability, transparency and reform), the vice president of "non-profit" Randolph Hospital STILL has a job . . . this after opining that, "Good Pediatricians are a dime a dozen". Moreover, he and his well-connected boss were not FIRED/PROSECUTED when it was discovered/reported that they repeatedly lied under Oath in order to save themselves some money when one of those Pediatricians ultimately dragged them to Court.
In fact, over time, they got hefty RAISES (Google their salaries at "Guidestar.com").
The N.C. Medical Society and N.C. Hospital Association did not so much as blink. Peer reform? Who needs it? Whistle-blower protection for doctors and nurses? Are you kidding?
But the next generation of healthcare providers is supposed to trust them.
If I were to sit down at a table with these people, it would be like Dr. McCoy breaking bread with Darth Vader, Voldemort and a bunch of stinky/blood-thirsty Klingons. Yet I still agree with their overall approach to healthcare reform . . . reform which does NOT give control to the government . . . the government that let people like them screw me.
Politics does indeed make for strange bedfellows.
"I'll Speak To Your Mama Outside" . . . And My Homie, Barack Nifong, At The White House
I cannot tell you how disgusted I am over this (the N&O thread is actually more informative & entertaining than the story).
The news conference today was also entertaining. Tongue planted firmly in cheek, I love to listen to damned-Yankees talk - especially when they are really p-o'd. The accents are absolutely lyrical.
It appears our President spoke stupidly when he pulled his "Nifong" (who says John Edwards was the only guy who could keep North Carolina in the news?). Perhaps he should stick to his teleprompter (and maybe be familiar with the facts of the individual case).
I REALLY HATE these apologies politicians offer that aren't really. Obama wishes he had "calibrated" his words differently. Is that like "misunderestimated"?
Professor "I'll speak with your Mama outside" Gates, a personal friend of the President's - who once taught briefly at Duke (I knew I smelled something high-minded), got an invite to the White House for his race-baiting.
You see, in this era of "change", it pays to act like a jerk.
The much bigger man in all of this . . . if he decides to show up . . . will be the much-maligned police officer.
While I hear the pastry chef at the White House is really good, if I were Sgt. Crowley, I'm not sure I'd accept the invite. The beer's probably better on-tap in Cambridge.
Meanwhile, the President is coming to Raleigh next week to push his healthcare agenda.
Whatcha ya gonna do when they come for you?
Evening Update: Until a brave anon threw down the race card in the comments section, I was gonna let this go: A black police officer who was there says he supports the arrest of Gates 100%.
Racism is indeed ugly. I won't bother asking for an apology.
Isn't "change" grand?
Very Late Evening Update: For some reason my cable is malfunctioning and I can get HBO. And when it rains, it pours because AntiChristy Bill Maher was on and spewing (I've pretty much had not much use for Mr. Maher since his remark implying that the 9/11 hijackers were courageous). But before I turned the TV off, one of his lap-dog guests pointed out something I had not even considered . . . that Obama's miscalibration on the Gates fiasco is taking precious media attention & support away from the White House push for quick passage of the healthcare reform bill.
Works for me.
7/25 Evening Update: I would have LOVED to have had the phones tapped when Obama phoned up Henry Gates and asked him to stand down.
"I told the president that my principal regret was that all of the attention paid to his deeply supportive remarks during his press conference had distracted attention from his health care initiative."
Score a field gold for Bill Maher.
But if I were a cop, I would be damned if I would have a beer with a man who still has not admitted his own behavior was way out of line (for such a "renowned scholar") . . . and who is STILL accusing me of racial profiling.
It still sounds to me like it's all about the Professor.
And he still hasn't learned anything from the "teaching moment".
The news conference today was also entertaining. Tongue planted firmly in cheek, I love to listen to damned-Yankees talk - especially when they are really p-o'd. The accents are absolutely lyrical.
It appears our President spoke stupidly when he pulled his "Nifong" (who says John Edwards was the only guy who could keep North Carolina in the news?). Perhaps he should stick to his teleprompter (and maybe be familiar with the facts of the individual case).
I REALLY HATE these apologies politicians offer that aren't really. Obama wishes he had "calibrated" his words differently. Is that like "misunderestimated"?
Professor "I'll speak with your Mama outside" Gates, a personal friend of the President's - who once taught briefly at Duke (I knew I smelled something high-minded), got an invite to the White House for his race-baiting.
You see, in this era of "change", it pays to act like a jerk.
The much bigger man in all of this . . . if he decides to show up . . . will be the much-maligned police officer.
While I hear the pastry chef at the White House is really good, if I were Sgt. Crowley, I'm not sure I'd accept the invite. The beer's probably better on-tap in Cambridge.
Meanwhile, the President is coming to Raleigh next week to push his healthcare agenda.
Whatcha ya gonna do when they come for you?
Evening Update: Until a brave anon threw down the race card in the comments section, I was gonna let this go: A black police officer who was there says he supports the arrest of Gates 100%.
Racism is indeed ugly. I won't bother asking for an apology.
Isn't "change" grand?
Very Late Evening Update: For some reason my cable is malfunctioning and I can get HBO. And when it rains, it pours because AntiChristy Bill Maher was on and spewing (I've pretty much had not much use for Mr. Maher since his remark implying that the 9/11 hijackers were courageous). But before I turned the TV off, one of his lap-dog guests pointed out something I had not even considered . . . that Obama's miscalibration on the Gates fiasco is taking precious media attention & support away from the White House push for quick passage of the healthcare reform bill.
Works for me.
7/25 Evening Update: I would have LOVED to have had the phones tapped when Obama phoned up Henry Gates and asked him to stand down.
"I told the president that my principal regret was that all of the attention paid to his deeply supportive remarks during his press conference had distracted attention from his health care initiative."
Score a field gold for Bill Maher.
But if I were a cop, I would be damned if I would have a beer with a man who still has not admitted his own behavior was way out of line (for such a "renowned scholar") . . . and who is STILL accusing me of racial profiling.
It still sounds to me like it's all about the Professor.
And he still hasn't learned anything from the "teaching moment".
Is There ANYONE At North Carolina DHHS Who Knows What In The Hell They Are Doing?
Here we go again. From the N&O:
The state must repay about $300 million to the federal government for overbilling Medicaid.
Starting last November, public hospital Medicaid payments were improperly billed to the federal government rather than to a state account, according to the state Department of Health and Human Services.
I loved what one commenter said, "Okay, the state incorrectly billed the Feds for Medicaid charges for eight months. And the Feds incorrectly paid the incorrect charges. Is anybody on either end paying attention?"
Yep. And nope.
Sayeth NCDHHS Secretary Lanier Cansler, "This mistake should not have been made."
No fricking duh.
It's just one more shining example of why this country should run screaming from universal care run by the government.
The state must repay about $300 million to the federal government for overbilling Medicaid.
Starting last November, public hospital Medicaid payments were improperly billed to the federal government rather than to a state account, according to the state Department of Health and Human Services.
I loved what one commenter said, "Okay, the state incorrectly billed the Feds for Medicaid charges for eight months. And the Feds incorrectly paid the incorrect charges. Is anybody on either end paying attention?"
Yep. And nope.
Sayeth NCDHHS Secretary Lanier Cansler, "This mistake should not have been made."
No fricking duh.
It's just one more shining example of why this country should run screaming from universal care run by the government.
"Organizing For America": So, Ya Wanna See Some Sparks?
A couple of weeks ago, I got an e-mail from a friend of mine - who voted for Obama - about the efforts of "Organizing for America" . . . billed as follows:
Organizing for America, the successor organization to Obama for America, is building on the movement that elected President Obama by empowering communities across the country to bring about our agenda of change.
At least they admit they have an agenda.
The e-mail pitched a "Listening for America" tour. The planned events in North Carolina are outlined here.
My friend . . . slowly becoming more and more disillusioned by his secular savior . . . jokingly (but not really), said I should attend one of the events, and "cut loose".
You see, a lot of local folks think my story actually is VERY RELEVANT to what is wrong with healthcare and what needs to be fixed.
And/so, I am seriously considering doing just that. You see, I think real "change" would be the die-hard Obaminators opening their ears and their minds to my experience in/with government medicine . . . the experience our local newspapers have never cared to report . . . the experience that local progressive & enlightened bloggers have told me to get over (as they banned & de-linked me from their blogs) . . . the experience that state and federal investigators have never cared to investigate much less prosecute . . . the experience that so-called "advocates" like the AMA and Kevin Pho do not care to hear as they negotiate "reform" on my behalf.
The Greensboro News & Record, being loyal lap-dogs on the Obama train, reported today on the meeting held in Greensboro. The story very quickly was dusted off the front page.
People are angry. I get that. "Sparks" reportedly flew.
Baby, they have not seen "sparks" yet;)
Organizing for America, the successor organization to Obama for America, is building on the movement that elected President Obama by empowering communities across the country to bring about our agenda of change.
At least they admit they have an agenda.
The e-mail pitched a "Listening for America" tour. The planned events in North Carolina are outlined here.
My friend . . . slowly becoming more and more disillusioned by his secular savior . . . jokingly (but not really), said I should attend one of the events, and "cut loose".
You see, a lot of local folks think my story actually is VERY RELEVANT to what is wrong with healthcare and what needs to be fixed.
And/so, I am seriously considering doing just that. You see, I think real "change" would be the die-hard Obaminators opening their ears and their minds to my experience in/with government medicine . . . the experience our local newspapers have never cared to report . . . the experience that local progressive & enlightened bloggers have told me to get over (as they banned & de-linked me from their blogs) . . . the experience that state and federal investigators have never cared to investigate much less prosecute . . . the experience that so-called "advocates" like the AMA and Kevin Pho do not care to hear as they negotiate "reform" on my behalf.
The Greensboro News & Record, being loyal lap-dogs on the Obama train, reported today on the meeting held in Greensboro. The story very quickly was dusted off the front page.
People are angry. I get that. "Sparks" reportedly flew.
Baby, they have not seen "sparks" yet;)
Thursday, July 23, 2009
I Love And I Hate
It was a good day at work - the kind you really enjoy -with people who love what they do. I used to have days like that in Asheboro.
I originally came home to Asheboro largely to live & practice near family and friends . . . in the hometown that I truly loved and wanted to make better.
Last weekend, an old friend whose family name happens to be on the cancer center's front door made the sage observation, "Your biggest problem is that you STILL love Asheboro."
Both of my Parents, "ordinary" folk who sacrificed and scraped by to send me to a nearby college and medical school, got to see their daughter professionally raped and publicly/wrongfully eviscerated by the greedy/amoral JERKS & MORONS running our local "non-profit" hospital.
Pops passed away without ever seeing his daughter truly vindicated.
Tonight, my Mama is sick. She has pneumonia. And I cannot be in Asheboro to check on her and spend time with her. Never fear. Several friends are already on the case . . . and my brother/his wife are all over it.
But I should be there.
If this "dime-a-dozen" primary-care-doctor-badly-burned-in-public-service has not said it before, let me channel some Obama tonight and be "perfectly clear" (it's as "Velveteen" as it gets folks):
I HATE RANDOLPH HOSPITAL CEO, ROBERT MORRISON, AND HIS OILY HENCHMAN STEVEN EBLIN . . . WITH ALL OF THE WHITE-HOT BURNING RAGE OF A RAPE VICTIM.
AND I WILL NOT STOP CHASING THEM UNTIL THEY ARE HELD ACCOUNTABLE BY THE GOVERNMENTS I SERVED FAITHFULLY & WELL FOR THEIR SLEAZY WHITE COLLAR CRIMES AGAINST ME . . . AND FOR WHAT THEY DID TO MY FAMILY AND ULTIMATELY TO MY PATIENTS & COMMUNITY.
I originally came home to Asheboro largely to live & practice near family and friends . . . in the hometown that I truly loved and wanted to make better.
Last weekend, an old friend whose family name happens to be on the cancer center's front door made the sage observation, "Your biggest problem is that you STILL love Asheboro."
Both of my Parents, "ordinary" folk who sacrificed and scraped by to send me to a nearby college and medical school, got to see their daughter professionally raped and publicly/wrongfully eviscerated by the greedy/amoral JERKS & MORONS running our local "non-profit" hospital.
Pops passed away without ever seeing his daughter truly vindicated.
Tonight, my Mama is sick. She has pneumonia. And I cannot be in Asheboro to check on her and spend time with her. Never fear. Several friends are already on the case . . . and my brother/his wife are all over it.
But I should be there.
If this "dime-a-dozen" primary-care-doctor-badly-burned-in-public-service has not said it before, let me channel some Obama tonight and be "perfectly clear" (it's as "Velveteen" as it gets folks):
I HATE RANDOLPH HOSPITAL CEO, ROBERT MORRISON, AND HIS OILY HENCHMAN STEVEN EBLIN . . . WITH ALL OF THE WHITE-HOT BURNING RAGE OF A RAPE VICTIM.
AND I WILL NOT STOP CHASING THEM UNTIL THEY ARE HELD ACCOUNTABLE BY THE GOVERNMENTS I SERVED FAITHFULLY & WELL FOR THEIR SLEAZY WHITE COLLAR CRIMES AGAINST ME . . . AND FOR WHAT THEY DID TO MY FAMILY AND ULTIMATELY TO MY PATIENTS & COMMUNITY.
Holding Pattern
I have an answer from the Medical Board, and for the time being, am in a holding pattern.
It's called good faith. I said I've give them one more chance. Unlike all of the government agencies involved - and the hospital that screwed me - I am a woman of my word.
Besides. I figure I've only waited ELEVEN years. What the hay.
It's called good faith. I said I've give them one more chance. Unlike all of the government agencies involved - and the hospital that screwed me - I am a woman of my word.
Besides. I figure I've only waited ELEVEN years. What the hay.
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
The Nice Thing About Prime Time Is You Can Change The Channel
Since it's not all about Obama, I did not watch Obama's prime-time press conference tonight. Healthcare is my 24-7/3 weeks & two weekends a month day job. And there's a whole lot more that needs fixing than what our teleprompter-loving, over-gesticulating (visibly grayer - what, no hair dye?) President wants to talk about.
I watched Leverage instead.
I'll catch the Obaminator's re-runs in the morning. It does look like things are just starting to get interesting . . . circa 1994 (back when I believed).
7/23 Afternoon Update: It's my humble opinion, as someone who was not there, that the President of the United States (who was not there either) had NO BUSINESS commenting on (or especially taking sides in) the curious case of Harvard Professor Henry Louis, "I'll talk to your Mama outside" Gates, Jr.
That is what was really "stupid".
I watched Leverage instead.
I'll catch the Obaminator's re-runs in the morning. It does look like things are just starting to get interesting . . . circa 1994 (back when I believed).
7/23 Afternoon Update: It's my humble opinion, as someone who was not there, that the President of the United States (who was not there either) had NO BUSINESS commenting on (or especially taking sides in) the curious case of Harvard Professor Henry Louis, "I'll talk to your Mama outside" Gates, Jr.
That is what was really "stupid".
"Bev Perdue Terrible Governor"
Reviewing stats on the blog tonight, I enjoyed a hearty laugh-out-loud.
One of the Google searches bringing new visitors to Housecalls was "Bev Perdue Terrible Governor". And it directed the reader to my post on former Asheboro city council member, "Evil Keith" Crisco.
Loved it:)
One of the Google searches bringing new visitors to Housecalls was "Bev Perdue Terrible Governor". And it directed the reader to my post on former Asheboro city council member, "Evil Keith" Crisco.
Loved it:)
Overlawyered Catches A "Qui Tam" Sneaky In The New Healthcare Bill
One of the reasons I broke ties with the Semmelweis Society several years back is because of a seismic shift in leadership which backed and encouraged the notion of employing Federal "Qui Tam" (whistle-blower) lawsuits as a way to battle bad-faith peer review.
[The other reason is that one of the doctors now pulling the strings at/behind Semmelweis is just a total soul-sucking asshole (DEAL WITH IT . . . it's my honest OPINION as a red-blooded, tea-slinging American). . . only interested in himself.]
Having investigated the possibility fairly early-on in my battle with Randolph Hospital, I came to understand "Qui Tam" to be a black-hole and bottomless money-pit for most doctors already floundering helplessly in these situations.
That, and "Qui Tam" is also WAY over the heads of most lawyers. Oh, for sure, there are lawyers out there who would take your case and string you along. But the chances of you seeing any money out of the folks who actually wronged you (while your friendly "expert" lawyer expertly drained your bank account) would be nil.
As a whistle-blower hosed, I've always felt that whistle-blower protection for medical providers (doctors/nurses/etc.) should be carefully and specifically legislated at the Federal level . . . and current laws completely overhauled (because what we have right now is a joke) . . . either by modifying HCQIA or drafting new legislation that over-rides it.
I also think the people/institutions who screw up/lie/cheat/steal should be the ones held accountable - NOT the American taxpayer - and "rewards"/restitution commensurate with actual damages (as opposed to a "Qui Tam" jackpot).
Of course, the state medical boards and AMA should have been all over bad-faith peer review and whistle-blower protection long ago.
I know. HAHA to that.
And, of course, actually enforcing the laws we currently have would be very nice too.
Anyway, last week, Walter Olson at "Overlawyered" clued us into an interesting provision quietly slipped into President Obama's new healthcare bill just before it went to Ways & Means. Walter calls it "an amazing trial lawyer bonanza/trial lawyer power grab" which expands the Qui Tam concept to create what he calls "legal bounty hunters".
The provision was apparently nipped in the bud by some alert Republicans (you see, they are good for something).
Walter poses a very good question for the President and Congress, as they try to ram healthcare "reform" down our throats before they leave town on summer break. It's the same question I've tried to focus on in recent posts:
How many other surprises lay undiscovered in this monster enactment--and how many of them do we risk learning about only after they pass into law?
For once the bill is passed into law, I can testify (based on that experience that folks like Kevin Pho don't care about), that NONE of these high-minded public servants will take the calls of ordinary citizens on the wrong end of one of those surprises.
I'd bet real money that some of the movers and shakers in the new Semmelweis regime were behind this big sneaky.
Anyway, Forbes picked Walter's article up today.
And so did I;)
Late Evening Addendum: I stand corrected. The "soul-sucking a-hole" referred to early in the post (one of the primary movers & shakers behind the leadership change a few years back) is apparently no longer a member of Semmelweis. The group has, in fact, split into factions (I have not cared enough to keep up) and apparently feuding members are suing one another.
It's very sad. Very unproductive. And not helping anyone - especially the doctors who need it.
[The other reason is that one of the doctors now pulling the strings at/behind Semmelweis is just a total soul-sucking asshole (DEAL WITH IT . . . it's my honest OPINION as a red-blooded, tea-slinging American). . . only interested in himself.]
Having investigated the possibility fairly early-on in my battle with Randolph Hospital, I came to understand "Qui Tam" to be a black-hole and bottomless money-pit for most doctors already floundering helplessly in these situations.
That, and "Qui Tam" is also WAY over the heads of most lawyers. Oh, for sure, there are lawyers out there who would take your case and string you along. But the chances of you seeing any money out of the folks who actually wronged you (while your friendly "expert" lawyer expertly drained your bank account) would be nil.
As a whistle-blower hosed, I've always felt that whistle-blower protection for medical providers (doctors/nurses/etc.) should be carefully and specifically legislated at the Federal level . . . and current laws completely overhauled (because what we have right now is a joke) . . . either by modifying HCQIA or drafting new legislation that over-rides it.
I also think the people/institutions who screw up/lie/cheat/steal should be the ones held accountable - NOT the American taxpayer - and "rewards"/restitution commensurate with actual damages (as opposed to a "Qui Tam" jackpot).
Of course, the state medical boards and AMA should have been all over bad-faith peer review and whistle-blower protection long ago.
I know. HAHA to that.
And, of course, actually enforcing the laws we currently have would be very nice too.
Anyway, last week, Walter Olson at "Overlawyered" clued us into an interesting provision quietly slipped into President Obama's new healthcare bill just before it went to Ways & Means. Walter calls it "an amazing trial lawyer bonanza/trial lawyer power grab" which expands the Qui Tam concept to create what he calls "legal bounty hunters".
The provision was apparently nipped in the bud by some alert Republicans (you see, they are good for something).
Walter poses a very good question for the President and Congress, as they try to ram healthcare "reform" down our throats before they leave town on summer break. It's the same question I've tried to focus on in recent posts:
How many other surprises lay undiscovered in this monster enactment--and how many of them do we risk learning about only after they pass into law?
For once the bill is passed into law, I can testify (based on that experience that folks like Kevin Pho don't care about), that NONE of these high-minded public servants will take the calls of ordinary citizens on the wrong end of one of those surprises.
I'd bet real money that some of the movers and shakers in the new Semmelweis regime were behind this big sneaky.
Anyway, Forbes picked Walter's article up today.
And so did I;)
Late Evening Addendum: I stand corrected. The "soul-sucking a-hole" referred to early in the post (one of the primary movers & shakers behind the leadership change a few years back) is apparently no longer a member of Semmelweis. The group has, in fact, split into factions (I have not cared enough to keep up) and apparently feuding members are suing one another.
It's very sad. Very unproductive. And not helping anyone - especially the doctors who need it.
It's A Good Thing This Leopard Went Ahead And Lost Some Spots
One of the "spots" I had removed/biopsied last week was "pre-cancerous". The choice was to "watch" or do a deeper excision.
Hummmmmmm. Let me think about that for all of two seconds. Duh.
I'm going in next month for a wider excision, and to have one or two more spots checked out/possibly removed.
I am looking forward to wagging my finger in the face of my "sun-goddess" Mother. I was RIGHT about staying out of the sun.
Hummmmmmm. Let me think about that for all of two seconds. Duh.
I'm going in next month for a wider excision, and to have one or two more spots checked out/possibly removed.
I am looking forward to wagging my finger in the face of my "sun-goddess" Mother. I was RIGHT about staying out of the sun.
Airman Colton Read And The Other Side Of Tort Reform
Many, many doctors in the medical blogosphere are banging the drum of tort reform as an integral part of healthcare reform. I've done it myself.
On the other hand, I've also stuck my neck a whole lot further than the average Dr. Jane/Joe to push for more accountability and oversight of my own kind. It's not a popular position.
Perhaps an integral part of tort reform, should be more accountability for doctors practicing under (and hospitals shielded by) the Federal Tort Claims Act and the Feres Doctrine.
I have a poster child for that. The story is just horrific. And very, very sad.
On the other hand, I've also stuck my neck a whole lot further than the average Dr. Jane/Joe to push for more accountability and oversight of my own kind. It's not a popular position.
Perhaps an integral part of tort reform, should be more accountability for doctors practicing under (and hospitals shielded by) the Federal Tort Claims Act and the Feres Doctrine.
I have a poster child for that. The story is just horrific. And very, very sad.
Cho Sueng-Hui And HIPAA (Part II): As Obama Plows Towards Healthcare "Reform", Individual Cases As Cautionary Tales
It's a small world. I had a family member on the Virgina Tech campus when Cho Sueng-Hui murdered 32 people in April 2007.
I posted some thoughts on Cho Sueng-Hui and HIPAA a few days later. It got some linkage-love in the medical blogosphere at the time.
Like HCQIA (the Healthcare QualityImprovement Act of 1986) passed a decade before it, HIPAA (the Health Insurance Accountability and Portability Act) was the result of legislation that was drafted and passed more or less as a "knee-jerk" response to a problem . . . with very little foresight exercised as to how the language-of-the-law would be practically interpreted, applied and enforced in real-life . . . or (especially) how expensive it would ultimately be.
The way these laws got passed is very relevant to how President Obama's "ram-it-down-their-throats-because-I-can" approach to healthcare reform now.
How does the old saying go? Marry in haste, repent in leisure.
Today, just a day after hot-shot/AMA-loving medical blogger Kevin Pho admonished me not to refer to my past experience (much of it spent battling men-in-business-suits hiding their bad/illegal behavior behind privacy and confidentiality laws) on his blog, Virginia Governor, Tim Kaine, announced that Cho Sueng-Hui's mental health records (from the Va Tech University clinic) have been found in the home of the clinic's former medical director.
The ORIGINAL medical records of an active patient were removed from the clinic (when the director left state employment) over a YEAR before the massacre on campus . . . and never returned. I vividly remember a whole lot of side-stepping on the part of university officials . . . insisting that (although they could not find them) Cho Sueng-Hui's records really did not reveal any tendency towards violence.
The medical records were found during discovery in a CIVIL suit filed by family members of the victims.
(That part is downright inspiring, as I contemplate my next move).
The doctor (Dr. Robert Miller) involved is one of the named defendants in the lawsuit, and was apparently trying to cover his tail:
The suit claims Miller was told by Cho's English professors about his disturbing behavior and by the school's residential director that Cho had a history of erratic behavior, suicidal thoughts and had "blades" in his room.
The lawsuit claims Miller never passed that information on to either of the therapists from the counseling center who dealt with Cho during three 45-minute triage sessions in 2005.
Because Miller never passed on the information and the records were lost, opportunities to "deflect him (Cho) from his dangerous and ultimately tragic course were lost," the lawsuit states.
What is doubly disturbing is that these records avoided discovery in a criminal probe after the incident. Dr. Miller was never interviewed.
And (incredibly to me), he never came forward.
From the cheap seats, it appears Dr. Miller really played/mis-interpreted the HIPAA card for all it was worth.
In short, a badly-written privacy law was used (and will probably continue to be used by Dr. Miller's lawyers) as an excuse to shield bad behavior and avoid accountability.
I know all too well how it feels to be deceived. I hope these families can get the answers they need to find some small measure of peace.
And/so, once again, an INDIVIDUAL case/story is RELEVANT to more global problems in healthcare.
Imagine that.
I posted some thoughts on Cho Sueng-Hui and HIPAA a few days later. It got some linkage-love in the medical blogosphere at the time.
Like HCQIA (the Healthcare QualityImprovement Act of 1986) passed a decade before it, HIPAA (the Health Insurance Accountability and Portability Act) was the result of legislation that was drafted and passed more or less as a "knee-jerk" response to a problem . . . with very little foresight exercised as to how the language-of-the-law would be practically interpreted, applied and enforced in real-life . . . or (especially) how expensive it would ultimately be.
The way these laws got passed is very relevant to how President Obama's "ram-it-down-their-throats-because-I-can" approach to healthcare reform now.
How does the old saying go? Marry in haste, repent in leisure.
Today, just a day after hot-shot/AMA-loving medical blogger Kevin Pho admonished me not to refer to my past experience (much of it spent battling men-in-business-suits hiding their bad/illegal behavior behind privacy and confidentiality laws) on his blog, Virginia Governor, Tim Kaine, announced that Cho Sueng-Hui's mental health records (from the Va Tech University clinic) have been found in the home of the clinic's former medical director.
The ORIGINAL medical records of an active patient were removed from the clinic (when the director left state employment) over a YEAR before the massacre on campus . . . and never returned. I vividly remember a whole lot of side-stepping on the part of university officials . . . insisting that (although they could not find them) Cho Sueng-Hui's records really did not reveal any tendency towards violence.
The medical records were found during discovery in a CIVIL suit filed by family members of the victims.
(That part is downright inspiring, as I contemplate my next move).
The doctor (Dr. Robert Miller) involved is one of the named defendants in the lawsuit, and was apparently trying to cover his tail:
The suit claims Miller was told by Cho's English professors about his disturbing behavior and by the school's residential director that Cho had a history of erratic behavior, suicidal thoughts and had "blades" in his room.
The lawsuit claims Miller never passed that information on to either of the therapists from the counseling center who dealt with Cho during three 45-minute triage sessions in 2005.
Because Miller never passed on the information and the records were lost, opportunities to "deflect him (Cho) from his dangerous and ultimately tragic course were lost," the lawsuit states.
What is doubly disturbing is that these records avoided discovery in a criminal probe after the incident. Dr. Miller was never interviewed.
And (incredibly to me), he never came forward.
From the cheap seats, it appears Dr. Miller really played/mis-interpreted the HIPAA card for all it was worth.
In short, a badly-written privacy law was used (and will probably continue to be used by Dr. Miller's lawyers) as an excuse to shield bad behavior and avoid accountability.
I know all too well how it feels to be deceived. I hope these families can get the answers they need to find some small measure of peace.
And/so, once again, an INDIVIDUAL case/story is RELEVANT to more global problems in healthcare.
Imagine that.
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
The Poor Colonel Is Rolling In His Grave
Given the way my fingers swell and my insides churn when I eat it, I always thought at least five of the eleven secret ingredients in KFC's original recipe were MSG.
Turns out, teaspoon for teaspoon, it's only roughly three (the Accent) parts MSG to eleven.
I feel somehow cheated.
Turns out, teaspoon for teaspoon, it's only roughly three (the Accent) parts MSG to eleven.
I feel somehow cheated.
Checking In With The North Carolina Medical Board
A number of people have asked me if I've seen any "action" as a result of last month's meeting with the President & lead attorney of the N.C. Medical Board.
The answer is that I have not heard word one. It's very frustrating. And it reminds me of the never-ending silent treatment I got from the mill-town kings running Randolph Hospital after all of this went down.
It still amazes me to this day that anyone thinks people on the quiet end respond well to that sort of thing . . . that if you ignore someone long enough, they'll give up and go away.
It's worked so well, so far.
And/so, a bit provoked by Dr. Pho's cold shoulder, I sent an e-mail late this afternoon:
Ms. Fisher-Brinkley,
It's been several weeks since my meeting with Mr. Mansfield and Dr. Saunders.
Please advise if anything is going to come to fruition from that . . . or if I was (once again) just wasting my time by appealing to the NCMB's sense of right and wrong.
Thank You,
Mary Johnson, M.D.
The answer is that I have not heard word one. It's very frustrating. And it reminds me of the never-ending silent treatment I got from the mill-town kings running Randolph Hospital after all of this went down.
It still amazes me to this day that anyone thinks people on the quiet end respond well to that sort of thing . . . that if you ignore someone long enough, they'll give up and go away.
It's worked so well, so far.
And/so, a bit provoked by Dr. Pho's cold shoulder, I sent an e-mail late this afternoon:
Ms. Fisher-Brinkley,
It's been several weeks since my meeting with Mr. Mansfield and Dr. Saunders.
Please advise if anything is going to come to fruition from that . . . or if I was (once again) just wasting my time by appealing to the NCMB's sense of right and wrong.
Thank You,
Mary Johnson, M.D.
Kevin MD: As We Plow Towards Healthcare Reform, The Veil Only Can Be Pulled Back So Far
Kevin Pho is a frustrating character in the medical blogosphere.
He reminds me of Ed Cone (and Sue Polinsky) here in the GSO ether. He's sucking up to the big guns in Washington like Ed has done with the News & Record . . . and in doing so, he seems to be falling into the trap of believing his own PR just a little bit too much.
Kevin says he wants transparency and accountability and to pull back the veil.
But he only wants it pulled back just a little bit. If you've been crapped on by the system (see the Housecall's sidebar), you're supposed to dust yourself off and skip merrily forward. There's nothing to see and nothing to learn. And if you disagree with him . . . or the AMA backing Obama's bull-in-a-china shop approach to healthcare reform . . . you can expect your comments to be deleted . . .
. . . as this one (addressed directly to the President of the AMA, James Rohack - who in this instance, sounded totally like a hack), on this post/thread was today:
Just saw the comment from the President of the AMA.
And Dr. Rohack, I am sorry I do not buy it.
Do you know how many times I pleaded with the leadership of the AMA to take a hard look at the disadvantages faced by employed physicians, physicians in public service, and those victimized by bad-faith peer review (thank God my enemies were too stupid to try that)?
I might as well have been banging my head against a stone wall as the fat cats sucked up to hospitals and circled the wagons around the “status quo”.
Both the AMA and JCAHO have swallowed the “disruptive physician” (bogus) “diagnosis” hook, line and sinker - just accepting that physicians are somehow mentally un-hinged if they stand up to corrupt/incompetent administrators/colleagues/competitors - or try to fight for what’s right for patients (as I did eleven years ago - when a baby was literally dying in front of my eyes - only to be thrown out on the street by greedy businessmen who put style before substance).
You’ve stood by as good people were DESTROYED.
And you want to pose as advocates now? Protectors of the honor of the profession? The organization that gives we the little people a “voice”.
I think not.
I’m supposed to just brush off the ambulance tread-marks on my head, trust you and re-up now? Sorry, bud. What could have been your dues went to pay the mortgage and the lawyers.
Does your precious (reform) bill, the one you are supporting right now, talk about serious tort reform? Or more accountability & responsibility in medical peer review (simple due process would be nice)? Or effective whistleblower protection? I didn’t think so.
But we need to pass it now. This week. Because something is better than nothing.
No thank you.
And again, Kevin, if you’re really interested in honest dialogue, and really pulling back that veil, and reform that actually IS (don’t you just love that word?) reform, you will not moderate this out.
I asked Kevin (nicely) to put the comment back up (as it went up BEFORE he posted his "warning"). Referencing what Dr. Pho said in his "time out", I'll admit the comment is "passionate". On the other hand, it's very factual - and certainly quite "civil" given what I'd like to hurl in the AMA's direction.
I'd also love to know WHO exactly has complained to Kevin about my comments . . . which I feely admit, often refer to my experience in Asheboro . . . IT'S THE REASON I'M HERE PEOPLE!
Obviously, somebody doesn't "get it" - or really "sympathize".
Of course, it's safe to say that my story-of-public-service-woe does not fit with Kevin's current agenda (which appears to be self-promotion by sucking up to the AMA's agenda) . . . or the Obaminator's theme that "the government can save healthcare" . . . when ALL of the available evidence says that it is just not true.
Many local folk have opined that, given the times, my story is particularly relevent and "60 Minutes" worthy . . . now more so than it may have been when it actually happened. And I suppose that would be true . . . if the liberal nimnuls running CBS were not so totally infatuated with Obama (I hear Katie Couric will be sucking-up tonight).
Walter lives for sure.
Kevin did not post the comment (deleting the request as well - since it obviously referred to my experience in Asheboro). So (having learned long ago to save all comments I post at Kevin MD) it's posted here.
That the nice thing about blogs.
He reminds me of Ed Cone (and Sue Polinsky) here in the GSO ether. He's sucking up to the big guns in Washington like Ed has done with the News & Record . . . and in doing so, he seems to be falling into the trap of believing his own PR just a little bit too much.
Kevin says he wants transparency and accountability and to pull back the veil.
But he only wants it pulled back just a little bit. If you've been crapped on by the system (see the Housecall's sidebar), you're supposed to dust yourself off and skip merrily forward. There's nothing to see and nothing to learn. And if you disagree with him . . . or the AMA backing Obama's bull-in-a-china shop approach to healthcare reform . . . you can expect your comments to be deleted . . .
. . . as this one (addressed directly to the President of the AMA, James Rohack - who in this instance, sounded totally like a hack), on this post/thread was today:
Just saw the comment from the President of the AMA.
And Dr. Rohack, I am sorry I do not buy it.
Do you know how many times I pleaded with the leadership of the AMA to take a hard look at the disadvantages faced by employed physicians, physicians in public service, and those victimized by bad-faith peer review (thank God my enemies were too stupid to try that)?
I might as well have been banging my head against a stone wall as the fat cats sucked up to hospitals and circled the wagons around the “status quo”.
Both the AMA and JCAHO have swallowed the “disruptive physician” (bogus) “diagnosis” hook, line and sinker - just accepting that physicians are somehow mentally un-hinged if they stand up to corrupt/incompetent administrators/colleagues/competitors - or try to fight for what’s right for patients (as I did eleven years ago - when a baby was literally dying in front of my eyes - only to be thrown out on the street by greedy businessmen who put style before substance).
You’ve stood by as good people were DESTROYED.
And you want to pose as advocates now? Protectors of the honor of the profession? The organization that gives we the little people a “voice”.
I think not.
I’m supposed to just brush off the ambulance tread-marks on my head, trust you and re-up now? Sorry, bud. What could have been your dues went to pay the mortgage and the lawyers.
Does your precious (reform) bill, the one you are supporting right now, talk about serious tort reform? Or more accountability & responsibility in medical peer review (simple due process would be nice)? Or effective whistleblower protection? I didn’t think so.
But we need to pass it now. This week. Because something is better than nothing.
No thank you.
And again, Kevin, if you’re really interested in honest dialogue, and really pulling back that veil, and reform that actually IS (don’t you just love that word?) reform, you will not moderate this out.
I asked Kevin (nicely) to put the comment back up (as it went up BEFORE he posted his "warning"). Referencing what Dr. Pho said in his "time out", I'll admit the comment is "passionate". On the other hand, it's very factual - and certainly quite "civil" given what I'd like to hurl in the AMA's direction.
I'd also love to know WHO exactly has complained to Kevin about my comments . . . which I feely admit, often refer to my experience in Asheboro . . . IT'S THE REASON I'M HERE PEOPLE!
Obviously, somebody doesn't "get it" - or really "sympathize".
Of course, it's safe to say that my story-of-public-service-woe does not fit with Kevin's current agenda (which appears to be self-promotion by sucking up to the AMA's agenda) . . . or the Obaminator's theme that "the government can save healthcare" . . . when ALL of the available evidence says that it is just not true.
Many local folk have opined that, given the times, my story is particularly relevent and "60 Minutes" worthy . . . now more so than it may have been when it actually happened. And I suppose that would be true . . . if the liberal nimnuls running CBS were not so totally infatuated with Obama (I hear Katie Couric will be sucking-up tonight).
Walter lives for sure.
Kevin did not post the comment (deleting the request as well - since it obviously referred to my experience in Asheboro). So (having learned long ago to save all comments I post at Kevin MD) it's posted here.
That the nice thing about blogs.
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Walter Lives
As I hope the last post conveyed, I'm conflicted on the meaning of Walter Cronkite. A lot of people have their opinions about the man his influence, and his objectivity (or lack thereof).
As I watched CBS's "Sunday Morning" replay clips of Cronkite's childlike enthusiasm and emotion over Americans walking on the moon, the meaning of the phrase, "when dreams could be held on TV" was brought fully home.
And/so, there were tears in my eyes this morning too.
On the other hand, I do think some of those dreams first started to die when newsmen & women, starting with Walter, began injecting their opinion into the events of the day, instead of just reporting the facts . . . all of the facts . . . and letting the chips fall where they may.
Over time, the not-so-subtle media bias has turned into in-your-face journalistic activism, which came to a head in last year's "historic" election. Yesterday, I came across a new book in the Obama bin at Books-A-Million that did not quite fit in with all the "Obama love" on the rest of the rack (clearly one of the UNG-G-graduate-students-posing-as-book-clerks was not paying attention). It was entitled, "Bernard Goldberg Presents a Slobbering Love Affair Starring Barack Obama . . . The True (and Pathetic) Story of the Torrid Romance Between Barack Obama and the Mainstream Media." It's nothing conservatives didn't already know (liberals too, although they'll deny to their last breath) . . . but seeing it researched and documented in print was very disturbing all the same.
And/so the other aspect of Walter's legacy is alive and well.
On that note, on the local front, I hear through the grapevine that the Courier Tribune's David Renfro had a retirement party this week. Many, many of the "wrong people" in Asheboro are singing, "Hallelujah! ". One can only hope that the "parent company" sends someone down from corporate to clean house.
You see, "wrong people" (the kind Walter Cronkite would never be caught dead yachting with) buy newspapers too. Or not.
Speaking of "parent companies", some idiot at Brannon & Associates in Fort Smith, Arkansas, sent me a letter this week, telling me that "the News & Record is looking for someone in your profession to share their expertise in our community".
Yeah, sure. Right.
As Walter Cronkite's legacy pertains and extends to healthcare reform, the posts and threads at Kevin M.D.'s are getting much more interesting as more and more angry physicians come in out of the fog of "change". After a frustrating week watching Obama demonstrate that he truly has no clue (it really is embarrassing at this point), I put in my two cents on his last one:
The really sad thing about Obama “fumbling around in the dark” is that he doesn’t have to.
Instead of pandering to all of the lowest common denominators, he could start chatting up doctors & nurses in primary care - doctors who, over the last 10-15 years (about the time the businessmen really took over medicine), have been marginalized, devalued, and largely ignored by all of the people he’s working with now (lawyers, politicians, special-interest groups, and pitiful “advocacy” organizations like the AMA) to “reform” care - which really translates into buying votes.
Listening to the President of the United States pander and fear-monger this week, I wanted to channel me some disgruntled liberal Hollywood celebrities, throw up my hands and move to Canada.
Of course, if Obama has his way, I can stay here a few more years and pretty much be there.
As Obama pandered and fear-mongered this week, his biggest cheer-leaders (aka the American mainstream press) ate it up. They slobbered, actually.
And/so (noting Walter's love of the space program), "he's really not dead as long as we remember him . . ."
I'm just not feeling optimistic about democracy . . . or "young" . . . anymore.
As I watched CBS's "Sunday Morning" replay clips of Cronkite's childlike enthusiasm and emotion over Americans walking on the moon, the meaning of the phrase, "when dreams could be held on TV" was brought fully home.
And/so, there were tears in my eyes this morning too.
On the other hand, I do think some of those dreams first started to die when newsmen & women, starting with Walter, began injecting their opinion into the events of the day, instead of just reporting the facts . . . all of the facts . . . and letting the chips fall where they may.
Over time, the not-so-subtle media bias has turned into in-your-face journalistic activism, which came to a head in last year's "historic" election. Yesterday, I came across a new book in the Obama bin at Books-A-Million that did not quite fit in with all the "Obama love" on the rest of the rack (clearly one of the UNG-G-graduate-students-posing-as-book-clerks was not paying attention). It was entitled, "Bernard Goldberg Presents a Slobbering Love Affair Starring Barack Obama . . . The True (and Pathetic) Story of the Torrid Romance Between Barack Obama and the Mainstream Media." It's nothing conservatives didn't already know (liberals too, although they'll deny to their last breath) . . . but seeing it researched and documented in print was very disturbing all the same.
And/so the other aspect of Walter's legacy is alive and well.
On that note, on the local front, I hear through the grapevine that the Courier Tribune's David Renfro had a retirement party this week. Many, many of the "wrong people" in Asheboro are singing, "Hallelujah! ". One can only hope that the "parent company" sends someone down from corporate to clean house.
You see, "wrong people" (the kind Walter Cronkite would never be caught dead yachting with) buy newspapers too. Or not.
Speaking of "parent companies", some idiot at Brannon & Associates in Fort Smith, Arkansas, sent me a letter this week, telling me that "the News & Record is looking for someone in your profession to share their expertise in our community".
Yeah, sure. Right.
As Walter Cronkite's legacy pertains and extends to healthcare reform, the posts and threads at Kevin M.D.'s are getting much more interesting as more and more angry physicians come in out of the fog of "change". After a frustrating week watching Obama demonstrate that he truly has no clue (it really is embarrassing at this point), I put in my two cents on his last one:
The really sad thing about Obama “fumbling around in the dark” is that he doesn’t have to.
Instead of pandering to all of the lowest common denominators, he could start chatting up doctors & nurses in primary care - doctors who, over the last 10-15 years (about the time the businessmen really took over medicine), have been marginalized, devalued, and largely ignored by all of the people he’s working with now (lawyers, politicians, special-interest groups, and pitiful “advocacy” organizations like the AMA) to “reform” care - which really translates into buying votes.
Listening to the President of the United States pander and fear-monger this week, I wanted to channel me some disgruntled liberal Hollywood celebrities, throw up my hands and move to Canada.
Of course, if Obama has his way, I can stay here a few more years and pretty much be there.
As Obama pandered and fear-mongered this week, his biggest cheer-leaders (aka the American mainstream press) ate it up. They slobbered, actually.
And/so (noting Walter's love of the space program), "he's really not dead as long as we remember him . . ."
I'm just not feeling optimistic about democracy . . . or "young" . . . anymore.
Friday, July 17, 2009
Walter Cronkite: I Was A Child In The Sixties
I heard of "Uncle Walter's passing just a few minutes ago. A song by Nancy Griffith immediately came to mind, "It's A Hard Life Wherever You Go", particularly the last verse . . .
I was a child in the sixties,
when dreams could be held through TV . . .
with Disney, and Cronkite, and Martin Luther.
Oh, I believed, I believed . . . I BELIEVED
Now, I am the backseat driver from America . . .
and I am not at the wheel of control,
for I am guilty, I am war, . . . I am the root of all evil
Lord, and I can't drive on the left side of the road.
Rest in peace, Walter.
I was a child in the sixties,
when dreams could be held through TV . . .
with Disney, and Cronkite, and Martin Luther.
Oh, I believed, I believed . . . I BELIEVED
Now, I am the backseat driver from America . . .
and I am not at the wheel of control,
for I am guilty, I am war, . . . I am the root of all evil
Lord, and I can't drive on the left side of the road.
Rest in peace, Walter.
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Just Call Me A "Positive Deviant"
Kevin has a post up today about doctors resisting the temptation of money.
Those who are able to get through life without injecting Botox on the side or selling used cars or diverting business to the imaging centers & labs they own, are called "positive deviants".
And that brings us to Randolph Hospital's request for a Certificate of Need to build a new outpatient surgical center.
Of course, being two strikes down with me on that count, they don't get a number three.
I have little doubt the hospital will get what it asks for. You see, Bob Morrison can just call up Governor Dumpling - or his good friend and ex-city-council buddy Keith Crisco - and get anything he wants.
For years, people have been taking their surgery "business" out-of-town, and Eblin & company (i.e. the un-named surgeons) will use simple math to make their argument . . . never mind the reasons local folk have long taken their business out-of-town to start with.
Indeed, for as long as I can remember, Moses Cone Hospital has made a fortune from that aspect of their much-ballyhooed "cooperative" relationship with Randolph.
God forbid that the state of North Carolina actually looks at Eblin's past behavior when it comes to granting Certificate of Need requests to a hospital VP who regards doctors as "a dime a dozen".
Asheboro didn't need all the doctors he helped run off.
As doctors go, I think I'm a pretty rare bird actually. One-night-in-the-middle-of-the-night-long-ago, when a child's life hung in the balance, I put the patient above everything I held dear and did my duty (not that the North Carolina Medical Board could be bothered).
In making that choice, I essentially told Mr. Eblin to GO BLOW. And in telling him to GO BLOW, I became Asheboro's poster child for "positive(ly) deviant physicians".
If I were doling out CON's from Raleigh right now . . . and if transparency and accountability and all of those voter-friendly buzz words Bev Perdue & company threw around last fall actually meant anything, I'd tell Steve Eblin to GO BLOW again.
You see, as a law-abiding citizen who obviously does not rate as "right people" in this town, I think Mr. Eblin and Mr. Morrison should have been fired and prosecuted six years ago . . . and that Randolph Hospital should not get one nod or one dime out of the state of North Carolina until some of those un-named local doctors so-concerned-about-the-welfare-of-patients (as opposed to their own pocket-books) insist that these executives are held accountable for what they did.
I also have news for the latest hospital spokesperson making the hospital's case in the Courier Tribune: If you want to know why many doctors are refusing to even look at this community, it has NOTHING to do with the number of operating rooms at Randolph, and everything to do with the way Robert Morrison and Steven Eblin have run this hospital . . . and treated people - physicians and patients . . . for years and years.
They are poster bullies for everything that is wrong with medicine today.
After the evening news afterthought: It just occurred to me. Randolph's predicament (one could ask, why this building project was not on the visionary radars of the infallible Morrison & Eblin way before now . . . I mean, if there was such an obvious need for OR's, why wasn't the outpatient surgery center built BEFORE the cancer center?) is preparing patients for the rationing and waiting we can expect with "universal" government-controlled healthcare.
Welcome to the future.
Those who are able to get through life without injecting Botox on the side or selling used cars or diverting business to the imaging centers & labs they own, are called "positive deviants".
And that brings us to Randolph Hospital's request for a Certificate of Need to build a new outpatient surgical center.
Of course, being two strikes down with me on that count, they don't get a number three.
I have little doubt the hospital will get what it asks for. You see, Bob Morrison can just call up Governor Dumpling - or his good friend and ex-city-council buddy Keith Crisco - and get anything he wants.
For years, people have been taking their surgery "business" out-of-town, and Eblin & company (i.e. the un-named surgeons) will use simple math to make their argument . . . never mind the reasons local folk have long taken their business out-of-town to start with.
Indeed, for as long as I can remember, Moses Cone Hospital has made a fortune from that aspect of their much-ballyhooed "cooperative" relationship with Randolph.
God forbid that the state of North Carolina actually looks at Eblin's past behavior when it comes to granting Certificate of Need requests to a hospital VP who regards doctors as "a dime a dozen".
Asheboro didn't need all the doctors he helped run off.
As doctors go, I think I'm a pretty rare bird actually. One-night-in-the-middle-of-the-night-long-ago, when a child's life hung in the balance, I put the patient above everything I held dear and did my duty (not that the North Carolina Medical Board could be bothered).
In making that choice, I essentially told Mr. Eblin to GO BLOW. And in telling him to GO BLOW, I became Asheboro's poster child for "positive(ly) deviant physicians".
If I were doling out CON's from Raleigh right now . . . and if transparency and accountability and all of those voter-friendly buzz words Bev Perdue & company threw around last fall actually meant anything, I'd tell Steve Eblin to GO BLOW again.
You see, as a law-abiding citizen who obviously does not rate as "right people" in this town, I think Mr. Eblin and Mr. Morrison should have been fired and prosecuted six years ago . . . and that Randolph Hospital should not get one nod or one dime out of the state of North Carolina until some of those un-named local doctors so-concerned-about-the-welfare-of-patients (as opposed to their own pocket-books) insist that these executives are held accountable for what they did.
I also have news for the latest hospital spokesperson making the hospital's case in the Courier Tribune: If you want to know why many doctors are refusing to even look at this community, it has NOTHING to do with the number of operating rooms at Randolph, and everything to do with the way Robert Morrison and Steven Eblin have run this hospital . . . and treated people - physicians and patients . . . for years and years.
They are poster bullies for everything that is wrong with medicine today.
After the evening news afterthought: It just occurred to me. Randolph's predicament (one could ask, why this building project was not on the visionary radars of the infallible Morrison & Eblin way before now . . . I mean, if there was such an obvious need for OR's, why wasn't the outpatient surgery center built BEFORE the cancer center?) is preparing patients for the rationing and waiting we can expect with "universal" government-controlled healthcare.
Welcome to the future.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Charting Healthcare Reform
I feel sick.
Rather like poor Dumbledore (You guessed it! The new Harry Potter film was quite a nice diversion tonight. But they really need to get this thing wrapped up. The leads are getting a bit long-in-the-tooth.)
Rather like poor Dumbledore (You guessed it! The new Harry Potter film was quite a nice diversion tonight. But they really need to get this thing wrapped up. The leads are getting a bit long-in-the-tooth.)
A Leopard Loses Her Spots
A few weeks ago, a dear friend e-mailed me with a chatty update that dropped (in an OBTW fashion) the revelation she had been diagnosed with malignant melanoma. She down-played the diagnosis. The lesion was widely excised, her work-up was otherwise negative. She seems to be in the clear.
A few years back, the summer after Dad died, I met a beautiful young man (in his mid-30's) while I was covering neonatal & Pediatric call at a small hospital on North Carolina's coast. He ran a little coffee joint that also sold local art work & jewelry. During one of the many conversations we had when I popped in for my morning fix, this ebullient fellow revealed he had metastatic melanoma. He didn't tell me for sympathy. And he made it quite clear he was going to fight until all fight was gone. But it was almost as if he wanted to prepare his regular customers for what might come.
He noticeably deteriorated during the course of my assignment (over several months), but was still serving coffee when I left for greener pastures.
I bought a lot of art before I left;)
I've heard the shop is closed now. I expect I know what happened to my poor/beautiful coffee-shop man.
Unlike my Mother, who has worshiped the sun all her life (to the delight of many a young boy peeking over the backyard fence when she was younger), I generally shun sunshine. Apart from one or two very bad sunburns I got as an adolescent & young adult chasing trends (the kind of full-body second-degree burn where your body blows up to two times it's normal size and you really could use IV rehydration), I've fully embraced my Anglo-Saxon, very pale-skinned heritage and lived my life in the shade. The vitamin D I do get comes in a pill.
But those long-ago sunburns left me with freckles and spots. I had been following two lesions - one on my lower back - and one behind the knee (that one, in particular, was driving me crazy because there was no way to get a really good look at it). They did not appear particularly evil in the mirror, but not being a yoga-master, there was no way to get a good look. My friend's e-mail was all the incentive I needed to go see the Dermatologist and have them biopsied/removed.
And so, as of today, they are gone. Biopsy results back in 7-10 days.
So here's my public service announcement: Wear your sunscreen people. And have someone-who-knows-what-they-are-looking-at check your spots & freckles once a year.
A few years back, the summer after Dad died, I met a beautiful young man (in his mid-30's) while I was covering neonatal & Pediatric call at a small hospital on North Carolina's coast. He ran a little coffee joint that also sold local art work & jewelry. During one of the many conversations we had when I popped in for my morning fix, this ebullient fellow revealed he had metastatic melanoma. He didn't tell me for sympathy. And he made it quite clear he was going to fight until all fight was gone. But it was almost as if he wanted to prepare his regular customers for what might come.
He noticeably deteriorated during the course of my assignment (over several months), but was still serving coffee when I left for greener pastures.
I bought a lot of art before I left;)
I've heard the shop is closed now. I expect I know what happened to my poor/beautiful coffee-shop man.
Unlike my Mother, who has worshiped the sun all her life (to the delight of many a young boy peeking over the backyard fence when she was younger), I generally shun sunshine. Apart from one or two very bad sunburns I got as an adolescent & young adult chasing trends (the kind of full-body second-degree burn where your body blows up to two times it's normal size and you really could use IV rehydration), I've fully embraced my Anglo-Saxon, very pale-skinned heritage and lived my life in the shade. The vitamin D I do get comes in a pill.
But those long-ago sunburns left me with freckles and spots. I had been following two lesions - one on my lower back - and one behind the knee (that one, in particular, was driving me crazy because there was no way to get a really good look at it). They did not appear particularly evil in the mirror, but not being a yoga-master, there was no way to get a good look. My friend's e-mail was all the incentive I needed to go see the Dermatologist and have them biopsied/removed.
And so, as of today, they are gone. Biopsy results back in 7-10 days.
So here's my public service announcement: Wear your sunscreen people. And have someone-who-knows-what-they-are-looking-at check your spots & freckles once a year.
Save The Kitties
In my wildest dreams, I win the lottery, move to a huge farm in the middle of nowhere and turn the pastures and barns into a haven for rescued cats (spayed and neutered, of course).
I admire this man's heart.
I admire this man's heart.
Healthcare Reform: Obama As Voldemort And Doctors As House-Elves
I've blogged before on how the United States government treats young physicians in public service (and the military) like the serfs & house elves in Harry Potter (I skipped the midnight premiere of "Half-Blood Prince" and hope to see the movie later today).
More and more, I'm starting to see Barack Obama as Lord Voldemort.
His pick for Surgeon General (emphasizing an NHSC "success" story - if you call being mortgaged up to your eyeballs in order to repeatedly build/re-build clinics a "success" story) had "agenda" written all over it.
Moreover, the speed at which healthcare "reform" is being "Rahmed" (borrowing a headline from DRUDGE) through Congress is both very ominous and alarming to me . . . and I simply don't understand why more physicians are not rising with pitchforks and burning broom-handles to oppose it.
If you think healthcare is expensive now, just make it a "right".
The system has been screwed up for years . . . plagued by bad policy and mismanagement and greed. Now, we're talking about spending a trillion dollars that we don't have. So, I ask you, what is the damned rush? And while we're doing all this reforming (Obama says to control costs), why isn't there more of a push for tort reform? Or more of a push for real physician accountability? What about whistle-blower protection that actually has teeth?
For from individual malpractice cases to global hospital risk-management, it is the fear of lawyers that has driven costs up so high in the first place. It's called "defensive medicine" . . . and a whole lot of what goes on now - individually and institutionally - is just plain stupid.
What happened to me in my own hometown . . . basically because a couple of out-of-control "non-profit" executives could not admit they were beyond-wrong to put style before substance . . . was just stupid.
It remains stupid.
Moreover, would someone please explain to me WHERE the "responsibility" is for ordinary Americans if "medical providers, employers and the wealthy" are left to pick up the tab?
Where are the limits? Where IS (love that word) the responsibility? I just don't get it.
And WHY, in God's name, does it all have to be done before summer "recess"?
Indeed, with the country in the fix it's in, why does Congress get a "recess"?
Doctors don't.
More and more, I'm starting to see Barack Obama as Lord Voldemort.
His pick for Surgeon General (emphasizing an NHSC "success" story - if you call being mortgaged up to your eyeballs in order to repeatedly build/re-build clinics a "success" story) had "agenda" written all over it.
Moreover, the speed at which healthcare "reform" is being "Rahmed" (borrowing a headline from DRUDGE) through Congress is both very ominous and alarming to me . . . and I simply don't understand why more physicians are not rising with pitchforks and burning broom-handles to oppose it.
If you think healthcare is expensive now, just make it a "right".
The system has been screwed up for years . . . plagued by bad policy and mismanagement and greed. Now, we're talking about spending a trillion dollars that we don't have. So, I ask you, what is the damned rush? And while we're doing all this reforming (Obama says to control costs), why isn't there more of a push for tort reform? Or more of a push for real physician accountability? What about whistle-blower protection that actually has teeth?
For from individual malpractice cases to global hospital risk-management, it is the fear of lawyers that has driven costs up so high in the first place. It's called "defensive medicine" . . . and a whole lot of what goes on now - individually and institutionally - is just plain stupid.
What happened to me in my own hometown . . . basically because a couple of out-of-control "non-profit" executives could not admit they were beyond-wrong to put style before substance . . . was just stupid.
It remains stupid.
Moreover, would someone please explain to me WHERE the "responsibility" is for ordinary Americans if "medical providers, employers and the wealthy" are left to pick up the tab?
Where are the limits? Where IS (love that word) the responsibility? I just don't get it.
And WHY, in God's name, does it all have to be done before summer "recess"?
Indeed, with the country in the fix it's in, why does Congress get a "recess"?
Doctors don't.
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