Sunday, August 30, 2009
Teddy Kennedy's Historical Family Outings, Another Idealistic Mary And Finding Common Ground
It's no secret. While, I've always wistfully wondered what might have been if Robert Kennedy had not been felled by an assassin's bullet, I was no fan of his brother, Ted.
I could never get completely past the ugliness and obvious obfuscations of Chappaquiddick . . . which would have (justifiably) destroyed the public career (and perhaps even the life) of anyone but a Kennedy.
But with the aid of a bunch of good-ole-boys with Yankee accents . . . looking nowhere but forward . . . Ted sailed over a young, middle-class woman's dead body, and "moved on" to re-election . . . by trading on privilege and a name he shared with two martyred brothers. He never really owned up or told the truth about what happened that night - even as the end came near (more on that in a paragraph or so).
For all of Ted's noble talk about "righting wrongs", it's the one wrong he never truly righted.
And because of what this middle-class no-name has suffered at the hands of a bunch of well-connected North Carolina GOB's, I just don't have any use for that. Moreover, "the lion of the Senate" and "soul of the Democratic party" apparently made jokes about the sad/sorry incident in later life.
There's nothing about a drunk leaving a young woman alone and trapped/entombed in pitch black, cold water . . . to slowly suffocate and drown . . . that is funny. Nothing. It was a "friendly anecdote" that was lost on me.
And then there was Ted's politics. Especially as it pertains to healthcare reform, it seemed that uber-rich/ultra-privileged/left-of-left-liberal Teddy was always willing to call for someone else's "sacrifice" . . . to dip deeply into my pocket (me being a middle-class nobody - much like Mary Jo Kopechne - descended from a modest background - who got an education and worked hard to get ahead and tried to play by all the rules - someone who even drank the public service, "give back to your community" Koolaid - only to get badly burned for the believing) . . . in order to pay for the mistakes & miscalculations of other people (often branded "under-served" or "less fortunate") . . . people unwilling to assume responsibility for themselves or their choices . . . this despite the right to a free public education, and 50 years of the welfare state (incapable of drawing lines or setting limits to the public's largess) there to cushion bad decisions & misfortune.
Of course, as Teddy chose sides in the Democratic primaries last year, he knew that telling people everything they want to hear . . . pretty much that the Federal government is "Daddy" . . . is a clearer path to power than it ever has been before.
And he whispered the secret-which-isn't-really into Obama's ear.
And/so there you have it. Ted Kennedy and I just had fundamentally different notions of what the Federal government is supposed to be about.
I did watch some of the funereal pomp and circumstance yesterday on MSNBC (really not caring very much at all for the beyond-insipid fawning of Oberman & Matthews) . . . including the interment at Arlington. I would assume that extraordinary privilege was more of a nod to Kennedy's 47 years in the Senate than his two years of Korean-war-era/non-combat service in Paris (a SWEET post old Daddy Joe pulled strings to get him).
As I've said before, Arlington is perhaps one of the most beautiful and sacred spots on earth. It is hallowed ground, I have family buried there and it's always an honor just to visit/pay respects. Echoing the sentiment of Ted's brother, John, there are places there that I could stay forever.
Ted's funeral is part of Arlington's storied history now . . . including the ABSOLUTELY SHAMELESS political pandering to Obama's healthcare agenda exhibited in Kennedy's "private" letter to Pope Benedict . . . penned just weeks before he died and read at the grave site.
I don't know what I expected. It really shouldn't have been any surprise that even as they put him into the ground, Ted Kennedy could not resist the opportunity to politically grandstand from the grave. And as I watched & listened to the priest read the letter, my jaw literally dropped at the cheek of the thing . . . for in what amounted to a "deathbed" entreaty to the Bishop of Rome, I had actually dared hope to hear real contrition for past wrongs. It wasn't there.
Maybe he saved it for the memoir . . . due to be published in . . . you guessed it . . . September! It will land, with a best-selling thud, right in the middle of the Congressional healthcare debate.
And with that final calculated maneuver, Edward Moore Kennedy, lying under one of just two crosses in the cemetery, became history.
A lot has been made on Kennedy's "stamp" on reformative legislation over the last nearly fifty years. The thing is, we have a representative government and his was just one vote of many. Moreover, when you take off the rose-colored glasses and sit down and read about how things like the Civil Rights Act came to be (and who was really behind the moving and the shaking), the truth is always much more illuminating/fascinating than the sound-bite.
Of course the truth may not justify your perpetual slumber on Robert E. Lee's front lawn.
(As an aside, it's not been lost on me this weekend that Arlington National Cemetery exists because the Federal government, in the wake of the Civil War, went all illegally "imminent domain" on the Custis-Lee estate . . . a revenge-soaked, albeit very progressive-Democrat/Teddyesquse "good-of-the-many" move if there ever was one).
Even though Ted ultimately billed healthcare reform as the "political cause of my life", he managed to sit by while legislation got passed that more or less stripped doctors of their basic Constitutional (dare I call them "civil"?) rights to due process in the medical peer review process. Of course, at the time, those behind the bill were only concerned about reducing hospital liability . . . ergo, little thought was given to the bill's "unintended consequences" to individuals. On the pretense that it would protect patients, hospitals were provided blanket legal immunity for their actions against physicians they deemed problematic or "disruptive" (never mind that it might have been something other than the doctor that was the problem). Anonymous complaints were given credence (and still are) . . . as opposed to keeping some resemblance of due process (i.e. the right to face an accuser) in the process (translation: accountability and transparency), and protecting medical whistle-blowers who acted in good faith & signed their name. Hospital committees could act in secret - and even in bad faith, hiding behind confidentiality and privacy - with virtually no checks or balances. And/so a process that was supposed to be professionally restorative and redemptive (something one would think Kennedy might appreciate) became a vicious weapon of career-ending destruction and retaliation.
Instead of protecting patients, it often shielded bad care. I can certainly testify to that.
It was all very Massachusetts (in a Salem Witch Hunt kind of way), and oh-so "progressive".
As managed care & corporate influences swept over the landscape, physician employment practices began to mirror those of peer review (that's how this whistle-blower fell into the black hole) . . . with states & their medical boards giving little credence to (or offering protection for) the special duties and responsibilities of doctors.
On Teddy's magical mystery tour to "affordable healthcare" as a "right", physicians have become "a dime a dozen".
So, from my view in the no-name cheap seats, as someone who actually provides the healthcare . . . as someone who has done it in a variety of settings . . . as someone who studied/worked very hard only so someone else could have the "right" to devalue my labor and treat me like crap . . . Ted Kennedy's notions of heathcare reform were myopic and short-sited and only/all about buying votes.
Back to the TV funeral coverage, family (the kind poor Mary Jo never got to have) and loss always tugs at the heart-strings . . . and the Kennedys are no exception. It was clear from the televised coverage that Ted's widow (blowing kisses all over Capitol Hill) adored him . . . and it does appear that, as he approached the twilight of his life, Edward Kennedy found a measure of personal redemption by learning to turn over his glass and appreciate the love of a good woman. Moreover, the very large/mostly-good-looking extended family that loved and respected Ted as their patriarch did indeed look very good as they did the dutiful sojourn from Hyannis Port to Boston to D.C. to Virgina.
In the absence of his brothers, Ted Kennedy, for better and worse, became a surrogate Father to a whole bunch of kids. Over the weekend, no one brought that home more than Caroline, daughter of JFK, in her eulogy during the service in Boston.
With her voice breaking, the "Princess of Camelot" (who cannot have a soft spot in their hearts for her?) spoke of "historical" holidays & outings . . . when "Uncle Teddy" would haul the brood to one landmark or another.
And that tugged at my heartstrings - for it reminded me of the times my own parents dragged my brother and I (sometimes joining our Virginia cousins) to one battlefield or landmark or historically-significant somewhere when we were kids. We didn't always appreciate it then. I treasure those memories now.
Those trips gave me a sense of who I am, and what this country should/can be. After all, even damned-Yankees were originally Rebels with a cause.
Tea anyone?
And it just goes to show that, in the American experience, there is always common ground - even across great/dark abysses of ideology and one's "place" or "lot" in life.
If only we could find more of it.
Of course, it would mean that people like sweet Caroline's beloved "Uncle Teddy" . . . moving forward on their way to something else (and/or to put something in someone else's outstretched hand) . . . would have to stop taking for granted and stepping over people like me and poor Mary Jo.
The really sad thing about us Marys is that, once upon a time, we believed in Camelot. But Mary Jo Kopechne drowned in a submerged vehicle . . .
. . . and Dr. Mary Johnson drowned in a sea of red tape.
The "lion" (not to mention several of the Democratic party's cubs in lesser places) swam off in the other direction, shook it all off, and he sleeps tonight amongst valor in Arlington.
Heavy sigh.
I could never get completely past the ugliness and obvious obfuscations of Chappaquiddick . . . which would have (justifiably) destroyed the public career (and perhaps even the life) of anyone but a Kennedy.
But with the aid of a bunch of good-ole-boys with Yankee accents . . . looking nowhere but forward . . . Ted sailed over a young, middle-class woman's dead body, and "moved on" to re-election . . . by trading on privilege and a name he shared with two martyred brothers. He never really owned up or told the truth about what happened that night - even as the end came near (more on that in a paragraph or so).
For all of Ted's noble talk about "righting wrongs", it's the one wrong he never truly righted.
And because of what this middle-class no-name has suffered at the hands of a bunch of well-connected North Carolina GOB's, I just don't have any use for that. Moreover, "the lion of the Senate" and "soul of the Democratic party" apparently made jokes about the sad/sorry incident in later life.
There's nothing about a drunk leaving a young woman alone and trapped/entombed in pitch black, cold water . . . to slowly suffocate and drown . . . that is funny. Nothing. It was a "friendly anecdote" that was lost on me.
And then there was Ted's politics. Especially as it pertains to healthcare reform, it seemed that uber-rich/ultra-privileged/left-of-left-liberal Teddy was always willing to call for someone else's "sacrifice" . . . to dip deeply into my pocket (me being a middle-class nobody - much like Mary Jo Kopechne - descended from a modest background - who got an education and worked hard to get ahead and tried to play by all the rules - someone who even drank the public service, "give back to your community" Koolaid - only to get badly burned for the believing) . . . in order to pay for the mistakes & miscalculations of other people (often branded "under-served" or "less fortunate") . . . people unwilling to assume responsibility for themselves or their choices . . . this despite the right to a free public education, and 50 years of the welfare state (incapable of drawing lines or setting limits to the public's largess) there to cushion bad decisions & misfortune.
Of course, as Teddy chose sides in the Democratic primaries last year, he knew that telling people everything they want to hear . . . pretty much that the Federal government is "Daddy" . . . is a clearer path to power than it ever has been before.
And he whispered the secret-which-isn't-really into Obama's ear.
And/so there you have it. Ted Kennedy and I just had fundamentally different notions of what the Federal government is supposed to be about.
I did watch some of the funereal pomp and circumstance yesterday on MSNBC (really not caring very much at all for the beyond-insipid fawning of Oberman & Matthews) . . . including the interment at Arlington. I would assume that extraordinary privilege was more of a nod to Kennedy's 47 years in the Senate than his two years of Korean-war-era/non-combat service in Paris (a SWEET post old Daddy Joe pulled strings to get him).
As I've said before, Arlington is perhaps one of the most beautiful and sacred spots on earth. It is hallowed ground, I have family buried there and it's always an honor just to visit/pay respects. Echoing the sentiment of Ted's brother, John, there are places there that I could stay forever.
Ted's funeral is part of Arlington's storied history now . . . including the ABSOLUTELY SHAMELESS political pandering to Obama's healthcare agenda exhibited in Kennedy's "private" letter to Pope Benedict . . . penned just weeks before he died and read at the grave site.
I don't know what I expected. It really shouldn't have been any surprise that even as they put him into the ground, Ted Kennedy could not resist the opportunity to politically grandstand from the grave. And as I watched & listened to the priest read the letter, my jaw literally dropped at the cheek of the thing . . . for in what amounted to a "deathbed" entreaty to the Bishop of Rome, I had actually dared hope to hear real contrition for past wrongs. It wasn't there.
Maybe he saved it for the memoir . . . due to be published in . . . you guessed it . . . September! It will land, with a best-selling thud, right in the middle of the Congressional healthcare debate.
And with that final calculated maneuver, Edward Moore Kennedy, lying under one of just two crosses in the cemetery, became history.
A lot has been made on Kennedy's "stamp" on reformative legislation over the last nearly fifty years. The thing is, we have a representative government and his was just one vote of many. Moreover, when you take off the rose-colored glasses and sit down and read about how things like the Civil Rights Act came to be (and who was really behind the moving and the shaking), the truth is always much more illuminating/fascinating than the sound-bite.
Of course the truth may not justify your perpetual slumber on Robert E. Lee's front lawn.
(As an aside, it's not been lost on me this weekend that Arlington National Cemetery exists because the Federal government, in the wake of the Civil War, went all illegally "imminent domain" on the Custis-Lee estate . . . a revenge-soaked, albeit very progressive-Democrat/Teddyesquse "good-of-the-many" move if there ever was one).
Even though Ted ultimately billed healthcare reform as the "political cause of my life", he managed to sit by while legislation got passed that more or less stripped doctors of their basic Constitutional (dare I call them "civil"?) rights to due process in the medical peer review process. Of course, at the time, those behind the bill were only concerned about reducing hospital liability . . . ergo, little thought was given to the bill's "unintended consequences" to individuals. On the pretense that it would protect patients, hospitals were provided blanket legal immunity for their actions against physicians they deemed problematic or "disruptive" (never mind that it might have been something other than the doctor that was the problem). Anonymous complaints were given credence (and still are) . . . as opposed to keeping some resemblance of due process (i.e. the right to face an accuser) in the process (translation: accountability and transparency), and protecting medical whistle-blowers who acted in good faith & signed their name. Hospital committees could act in secret - and even in bad faith, hiding behind confidentiality and privacy - with virtually no checks or balances. And/so a process that was supposed to be professionally restorative and redemptive (something one would think Kennedy might appreciate) became a vicious weapon of career-ending destruction and retaliation.
Instead of protecting patients, it often shielded bad care. I can certainly testify to that.
It was all very Massachusetts (in a Salem Witch Hunt kind of way), and oh-so "progressive".
As managed care & corporate influences swept over the landscape, physician employment practices began to mirror those of peer review (that's how this whistle-blower fell into the black hole) . . . with states & their medical boards giving little credence to (or offering protection for) the special duties and responsibilities of doctors.
On Teddy's magical mystery tour to "affordable healthcare" as a "right", physicians have become "a dime a dozen".
So, from my view in the no-name cheap seats, as someone who actually provides the healthcare . . . as someone who has done it in a variety of settings . . . as someone who studied/worked very hard only so someone else could have the "right" to devalue my labor and treat me like crap . . . Ted Kennedy's notions of heathcare reform were myopic and short-sited and only/all about buying votes.
Back to the TV funeral coverage, family (the kind poor Mary Jo never got to have) and loss always tugs at the heart-strings . . . and the Kennedys are no exception. It was clear from the televised coverage that Ted's widow (blowing kisses all over Capitol Hill) adored him . . . and it does appear that, as he approached the twilight of his life, Edward Kennedy found a measure of personal redemption by learning to turn over his glass and appreciate the love of a good woman. Moreover, the very large/mostly-good-looking extended family that loved and respected Ted as their patriarch did indeed look very good as they did the dutiful sojourn from Hyannis Port to Boston to D.C. to Virgina.
In the absence of his brothers, Ted Kennedy, for better and worse, became a surrogate Father to a whole bunch of kids. Over the weekend, no one brought that home more than Caroline, daughter of JFK, in her eulogy during the service in Boston.
With her voice breaking, the "Princess of Camelot" (who cannot have a soft spot in their hearts for her?) spoke of "historical" holidays & outings . . . when "Uncle Teddy" would haul the brood to one landmark or another.
And that tugged at my heartstrings - for it reminded me of the times my own parents dragged my brother and I (sometimes joining our Virginia cousins) to one battlefield or landmark or historically-significant somewhere when we were kids. We didn't always appreciate it then. I treasure those memories now.
Those trips gave me a sense of who I am, and what this country should/can be. After all, even damned-Yankees were originally Rebels with a cause.
Tea anyone?
And it just goes to show that, in the American experience, there is always common ground - even across great/dark abysses of ideology and one's "place" or "lot" in life.
If only we could find more of it.
Of course, it would mean that people like sweet Caroline's beloved "Uncle Teddy" . . . moving forward on their way to something else (and/or to put something in someone else's outstretched hand) . . . would have to stop taking for granted and stepping over people like me and poor Mary Jo.
The really sad thing about us Marys is that, once upon a time, we believed in Camelot. But Mary Jo Kopechne drowned in a submerged vehicle . . .
. . . and Dr. Mary Johnson drowned in a sea of red tape.
The "lion" (not to mention several of the Democratic party's cubs in lesser places) swam off in the other direction, shook it all off, and he sleeps tonight amongst valor in Arlington.
Heavy sigh.
Friday, August 28, 2009
The Week In Review: Fec Shows Me Some Love, Wanting To Meet The Gabbards, Speaking Up For Mary Jo, And My E-Mail To The White House
I wanted last Sunday's post (featuring the letter of one of my former parents, Ellen Byrum Morgan, to then-Randolph Hospital Chairman-of-the Board, Ted Matney) to waft through the ether for a while before I bumped it.
I think it's one of the best posts I've ever put up that succinctly explains what was done to me in Asheboro - inasmuch as it can be succinctly explained. I'm sorry to challenge your short attention span Mr. Cone-of-the-Cones, but sometimes 100 words just doesn't cut it.
Other letters from parents will be posted shortly (with little or no commentary). It's time to really understand how the N.C. Medical Board and JCAHO and the Feds utterly failed to fulfill the so-called "missions" they blather-on about (i.e. all that hot air about protecting patients and taxpayers) . . . how they failed do anything approaching the right thing in terms of intervention against Randolph Hospital's monopolistic/retaliatory bully tactics and outright lies.
I very much appreciate Fec's link to that post. And it looks like he'll be having some fun with Guidestar. Good for him!
Moving on along, I am very happy that Greg Gabbard may shortly see real justice for his daughter, Jennifer. The man has been like a lion protecting his cub. I'd dearly love to see some of the good-ole-boy scumbags who did Greg's girl wrong lose their jobs and/or go to jail.
Speaking of lions, and mindful of my Mama's longstanding admonition not to speak ill of the dead, I've resisted the urge to post on the death of Ted Kennedy. But I am utterly appalled he will be buried at Arlington. Keeping it simple, I thought I'd just repeat what I said at Fec's (in a post entitled "Scared Women"). After all, Mary Jo Kopechne is unavailable for comment:
Jackie was a class act. Bobby had his moments. Ted left a young woman alone to die in a car that he drove off a bridge.
Reports say Mary Jo was found in a portion of the car where an air bubble would have formed - and probably lived for an hour or two in the pitch black cold water before losing consciousness and drowning.
Do “ya think” she was scared?
Okay. That wraps up the week for me. Except for my e-mail to the White House . . . sent in a fit of snit after reading an article about Obama wanting physicians to support his peculiar brand of healthcare reform.
First-off, Mr. President, I did my time in "the village", and I think that after the medico-legal cluster-screw I endured in my own hometown . . . courtesy of GROSS ADMINISTRATIVE NEGLIGENCE on the part of the National Health Service Corps and US/NC Departments of Health & Human Services, I've EARNED the right to be "skeptical" . . . and second, I don't care if you do wrap it all up in Teddy Kennedy's alcohol-soaked shroud, I don't see physicians universally embracing indentured servitude to perpetual entitlement (inasmuch as we're not already ensnarled in it).
The e-mail is in red here because I expect it's not very "progressive""
Someone in this White House needs to wake up and STOP pandering to special interests and people who want everything for nothing.
And OBTW, if you want doctors behind you on reform, maybe you need to start TALKING to them, instead of taking them for granted and treating them like DIRT (ala the insurance companies and hospitals that think we're a "dime a dozen" - while the corporate suits rake their fat salaries/benefits/parachutes off the top).
Oversight in the "non-profit" sector is a joke and has been for years!
Someone in this White House needs to go to www.drjshousecalls.blogspot and START READING - about the horrific experience of a Pediatrician who did the public service thing in her own hometown (back in the day of Bill & Hill's "village"), and has paid dearly for standing up to threats and doing the right thing by a patient.
The mighty Federal government did not have her back - and let her be hung out to dry. They could not be bothered.
Government oversight in healthcare is a joke. Yet you-all want to give it more to do.
It's INSANE!
Hey, "ya think" I'm on the Secret Service watch list yet?
8/29 Update: Speaking of the Clintonian "village", former resident idiot, Erskin Bowles made headlines this weekend - with a mandate to UNC administrators to cull their blood-money-sucking, top-heavy ranks. Of course, I couldn't let that pass without comment:
"Bowles wrote entirely in capital letters for emphasis"
THATS GREAT ERSKINE! NOW IF YOU COULD JUST PERSUADE SOME OF YOUR GOOD PALS IN THE PRIVATE "NON-PROFIT" SECTOR (ALA THE BIG "NON-PROFIT" HOSPITALS AND BLUE CROSS BLUE SHIELD) TO MOUNT UP ON THE ACCOUNTABLITIY/TRANSPARENCY HORSE AND DO THE SAME THING!
MAYBE YOU COULD PERSUADE THOSE DEM FRIENDS OF YOURS - YOU KNOW, THE ONES WHO HAVE BEEN RUNNING RALEIGH FOR AGES - TO START PAYING ATTENTION TO THE GROSS ABUSES OF PUBLIC TRUST NOW GOING ON IN THE "CHARITABLE" (ESPECIALLY THE MEDICAL) SECTOR.
OF COURSE, THAT MIGHT MEAN THEY HAVE TO TURN ON SOME OF THEIR "FRIENDS".
WE LOWLY PLEBES IN "THE VILLAGE" ARE TIRED OF GETTING FLEECED!!!
I think it's one of the best posts I've ever put up that succinctly explains what was done to me in Asheboro - inasmuch as it can be succinctly explained. I'm sorry to challenge your short attention span Mr. Cone-of-the-Cones, but sometimes 100 words just doesn't cut it.
Other letters from parents will be posted shortly (with little or no commentary). It's time to really understand how the N.C. Medical Board and JCAHO and the Feds utterly failed to fulfill the so-called "missions" they blather-on about (i.e. all that hot air about protecting patients and taxpayers) . . . how they failed do anything approaching the right thing in terms of intervention against Randolph Hospital's monopolistic/retaliatory bully tactics and outright lies.
I very much appreciate Fec's link to that post. And it looks like he'll be having some fun with Guidestar. Good for him!
Moving on along, I am very happy that Greg Gabbard may shortly see real justice for his daughter, Jennifer. The man has been like a lion protecting his cub. I'd dearly love to see some of the good-ole-boy scumbags who did Greg's girl wrong lose their jobs and/or go to jail.
Speaking of lions, and mindful of my Mama's longstanding admonition not to speak ill of the dead, I've resisted the urge to post on the death of Ted Kennedy. But I am utterly appalled he will be buried at Arlington. Keeping it simple, I thought I'd just repeat what I said at Fec's (in a post entitled "Scared Women"). After all, Mary Jo Kopechne is unavailable for comment:
Jackie was a class act. Bobby had his moments. Ted left a young woman alone to die in a car that he drove off a bridge.
Reports say Mary Jo was found in a portion of the car where an air bubble would have formed - and probably lived for an hour or two in the pitch black cold water before losing consciousness and drowning.
Do “ya think” she was scared?
Okay. That wraps up the week for me. Except for my e-mail to the White House . . . sent in a fit of snit after reading an article about Obama wanting physicians to support his peculiar brand of healthcare reform.
First-off, Mr. President, I did my time in "the village", and I think that after the medico-legal cluster-screw I endured in my own hometown . . . courtesy of GROSS ADMINISTRATIVE NEGLIGENCE on the part of the National Health Service Corps and US/NC Departments of Health & Human Services, I've EARNED the right to be "skeptical" . . . and second, I don't care if you do wrap it all up in Teddy Kennedy's alcohol-soaked shroud, I don't see physicians universally embracing indentured servitude to perpetual entitlement (inasmuch as we're not already ensnarled in it).
The e-mail is in red here because I expect it's not very "progressive""
Someone in this White House needs to wake up and STOP pandering to special interests and people who want everything for nothing.
And OBTW, if you want doctors behind you on reform, maybe you need to start TALKING to them, instead of taking them for granted and treating them like DIRT (ala the insurance companies and hospitals that think we're a "dime a dozen" - while the corporate suits rake their fat salaries/benefits/parachutes off the top).
Oversight in the "non-profit" sector is a joke and has been for years!
Someone in this White House needs to go to www.drjshousecalls.blogspot and START READING - about the horrific experience of a Pediatrician who did the public service thing in her own hometown (back in the day of Bill & Hill's "village"), and has paid dearly for standing up to threats and doing the right thing by a patient.
The mighty Federal government did not have her back - and let her be hung out to dry. They could not be bothered.
Government oversight in healthcare is a joke. Yet you-all want to give it more to do.
It's INSANE!
Hey, "ya think" I'm on the Secret Service watch list yet?
8/29 Update: Speaking of the Clintonian "village", former resident idiot, Erskin Bowles made headlines this weekend - with a mandate to UNC administrators to cull their blood-money-sucking, top-heavy ranks. Of course, I couldn't let that pass without comment:
"Bowles wrote entirely in capital letters for emphasis"
THATS GREAT ERSKINE! NOW IF YOU COULD JUST PERSUADE SOME OF YOUR GOOD PALS IN THE PRIVATE "NON-PROFIT" SECTOR (ALA THE BIG "NON-PROFIT" HOSPITALS AND BLUE CROSS BLUE SHIELD) TO MOUNT UP ON THE ACCOUNTABLITIY/TRANSPARENCY HORSE AND DO THE SAME THING!
MAYBE YOU COULD PERSUADE THOSE DEM FRIENDS OF YOURS - YOU KNOW, THE ONES WHO HAVE BEEN RUNNING RALEIGH FOR AGES - TO START PAYING ATTENTION TO THE GROSS ABUSES OF PUBLIC TRUST NOW GOING ON IN THE "CHARITABLE" (ESPECIALLY THE MEDICAL) SECTOR.
OF COURSE, THAT MIGHT MEAN THEY HAVE TO TURN ON SOME OF THEIR "FRIENDS".
WE LOWLY PLEBES IN "THE VILLAGE" ARE TIRED OF GETTING FLEECED!!!
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Physician Shortages Up Close & Personal: Obama Is WRONG. Bad Management & Poor Oversight Have Already Kept Patients From Seeing The Doctors They Want
I love the wind and I love the rain. And yesterday, where I'm at, it was a very good day for both - with strong storms barrelling in from the west and a hurricane hovering offshore to the East. The thunder and lightening and wind mimicked the strong emotions that drafting this post stirred up . . . and it all made for a glorious muse.
As people talk about healthcare reform, a lot of the talk centers around physician shortages - especially in primary care - and especially in small towns and rural areas. What none of the rabid reformers with their hands out seem to want to admit is, that medicine ANYWHERE is not free - hell, it's even expensive. Highly educated, very skilled people are required to provide it. And somebody has to pay for it.
For a very long time, since "managed care" (and all of the attached "suits") roared on the scene (presumably to make everyone's lives so much easier), doctors - especially primary care doctors - have been viewed by those "suits" (MBA's and lawyers) running hospitals & insurance companies as freely renewable resources . . . pawns to pound into profitable submission (the rewards of their labor de-valued and diminished so the suits can get their big salaries and bonuses and parachutes).
Good doctors in small towns were/are "a dime a dozen" to quote Randolph Hospital's Executive Vice President of Corporate Planning and Development, Steven Eblin (no, I am not going to let him forget he said that).
Of course, it's my humble opinion that Steven Eblin (along with a number of "suits" I've encountered over the years) is a bully and an idiot, and certainly not worth the salary "non-profit" Randolph Hospital has paid him over the last decade as he macerated the medical landscape for market share (if you have any questions about that salary, feel free to visit Guidestar and look it up - it is, after all, how I discovered that Steve's an unconvicted felon).
Now President Obama (married to an over-paid hospital executive) keeps saying that, with his proposed government-administrated plans for "universal" health coverage (because let's be clear that we're not really talking about the care you get - we're talking about how or even if you pay for it), "If you like your doctor you can keep your doctor."
But I am sorry, that is just NOT true. It hasn't been true for the last decade or so.
In both government-run and "private" medicine, whether or not you can keep your doctor oftentimes depends on decisions made by people ("third parties") in suits with MBA's instead of MD's who fancy themselves and their petty/selfish/greedy reasonings more important than your relationship with your doctor.
And I can guarandamntee you that the government of the United States, with all of its fearsome power, has DONE NOTHING to protect doctors from these predators-in-suits (not that doctors have put up much of a fight) . . . in fact, the government has done everything it could to marginalize and de-value doctors (especially employed doctors and those laboring in public service) - to the point of even stripping them of their basic Constitutional rights of due process and free speech. And woe be unto you if you're a medical whistle-blower! Why that's just "disruptive"!
When it comes to physician "shortages" or fulfilling the dire need for primary doctors in under-served areas, instead of the government riding in on a white horse with new/uber-expensive/monster programs that don't have a snowball's chance in hell of working the way the politicians say they will . . . or passing new laws that will not be enforced . . . perhaps it might be a good idea to FIRST look at individual situations and the failures of the past . . . especially as those failures (the same mistakes that I've seen play out over and over again in different backyards) reflect the pitfalls of government-run/administrated (ala Medicare/Medicaid/the military & public health service) and "non-profit" medicine . . . the kind of medicine already paid for - in spades - by the taxpayer.
IN NORTH CAROLINA ALONE, billions of healthcare dollars have been wasted over the last decade by bad management and non-existent oversight. Billions of dollars. Our newspapers, covering important butts in Raleigh and Charlotte and Washington, have barely granted these stories a blurb. God forbid that we ordinary saps get outraged at the very important people actually screwing up - sucking our tax dollars up into their own pockets and retirement accounts . . . many of whom deserve to be fired or put in jail . . . but for the most part haven't been . . . because they're all in it together.
Every billion-dollar healthcare scam or boondoggle has thousands of individual stories . . . people who fancy-themselves-important screwing over people-they-deem-not-nearly-as-important . . .i.e. "wrong/ordinary people" getting shafted by "right/well-named/well-connected people"
And here's a really progressive thought about that (that's why it's in blue): Those individual stories and failures are HOW and WHERE healthcare has really fallen apart at its seams . . . for all that the more liberal, "progressive" types think these stories - and people like me - people like my patients/their parents - are "not relevant".
When you actually think about it, that's why you have so many unhappy/angry ordinary, productive, middle-class Americans screaming their lungs out at town halls. Until now, they have been patronized or blown-off entirely (I'm pausing now to remember my appearances before the Asheboro City Council - where my family and I literally sat there and watched "Evil Keith" Crisco sneer because I was criticizing his very important friends).
We for damned sure have NOT been heard.
When it comes to Randolph Hospital and the saga of Dr. Mary Johnson, the facts as Randolph's executives have wanted and manipulated the public to see them have NEVER added up - not that ANYONE in a pencil-pushing position of oversight ANYWHERE (the government and local press included) ever cared enough to actually LOOK.
And/so, with this post, we will continue my stroll through the old legal files, with the letters that angry parents sent to Randolph Hospital & RMA Board members on my behalf. A group of "my Moms", tired of being treated like emotional/silly school-girls, mobilized to question the decisions hospital executives had made . . . and organized (inasmuch as anyone in Asheboro ever organizes) a letter-writing campaign.
These women wanted to keep their childrens' doctor - a doctor who was brought back home to Asheboro with their tax dollars. No one . . . especially NOT the government that enticed the doctor back to Asheboro with its "loan repayment for service" deal . . . gave a rat's tail about what these Mothers wanted. Moreover, the government could not have cared less about the simple, common decency and courtesy that was owed to the doctor who had completed her service obligation, and, in fact (as that obligation was about to expire), had gone above and beyond to protect a patient.
Back in 1998, the resources we have today (like blogging) . . . resources that the common man & woman can now harness to challenge authority. . . were nonexistent or in their infancy.
Using what she had, one of my more vocal Moms, Ellen Morgan, wrote a letter to the Courier Tribune (which was cited yesterday). Other Moms joined suit. But to the very best of my recollection, ONLY ONE letter ever saw newsprint.
And that's because good ole David Renfro took the back of his biggest advertiser. And (much like John Robinson in Greensboro, covering Cone Hospital's butt) Mr. Renfro got to decide who/what was "relevant" . . . say, like bringing alcohol to Asheboro in 2008 . . . as opposed to reporting the facts/or printing the letters that might have invited closer public scrutiny of the despicable actions taken by a "non-profit" hospital against a home-grown doctor-in-public-service in 1998.
You've got to have your priorities straight. The town might die if you don't.
Beyond frustrated, Ellen Morgan sent the following letter to Ted Matney, who (at the time) sat on both Randolph Hospital's and RMA's Board of Directors.
It still blows my mind that Ms. Morgan cared enough to take the time and sit down and type out two letters . . . one of which was two & one-half pages long.
It may also interest readers to know that Ellen Morgan was the first parent I saw/spoke with after RMA Director, Mike Bridges, delivered his 5 day "notice" of termination (on a Monday morning, just minutes before I was scheduled to start seeing patients).
But I do remember exactly how I felt when I walked into that exam room, and tried to put on happy face and get on with that full day of seeing patients (because in Mike Bridges' world that's what a doctor was supposed to do even as the life she had worked so hard to build was unravelling around her - and she was bleeding from the mortal knife wounds he had inflicted in her back). I cannot put it into words.
One of the reasons I am still doggedly on Randolph Hospital's tail is because I want any young doctor considering a working or employment relationship with this hospital and these people to KNOW exactly the kind of snakepit they're falling into. No American physician should have to go through what I've been through. courtesy of my own hometown.
Ellen Morgan's letter is in red. My commentary is in blue (I'm practicing being progressive).
Dear Mr. Matney,
The recent events surrounding the dismissal of Dr. Mary Johnson have concerned me greatly. I would like to share with you my thoughts about Randolph Medical Associates' decision to terminate Dr. Johnson. Then, I would like to share my experiences as a result of that decision. Finally, I would to explain why I am appealing to you, the Board of Directors, to become involved with this issue.
In my opinion, the decision to terminate Dr. Johnson was a mistake. I question if anyone truly realized the consequences of this decision. How it would impact her patients and the community. On February 2nd, I was Dr. Johnson's first appointment of the day. [Again, this was minutes after I had been given "notice" of termination.]
She walked into the examining room, told me that she never thought she would be saying this, but that Friday, February 6th , would be her last day at RMA. She said she had been terminated the previous day. [This is inaccurate - I honestly don't remember what I told Ellen - it was all a blur - but I had been given "notice" immediately before I was scheduled to see her.] It was obvious that she was unhappy, and I was upset too. She asked me not to ask her any questions because she could not discuss it. [Mike Bridges had made it very clear that I would be fired "for cause" if I said anything that might be considered disparaging of RMA.]
Then, very professionally, she said that the most important thing was not to let the children sense that anything was wrong. So, as a parent, I knew that in less than four days, my daughter's Pediatrician would be gone. [My contract actually provided for a six-month notice. Any REASONABLE person would assume that this means you work a notice out - or you get paid in full/set completely free if the practice breaches the contract by kicking you out sooner. In fact, my National Health Service Corps agreement specifically forbade RMA from interfering in my continued practice in the community. Moreover, other RMA physicians - like Sid Blake and Brad Thomas - worked out notices and transitioned their practices. But Mike Bridges did not just want me gone. HE WANTED MY SILENCE . . . about the Mick Irwin incident . . . about Breton Juberg's extracurricular antics and problems at the office . . . about Bridges' ILLEGAL attempts to direct RMA Pediatric referrals exclusively to Cone Hospital - and-so-on-and-so-on. Mike Bridges had to have something to hold over my head (i.e. my "salary" - which he doled out a little at a time) until he could (A) bully me into doing what he wanted me to do (which was agreeing to silence for the selective scraps of my contract he wanted to throw) . . . or (B) manufacture a reason to fire me "for cause". Meanwhile, RMA President/RH VP Steve Eblin was telling parents that giving me five days to wrap up things at the office was "generous" on RMA's part - giving them all the impression I had done something horribly wrong. And RH CEO, Bob Morrison, was "discretely" letting folks know I was not "a team player" (I guess that being a "team player" at Randolph Hospital means you let sick babies die.) ALL of this was about character assassination, eliminating me as viable competition and keeping their "market share" in Pediatrics.]
I could not believe how unprofessional it was to give only a 5 day notice. Obviously, she had not done anything unethical [Ellen was spot-on there] because she still had hospital privileges. [As has been discussed before on Housecalls, my hospital privileges were USELESS because, (A) For the duration of my six-month "notice", I was exclusively contracted to RMA and could not see my patients without Bridges' permission - WHICH HE NEVER GAVE; (B) Bridges cancelled my malpractice insurance when he fired me; (C) practicing "bare" (i.e. without malpractice insurance) at Randolph Hospital was/is grounds for revocation of privileges - a career-ending disciplinary action that is reportable to the National Practitioner's Data Bank. ANY effort to develop or transition my own private practice would have been grounds for termination "for cause". Ergo, despite what a lot of people were telling my patients, I was not "free" to start my own practice - and, as I languished bound and gagged on the sidelines, RMA could scoop "the business" up.]
Furthermore, I couldn't believe that this decision was made in the midst of the cold and flu season. I knew that Dr. Johnson's departure meant an overload for the RMA staff, and the two remaining Pediatricians. [Mike Bridges, being the snivelling snake he was, actually had the gall to tell people that morale was "much better" at the office after my departure. There is no doubt that Kathleen Riley (the only Pediatrician Bridges was listening to) was over-joyed. She wanted to be big cheese at RMA and that was not going to happen as long as "home-girl" Mary was around. But my other physician-partner at RMA, Laurie Anderson, described the atmosphere behind the scenes as "hell". Of course, Laurie got disgusted with working in "hell" and (uprooting her family) left town too . . . the end result being that ALL of the taxpayer money that was spent to recruit us to Asheboro might as well have been poured down the drain.]
For parents, that would mean longer wait times and more difficulty getting appointments, which have proven to be true. So the work of three Pediatricians would now be covered by two Pediatricians, going into the busiest times of the year, and according to Mike Bridges, RMA would continue to accept new patients.
I was so proud to have her as my Pediatrician. I felt like I had the best. Also, I felt proud that she practiced in Asheboro, and that she was an Asheboro native. She was someone who knew Asheboro's history and its people. Most importantly, I believe Dr. Johnson was an excellent role model for my two girls. [Alas Ellen, maybe notsomuch now -given the flowery verbiage I've used on this blog - after eleven years of being ignored and crapped-on by a series of "honorable" businessmen, lawyers, politicians, regulatory agencies and law-enforcement officials.]
In the weeks following her termination, I experienced a comradery with other concerned parents. Initially, we voiced our concerns through formal lines of communication. [Like many of the folks now at town halls - you know, the ones that enlightened liberals love to ridicule, Ellen and the rest of "the Moms" discovered that playing nice and following "formal lines of communication" DOES NOT WORK - especially when an institution is trying to cover-up ugliness.]
Most everyone called Mike Bridges, but everyone who talked with him seemed to quesiton or distrust what he said. [That's probably because the little weasel was lying through his teeth.]
I called Mike Bridges on Wednesday, February 4th, to express my concerns and to appeal to him to resolve this situation. I told him that I wanted Dr. Johnson back at RMA. The hospital's endorsement of RMA and its advertisements of RMA's Pediatricians influenced my decision to go there. [Just like the hospital's "endorsement" of Mick Irwin had enticed two unsuspecting parents to choose the Neonatology wannabe as their baby's doctor.]
Mr. Bridges was polite and well-rehearsed. However, he seemed pro-occupied with asking me, "What did Dr. Johnson say to you exactly". During our approximate 20 minute conversation, he asked me that question three times. [Bridges was, in fact, looking for a reason to fire me. You see, in his written instructions he had told me that I could not speak/complain to anyone except him (or Steve Eblin), and if I did, I would be fired "for cause". Of course, that kind of makes it HARD to initiate talks with Board members without an invite.]
He assured me that he was keeping a list of the names of everyone who called him expressing concerns, and would share that list with other decision makers. [At that point the "decision-makers" would have been the hospital's lawyers - trying to cover Bridges' tracks.]
I would like for the Board Members to see this list. I would expect it to be quite a long list. [At one point, I was told there was a petition asking for my reinstatement, with a large number of signatures, delivered to the BOD. I never saw it. If it ever existed, I expect it was destroyed after it was delivered.]
Also, a friend of mine who moved here less than 2 years ago spoke with Mr. Bridges and asked him for a list of the Board of Directors for RMA and Randolph Hospital. He told her that it was privileged information, and he could not reveal the names to the public because the hospital was private the the Board members were volunteers. [This bold-faced LIE forshadows the in-your-face PERJURY, CONTEMPT & FRAUD of Bob Morrison and Steven Eblin at settlement. Randolph Hospital and its wholly-owned, "controlled affiliate", RMA may very well be "private" non-profits, but the Board members of non-profits are, in fact, identified on IRS 990 returns and those returns are PUBLIC RECORD - just like much of the financial information that Morrison & Eblin, trying to get out on the cheap, claimed to be "highly confidential" during discovery.]
However, later that day she spoke with an RMA Board member who confirmed that the RMA Board did not make this decision, but was notified after the decision was made by Mike Bridges and Steve Eblin. [Caught more-or-less unaware, Board members of both Randolph Hospital and RMA squirmed and back-tracked and did their level best to distance themselves from the decision to fire me. Despite the fact that Pediatricians were/are NOT EASY to recruit to small towns . . . and that Dr. Anderson & I were, in fact, recruited to Asheboro with state & Federal money . . . the volunteer "honorables" providing "oversight" of hospital/practice executives had NO imput into what they tried to dismiss as merely a "day-to-day" middle-management decision to fire me. Board members were informed only after Mike Bridges, backed by Steven Eblin, took action. Afterwards, apparently thinking I would "just go away" if they pretended I did not exist, they circled the wagons).
Finally, in my conversation wtih Mr. Bridges, I thought about asking him who was his children's Pediatrician, but I didn't. However, if I had done so, I would have discovered that he doesn't even live in our community. He lives in Greensboro. [Mike Bridges' employment didn't even last out my six month "notice" at RMA - he tucked tail and went back to Greensboro (to wheel and deal at Southeastern Heart & Vascular center). In fact, as I've started to get bolder on Housecalls with the naming of names in this medico-legal cluster-screw, I strongly suspect that Mr. Bridges has been here as a snippy anonymous commentator. At this point, any time that clueless, spineless, back-stabbing wimp wants a face-to-face, one-on-one with this doctor, I am so READY for him.]
Therefore, I believe he cannot understand how betrayed I feel by RMA and Randolph Hospital, over losing Dr. Johnson.
That same day, I tried to call Bob Morrison and Steven Ebline, but both were out of town for a convention that week. [Very convenient . . . and typical hit and run tactics . . . especially for our oily Steve.]
After my unproductive conversation with Mr. Bridges, I saw other Mothers at The Art Guild, Mom's Club and preschools. Many had spoken with Mr. Bridges and were unsatisfied, feeling like RMA nor Randolph Hospital cared about their concerns. By this time, most Mothers had received as brief and somewhat ambigous letter from Mr. Bridges. [The letter, drafted and sent without my knowledge, input or consent, gave many parents the impression that, in a fit of snit, I had suddenly abandoned them - and it offered no way to contact me. My patients were "invited" to continue their care with other RMA doctors (who, within months, would be on phat bonus plans - as the practice was suddenly and inexplicably "profitable").]
All the Mothers I spoke with were outraged over losing Dr. Johnson. They wanted to know what they could do to support Dr. Johnson in hopes of reversing the decsion or keeping her practicing in Asheboro. So some Mothers, including myself, wrote letters to the editor of the Courier Tribune.
One of those letters was printed. The others are included for you to read with this letter. [I sincerely doubt Matney cared.]
After talking to Mike Bridges and writing editorials, no positive changes were occuring. Still, everyone I talked with were frustrated and disappointed, particularly people at the hospital. Many nurses and professional staff people were extremely supportive of Dr. Johnson, but cannot speak out or show support for her for fear they will lost their jobs. [Morrison & Eblin even went so far as to hold a meeting on the LDRP unit instructing nurses (many of them my friends) not to speak to me or they would be subpoenaed by the hospital to testify in the litigation that was most certainly coming.] They believe that if an excellent physician like Dr. Johnson can be fired, they are even more susceptible to being fired.
Other people I spoke with were parents, staff at other medical facilities, daycare directors, preschool workers, etc. Everyone wants to keep Dr. Johnson.
I keep thinking, is Randolph Hospital and RMA hearing us? [No Ellen, Randolph executives only listened to very "important" Mothers like Cheryl Freeman, DDS . . . she spoke for ALL of you . . . and I was dog-meat because I did not give her what she wanted.]
Therefore, a couple of Mothers and I decided to write and appeal to the Randolph Hospital Board of Directors. You are our last hope. We hope you will be our community voice with Randolph Hospital and RMA. We need to keep Dr. Johnson. Truly, she is an excellent, caring compassionate physician. She is committed to the care of children. We were lucky to have her.
Instead of talking to her attorney, I believe she needs to be talking to you, the Board of Directors. We can all speculate why this happened, but I think the more important question is can the situation be resolved? [There were any number of points where the situation could have been resolved - if someone in a position of oversight at the hospital had exercised any strength of character, foresight or wisdom at all. But in any deal that was made, hospital executives would have been forced to own up (and yes, pay up) . . . and there was no way they were going to do that short of being dragged to Court. These men simply could not admit that they were wrong.]
There are always creative solutions. Perhaps the Board can provide a different perspective that could help resolve this situation. [The only thing this bunch of "honorables" knew how to do was wink and nod.]
We need to keep Dr. Mary Johnson for "her kids" and for the community. The Board of Directors are our only hope. Please get involved on behalf of the community.
I look forward to your response.
Respectfully,
Ellen Byrum Morgan
Mr. Matney responded to Ellen with a variation of a carefully drafted form letter (clearly composed by the hospital's lawyer). The following are a few of the outright myths and half-truths that were circulated by Board members (like Ted Matney and Jim Culberson and Jim Kinlaw and Charles Stout and Sam Rankin and Joe Bossong and William Redding) as they dutifully covered Bob and Steve's tracks:
RMA and Randolph Hospital were/are separate corporate entites (never mind that RMA was/is the wholly-owned "controlled affiliate" of Randolph Hospital - and at the time the BOD's were virtually interchangeable).
Board members (legally responsible for the actions of their executives) had no imput into the decision . . . as the hiring and firing of a physician . . . the FOUNDING physician of RMA's Pediatric division . . . was merely a part of the normal "day-to-day operation" of the practice (funny how Mike Bridges' signature was not on my contract).
Dr. Johnson's termination was a "confidential" employment matter (never mind that I was screaming for it not to be).
It was "necessary and appropriate" to terminate Dr. Johnson (yeah, I suppose if you're trying to cover-up that another one of your physicians nearly killed a newborn baby with his arrogance and ignorance it would have been "necessary" to fire the doctor that cleaned up and reported his mess).
Dr. Johnson had "full" admitting privileges that were "unaffected" by RMA's decision to fire her (we've previously covered that).
Depending on who was writing the letter, Dr. Johnson was getting a full "severance package" or a "full salary and benefits" or "salary continuation" (let's just say NOT when it comes to the "full benefits" . . . my accumulated sick leave and vacation was not addressed . . . my malpractice insurance was cancelled without notifying me . . . and was reinstated only after I was called to assist Rob Robbins with a super premie and had to decline because I would be going in "bare". Moreover, I had to fight for nearly nine months (and get Howard Coble involved) to get my malpractice tail coverage paid (a clearly-stated condition of RMA's site agreement with the NHSC).
Dr. Johnson was "free" to locate an office, lease space, hire staff and begin seeing patients. As we've established earlier, this was not just a LIE but a DAMNED LIE. If you are under EXCLUSIVE CONTRACT and are not released from it - and I wasn't - you are most certainly NOT "free" to compete with your EMPLOYER . . that would be grounds for termination FOR CAUSE . . . i.e. your "salary and benefits" go out the window. It also doesn't look so good on your curriculum vitae.
AND HERE, DEAR READERS, IS THE BIGGEST LIE OF ALL: "I hope Dr. Johnson will stay in Asheboro and continue to practice in our community."
Let's be real clear here folks. NOT ONE of RMA or Randolph Hospital's Board members did ANYTHING to make that happen. NOT ONE of these fine/honorable/upstanding/ethical/Christian men EVER picked up a phone or asked/tried to speak to me directly (I did have two contentious conversations with Jim Kinlaw fairly late in the game - but only because I initiated them). They accepted everything that Bridges/Morrison/Eblin said at face value and tightly circled the wagons. They kept the lid slammed firmly shut on the windowless box Bridges had put me in for the duration of my six-month "notice". Later on, they added insult to injury when they voted to sue me for "libel" (a move that, as it turned out, back-fired badly - AS THEIR EXECUTIVES BOLD-FACED AND REPEATEDLY LIED UNDER OATH DURING DISCOVERY.).
DR. MARY JOHNSON HAD TO BE DESTROYED. FOR NOBODY TALKS BACK TO THE GOOD OLE BOYS RUNNING A MILL TOWN HOSPITAL (many would say into the ground).
And ask yourselves, readers, WHERE was the North Carolina Medical Board (whose ethical canons and position statements were violated)? Where was JCAHO (so concerned about patient safety and "sentinel events")? WHERE was U.S. DHHS (whose own site agreement was breached and violated)? WHERE was N.C. DHHS and the Attorney General as a "non-profit" hospital trampled all over a home-grown doctor in public service?
WHERE were all of these regulatory and oversight agencies BEFORE Bob Morrison and Steven went the extra added step of actually committing mulitple felonies in order to save themselves and their hospital a little extra money at settlement?
And WHERE is the Randolph County District Attorney? Bob Morrison and Steven Eblin walked into a Courtroom over which he has jurisdiction and REPEATEDLY LIED UNDER OATH to get their way. In SIX YEARS, Garland Yates has NEVER interviewed me . . . he has not lifted one finger to investigate the case . . . or thought it necessary to refer it up to Raleigh (where it belongs).
As people talk about healthcare reform, a lot of the talk centers around physician shortages - especially in primary care - and especially in small towns and rural areas. What none of the rabid reformers with their hands out seem to want to admit is, that medicine ANYWHERE is not free - hell, it's even expensive. Highly educated, very skilled people are required to provide it. And somebody has to pay for it.
For a very long time, since "managed care" (and all of the attached "suits") roared on the scene (presumably to make everyone's lives so much easier), doctors - especially primary care doctors - have been viewed by those "suits" (MBA's and lawyers) running hospitals & insurance companies as freely renewable resources . . . pawns to pound into profitable submission (the rewards of their labor de-valued and diminished so the suits can get their big salaries and bonuses and parachutes).
Good doctors in small towns were/are "a dime a dozen" to quote Randolph Hospital's Executive Vice President of Corporate Planning and Development, Steven Eblin (no, I am not going to let him forget he said that).
Of course, it's my humble opinion that Steven Eblin (along with a number of "suits" I've encountered over the years) is a bully and an idiot, and certainly not worth the salary "non-profit" Randolph Hospital has paid him over the last decade as he macerated the medical landscape for market share (if you have any questions about that salary, feel free to visit Guidestar and look it up - it is, after all, how I discovered that Steve's an unconvicted felon).
Now President Obama (married to an over-paid hospital executive) keeps saying that, with his proposed government-administrated plans for "universal" health coverage (because let's be clear that we're not really talking about the care you get - we're talking about how or even if you pay for it), "If you like your doctor you can keep your doctor."
But I am sorry, that is just NOT true. It hasn't been true for the last decade or so.
In both government-run and "private" medicine, whether or not you can keep your doctor oftentimes depends on decisions made by people ("third parties") in suits with MBA's instead of MD's who fancy themselves and their petty/selfish/greedy reasonings more important than your relationship with your doctor.
And I can guarandamntee you that the government of the United States, with all of its fearsome power, has DONE NOTHING to protect doctors from these predators-in-suits (not that doctors have put up much of a fight) . . . in fact, the government has done everything it could to marginalize and de-value doctors (especially employed doctors and those laboring in public service) - to the point of even stripping them of their basic Constitutional rights of due process and free speech. And woe be unto you if you're a medical whistle-blower! Why that's just "disruptive"!
When it comes to physician "shortages" or fulfilling the dire need for primary doctors in under-served areas, instead of the government riding in on a white horse with new/uber-expensive/monster programs that don't have a snowball's chance in hell of working the way the politicians say they will . . . or passing new laws that will not be enforced . . . perhaps it might be a good idea to FIRST look at individual situations and the failures of the past . . . especially as those failures (the same mistakes that I've seen play out over and over again in different backyards) reflect the pitfalls of government-run/administrated (ala Medicare/Medicaid/the military & public health service) and "non-profit" medicine . . . the kind of medicine already paid for - in spades - by the taxpayer.
IN NORTH CAROLINA ALONE, billions of healthcare dollars have been wasted over the last decade by bad management and non-existent oversight. Billions of dollars. Our newspapers, covering important butts in Raleigh and Charlotte and Washington, have barely granted these stories a blurb. God forbid that we ordinary saps get outraged at the very important people actually screwing up - sucking our tax dollars up into their own pockets and retirement accounts . . . many of whom deserve to be fired or put in jail . . . but for the most part haven't been . . . because they're all in it together.
Every billion-dollar healthcare scam or boondoggle has thousands of individual stories . . . people who fancy-themselves-important screwing over people-they-deem-not-nearly-as-important . . .i.e. "wrong/ordinary people" getting shafted by "right/well-named/well-connected people"
And here's a really progressive thought about that (that's why it's in blue): Those individual stories and failures are HOW and WHERE healthcare has really fallen apart at its seams . . . for all that the more liberal, "progressive" types think these stories - and people like me - people like my patients/their parents - are "not relevant".
When you actually think about it, that's why you have so many unhappy/angry ordinary, productive, middle-class Americans screaming their lungs out at town halls. Until now, they have been patronized or blown-off entirely (I'm pausing now to remember my appearances before the Asheboro City Council - where my family and I literally sat there and watched "Evil Keith" Crisco sneer because I was criticizing his very important friends).
We for damned sure have NOT been heard.
When it comes to Randolph Hospital and the saga of Dr. Mary Johnson, the facts as Randolph's executives have wanted and manipulated the public to see them have NEVER added up - not that ANYONE in a pencil-pushing position of oversight ANYWHERE (the government and local press included) ever cared enough to actually LOOK.
And/so, with this post, we will continue my stroll through the old legal files, with the letters that angry parents sent to Randolph Hospital & RMA Board members on my behalf. A group of "my Moms", tired of being treated like emotional/silly school-girls, mobilized to question the decisions hospital executives had made . . . and organized (inasmuch as anyone in Asheboro ever organizes) a letter-writing campaign.
These women wanted to keep their childrens' doctor - a doctor who was brought back home to Asheboro with their tax dollars. No one . . . especially NOT the government that enticed the doctor back to Asheboro with its "loan repayment for service" deal . . . gave a rat's tail about what these Mothers wanted. Moreover, the government could not have cared less about the simple, common decency and courtesy that was owed to the doctor who had completed her service obligation, and, in fact (as that obligation was about to expire), had gone above and beyond to protect a patient.
Back in 1998, the resources we have today (like blogging) . . . resources that the common man & woman can now harness to challenge authority. . . were nonexistent or in their infancy.
Using what she had, one of my more vocal Moms, Ellen Morgan, wrote a letter to the Courier Tribune (which was cited yesterday). Other Moms joined suit. But to the very best of my recollection, ONLY ONE letter ever saw newsprint.
And that's because good ole David Renfro took the back of his biggest advertiser. And (much like John Robinson in Greensboro, covering Cone Hospital's butt) Mr. Renfro got to decide who/what was "relevant" . . . say, like bringing alcohol to Asheboro in 2008 . . . as opposed to reporting the facts/or printing the letters that might have invited closer public scrutiny of the despicable actions taken by a "non-profit" hospital against a home-grown doctor-in-public-service in 1998.
You've got to have your priorities straight. The town might die if you don't.
Beyond frustrated, Ellen Morgan sent the following letter to Ted Matney, who (at the time) sat on both Randolph Hospital's and RMA's Board of Directors.
It still blows my mind that Ms. Morgan cared enough to take the time and sit down and type out two letters . . . one of which was two & one-half pages long.
It may also interest readers to know that Ellen Morgan was the first parent I saw/spoke with after RMA Director, Mike Bridges, delivered his 5 day "notice" of termination (on a Monday morning, just minutes before I was scheduled to start seeing patients).
But I do remember exactly how I felt when I walked into that exam room, and tried to put on happy face and get on with that full day of seeing patients (because in Mike Bridges' world that's what a doctor was supposed to do even as the life she had worked so hard to build was unravelling around her - and she was bleeding from the mortal knife wounds he had inflicted in her back). I cannot put it into words.
One of the reasons I am still doggedly on Randolph Hospital's tail is because I want any young doctor considering a working or employment relationship with this hospital and these people to KNOW exactly the kind of snakepit they're falling into. No American physician should have to go through what I've been through. courtesy of my own hometown.
Ellen Morgan's letter is in red. My commentary is in blue (I'm practicing being progressive).
Dear Mr. Matney,
The recent events surrounding the dismissal of Dr. Mary Johnson have concerned me greatly. I would like to share with you my thoughts about Randolph Medical Associates' decision to terminate Dr. Johnson. Then, I would like to share my experiences as a result of that decision. Finally, I would to explain why I am appealing to you, the Board of Directors, to become involved with this issue.
In my opinion, the decision to terminate Dr. Johnson was a mistake. I question if anyone truly realized the consequences of this decision. How it would impact her patients and the community. On February 2nd, I was Dr. Johnson's first appointment of the day. [Again, this was minutes after I had been given "notice" of termination.]
She walked into the examining room, told me that she never thought she would be saying this, but that Friday, February 6th , would be her last day at RMA. She said she had been terminated the previous day. [This is inaccurate - I honestly don't remember what I told Ellen - it was all a blur - but I had been given "notice" immediately before I was scheduled to see her.] It was obvious that she was unhappy, and I was upset too. She asked me not to ask her any questions because she could not discuss it. [Mike Bridges had made it very clear that I would be fired "for cause" if I said anything that might be considered disparaging of RMA.]
Then, very professionally, she said that the most important thing was not to let the children sense that anything was wrong. So, as a parent, I knew that in less than four days, my daughter's Pediatrician would be gone. [My contract actually provided for a six-month notice. Any REASONABLE person would assume that this means you work a notice out - or you get paid in full/set completely free if the practice breaches the contract by kicking you out sooner. In fact, my National Health Service Corps agreement specifically forbade RMA from interfering in my continued practice in the community. Moreover, other RMA physicians - like Sid Blake and Brad Thomas - worked out notices and transitioned their practices. But Mike Bridges did not just want me gone. HE WANTED MY SILENCE . . . about the Mick Irwin incident . . . about Breton Juberg's extracurricular antics and problems at the office . . . about Bridges' ILLEGAL attempts to direct RMA Pediatric referrals exclusively to Cone Hospital - and-so-on-and-so-on. Mike Bridges had to have something to hold over my head (i.e. my "salary" - which he doled out a little at a time) until he could (A) bully me into doing what he wanted me to do (which was agreeing to silence for the selective scraps of my contract he wanted to throw) . . . or (B) manufacture a reason to fire me "for cause". Meanwhile, RMA President/RH VP Steve Eblin was telling parents that giving me five days to wrap up things at the office was "generous" on RMA's part - giving them all the impression I had done something horribly wrong. And RH CEO, Bob Morrison, was "discretely" letting folks know I was not "a team player" (I guess that being a "team player" at Randolph Hospital means you let sick babies die.) ALL of this was about character assassination, eliminating me as viable competition and keeping their "market share" in Pediatrics.]
I could not believe how unprofessional it was to give only a 5 day notice. Obviously, she had not done anything unethical [Ellen was spot-on there] because she still had hospital privileges. [As has been discussed before on Housecalls, my hospital privileges were USELESS because, (A) For the duration of my six-month "notice", I was exclusively contracted to RMA and could not see my patients without Bridges' permission - WHICH HE NEVER GAVE; (B) Bridges cancelled my malpractice insurance when he fired me; (C) practicing "bare" (i.e. without malpractice insurance) at Randolph Hospital was/is grounds for revocation of privileges - a career-ending disciplinary action that is reportable to the National Practitioner's Data Bank. ANY effort to develop or transition my own private practice would have been grounds for termination "for cause". Ergo, despite what a lot of people were telling my patients, I was not "free" to start my own practice - and, as I languished bound and gagged on the sidelines, RMA could scoop "the business" up.]
Furthermore, I couldn't believe that this decision was made in the midst of the cold and flu season. I knew that Dr. Johnson's departure meant an overload for the RMA staff, and the two remaining Pediatricians. [Mike Bridges, being the snivelling snake he was, actually had the gall to tell people that morale was "much better" at the office after my departure. There is no doubt that Kathleen Riley (the only Pediatrician Bridges was listening to) was over-joyed. She wanted to be big cheese at RMA and that was not going to happen as long as "home-girl" Mary was around. But my other physician-partner at RMA, Laurie Anderson, described the atmosphere behind the scenes as "hell". Of course, Laurie got disgusted with working in "hell" and (uprooting her family) left town too . . . the end result being that ALL of the taxpayer money that was spent to recruit us to Asheboro might as well have been poured down the drain.]
For parents, that would mean longer wait times and more difficulty getting appointments, which have proven to be true. So the work of three Pediatricians would now be covered by two Pediatricians, going into the busiest times of the year, and according to Mike Bridges, RMA would continue to accept new patients.
From the beginning, I knew this whole terrible situation was questionable. [Why yes, Ellen, I'd say that a peon Director, firing a doctor for standing up to his threats and saving a baby's life . . . and defying his "shut up or else" edicts in order to report a Cone-owned doctor to hospital peer review (i.e. fulfill her duty) is "questionable".]
Dr. Johnson and I have only a professional relationship, but I knew her termination was not a mutual decision as first reported. [Ellen was correct. It was made by Mike Bridges and Kathleen Riley and Steve Eblin - for when it came to playing the game of incentive packages and bonus plans, Kathy Riley was telling them what they wanted to hear and I/Dr. Anderson were not.]
Dr. Johnson was too committed to walk away from her patients. On one of my first visits with her, she told me that she wasn't in medicine for the money. [One of the myths that Bob Morrison and Steven Eblin circulated during the litigation was that I was trying to "extort" Randolph Hospital of money that I was not rightfully owed - that I was only in it for the money. NOBODY BUT NOBODY AT RANDOLPH HOSPITAL GETS TO ACCUSE ME OF "EXTORTION" AFTER MAKING ME DANCE THEIR DESPICABLE DANCE OF REVERSE EXTORTION. NOBODY.]
She just wanted to be a doctor. She just wanted to take care of "her" kids. That is why she came to RMA. [As one of those highly-educated, "valued employees" that the leaders of Asheboro tell the world they want and need.]
Also, I know she is passionate about her involvement with the Department of Social Services in helping rescue abused children. [Maybe Eblin would have been happier if I had submitted bills to DSS on behalf of RMA for all that pro-bono expert testimony time.] Many people at the hospital, who know how committed she is to her profession, speak highly of her. In fact, she was highly recommended to me by another physician.I was so proud to have her as my Pediatrician. I felt like I had the best. Also, I felt proud that she practiced in Asheboro, and that she was an Asheboro native. She was someone who knew Asheboro's history and its people. Most importantly, I believe Dr. Johnson was an excellent role model for my two girls. [Alas Ellen, maybe notsomuch now -given the flowery verbiage I've used on this blog - after eleven years of being ignored and crapped-on by a series of "honorable" businessmen, lawyers, politicians, regulatory agencies and law-enforcement officials.]
In the weeks following her termination, I experienced a comradery with other concerned parents. Initially, we voiced our concerns through formal lines of communication. [Like many of the folks now at town halls - you know, the ones that enlightened liberals love to ridicule, Ellen and the rest of "the Moms" discovered that playing nice and following "formal lines of communication" DOES NOT WORK - especially when an institution is trying to cover-up ugliness.]
Most everyone called Mike Bridges, but everyone who talked with him seemed to quesiton or distrust what he said. [That's probably because the little weasel was lying through his teeth.]
I called Mike Bridges on Wednesday, February 4th, to express my concerns and to appeal to him to resolve this situation. I told him that I wanted Dr. Johnson back at RMA. The hospital's endorsement of RMA and its advertisements of RMA's Pediatricians influenced my decision to go there. [Just like the hospital's "endorsement" of Mick Irwin had enticed two unsuspecting parents to choose the Neonatology wannabe as their baby's doctor.]
Mr. Bridges was polite and well-rehearsed. However, he seemed pro-occupied with asking me, "What did Dr. Johnson say to you exactly". During our approximate 20 minute conversation, he asked me that question three times. [Bridges was, in fact, looking for a reason to fire me. You see, in his written instructions he had told me that I could not speak/complain to anyone except him (or Steve Eblin), and if I did, I would be fired "for cause". Of course, that kind of makes it HARD to initiate talks with Board members without an invite.]
He assured me that he was keeping a list of the names of everyone who called him expressing concerns, and would share that list with other decision makers. [At that point the "decision-makers" would have been the hospital's lawyers - trying to cover Bridges' tracks.]
I would like for the Board Members to see this list. I would expect it to be quite a long list. [At one point, I was told there was a petition asking for my reinstatement, with a large number of signatures, delivered to the BOD. I never saw it. If it ever existed, I expect it was destroyed after it was delivered.]
Also, a friend of mine who moved here less than 2 years ago spoke with Mr. Bridges and asked him for a list of the Board of Directors for RMA and Randolph Hospital. He told her that it was privileged information, and he could not reveal the names to the public because the hospital was private the the Board members were volunteers. [This bold-faced LIE forshadows the in-your-face PERJURY, CONTEMPT & FRAUD of Bob Morrison and Steven Eblin at settlement. Randolph Hospital and its wholly-owned, "controlled affiliate", RMA may very well be "private" non-profits, but the Board members of non-profits are, in fact, identified on IRS 990 returns and those returns are PUBLIC RECORD - just like much of the financial information that Morrison & Eblin, trying to get out on the cheap, claimed to be "highly confidential" during discovery.]
However, later that day she spoke with an RMA Board member who confirmed that the RMA Board did not make this decision, but was notified after the decision was made by Mike Bridges and Steve Eblin. [Caught more-or-less unaware, Board members of both Randolph Hospital and RMA squirmed and back-tracked and did their level best to distance themselves from the decision to fire me. Despite the fact that Pediatricians were/are NOT EASY to recruit to small towns . . . and that Dr. Anderson & I were, in fact, recruited to Asheboro with state & Federal money . . . the volunteer "honorables" providing "oversight" of hospital/practice executives had NO imput into what they tried to dismiss as merely a "day-to-day" middle-management decision to fire me. Board members were informed only after Mike Bridges, backed by Steven Eblin, took action. Afterwards, apparently thinking I would "just go away" if they pretended I did not exist, they circled the wagons).
Finally, in my conversation wtih Mr. Bridges, I thought about asking him who was his children's Pediatrician, but I didn't. However, if I had done so, I would have discovered that he doesn't even live in our community. He lives in Greensboro. [Mike Bridges' employment didn't even last out my six month "notice" at RMA - he tucked tail and went back to Greensboro (to wheel and deal at Southeastern Heart & Vascular center). In fact, as I've started to get bolder on Housecalls with the naming of names in this medico-legal cluster-screw, I strongly suspect that Mr. Bridges has been here as a snippy anonymous commentator. At this point, any time that clueless, spineless, back-stabbing wimp wants a face-to-face, one-on-one with this doctor, I am so READY for him.]
Therefore, I believe he cannot understand how betrayed I feel by RMA and Randolph Hospital, over losing Dr. Johnson.
That same day, I tried to call Bob Morrison and Steven Ebline, but both were out of town for a convention that week. [Very convenient . . . and typical hit and run tactics . . . especially for our oily Steve.]
After my unproductive conversation with Mr. Bridges, I saw other Mothers at The Art Guild, Mom's Club and preschools. Many had spoken with Mr. Bridges and were unsatisfied, feeling like RMA nor Randolph Hospital cared about their concerns. By this time, most Mothers had received as brief and somewhat ambigous letter from Mr. Bridges. [The letter, drafted and sent without my knowledge, input or consent, gave many parents the impression that, in a fit of snit, I had suddenly abandoned them - and it offered no way to contact me. My patients were "invited" to continue their care with other RMA doctors (who, within months, would be on phat bonus plans - as the practice was suddenly and inexplicably "profitable").]
All the Mothers I spoke with were outraged over losing Dr. Johnson. They wanted to know what they could do to support Dr. Johnson in hopes of reversing the decsion or keeping her practicing in Asheboro. So some Mothers, including myself, wrote letters to the editor of the Courier Tribune.
One of those letters was printed. The others are included for you to read with this letter. [I sincerely doubt Matney cared.]
After talking to Mike Bridges and writing editorials, no positive changes were occuring. Still, everyone I talked with were frustrated and disappointed, particularly people at the hospital. Many nurses and professional staff people were extremely supportive of Dr. Johnson, but cannot speak out or show support for her for fear they will lost their jobs. [Morrison & Eblin even went so far as to hold a meeting on the LDRP unit instructing nurses (many of them my friends) not to speak to me or they would be subpoenaed by the hospital to testify in the litigation that was most certainly coming.] They believe that if an excellent physician like Dr. Johnson can be fired, they are even more susceptible to being fired.
Other people I spoke with were parents, staff at other medical facilities, daycare directors, preschool workers, etc. Everyone wants to keep Dr. Johnson.
I keep thinking, is Randolph Hospital and RMA hearing us? [No Ellen, Randolph executives only listened to very "important" Mothers like Cheryl Freeman, DDS . . . she spoke for ALL of you . . . and I was dog-meat because I did not give her what she wanted.]
Therefore, a couple of Mothers and I decided to write and appeal to the Randolph Hospital Board of Directors. You are our last hope. We hope you will be our community voice with Randolph Hospital and RMA. We need to keep Dr. Johnson. Truly, she is an excellent, caring compassionate physician. She is committed to the care of children. We were lucky to have her.
Instead of talking to her attorney, I believe she needs to be talking to you, the Board of Directors. We can all speculate why this happened, but I think the more important question is can the situation be resolved? [There were any number of points where the situation could have been resolved - if someone in a position of oversight at the hospital had exercised any strength of character, foresight or wisdom at all. But in any deal that was made, hospital executives would have been forced to own up (and yes, pay up) . . . and there was no way they were going to do that short of being dragged to Court. These men simply could not admit that they were wrong.]
There are always creative solutions. Perhaps the Board can provide a different perspective that could help resolve this situation. [The only thing this bunch of "honorables" knew how to do was wink and nod.]
We need to keep Dr. Mary Johnson for "her kids" and for the community. The Board of Directors are our only hope. Please get involved on behalf of the community.
I look forward to your response.
Respectfully,
Ellen Byrum Morgan
Mr. Matney responded to Ellen with a variation of a carefully drafted form letter (clearly composed by the hospital's lawyer). The following are a few of the outright myths and half-truths that were circulated by Board members (like Ted Matney and Jim Culberson and Jim Kinlaw and Charles Stout and Sam Rankin and Joe Bossong and William Redding) as they dutifully covered Bob and Steve's tracks:
RMA and Randolph Hospital were/are separate corporate entites (never mind that RMA was/is the wholly-owned "controlled affiliate" of Randolph Hospital - and at the time the BOD's were virtually interchangeable).
Board members (legally responsible for the actions of their executives) had no imput into the decision . . . as the hiring and firing of a physician . . . the FOUNDING physician of RMA's Pediatric division . . . was merely a part of the normal "day-to-day operation" of the practice (funny how Mike Bridges' signature was not on my contract).
Dr. Johnson's termination was a "confidential" employment matter (never mind that I was screaming for it not to be).
It was "necessary and appropriate" to terminate Dr. Johnson (yeah, I suppose if you're trying to cover-up that another one of your physicians nearly killed a newborn baby with his arrogance and ignorance it would have been "necessary" to fire the doctor that cleaned up and reported his mess).
Dr. Johnson had "full" admitting privileges that were "unaffected" by RMA's decision to fire her (we've previously covered that).
Depending on who was writing the letter, Dr. Johnson was getting a full "severance package" or a "full salary and benefits" or "salary continuation" (let's just say NOT when it comes to the "full benefits" . . . my accumulated sick leave and vacation was not addressed . . . my malpractice insurance was cancelled without notifying me . . . and was reinstated only after I was called to assist Rob Robbins with a super premie and had to decline because I would be going in "bare". Moreover, I had to fight for nearly nine months (and get Howard Coble involved) to get my malpractice tail coverage paid (a clearly-stated condition of RMA's site agreement with the NHSC).
Dr. Johnson was "free" to locate an office, lease space, hire staff and begin seeing patients. As we've established earlier, this was not just a LIE but a DAMNED LIE. If you are under EXCLUSIVE CONTRACT and are not released from it - and I wasn't - you are most certainly NOT "free" to compete with your EMPLOYER . . that would be grounds for termination FOR CAUSE . . . i.e. your "salary and benefits" go out the window. It also doesn't look so good on your curriculum vitae.
AND HERE, DEAR READERS, IS THE BIGGEST LIE OF ALL: "I hope Dr. Johnson will stay in Asheboro and continue to practice in our community."
Let's be real clear here folks. NOT ONE of RMA or Randolph Hospital's Board members did ANYTHING to make that happen. NOT ONE of these fine/honorable/upstanding/ethical/Christian men EVER picked up a phone or asked/tried to speak to me directly (I did have two contentious conversations with Jim Kinlaw fairly late in the game - but only because I initiated them). They accepted everything that Bridges/Morrison/Eblin said at face value and tightly circled the wagons. They kept the lid slammed firmly shut on the windowless box Bridges had put me in for the duration of my six-month "notice". Later on, they added insult to injury when they voted to sue me for "libel" (a move that, as it turned out, back-fired badly - AS THEIR EXECUTIVES BOLD-FACED AND REPEATEDLY LIED UNDER OATH DURING DISCOVERY.).
DR. MARY JOHNSON HAD TO BE DESTROYED. FOR NOBODY TALKS BACK TO THE GOOD OLE BOYS RUNNING A MILL TOWN HOSPITAL (many would say into the ground).
And ask yourselves, readers, WHERE was the North Carolina Medical Board (whose ethical canons and position statements were violated)? Where was JCAHO (so concerned about patient safety and "sentinel events")? WHERE was U.S. DHHS (whose own site agreement was breached and violated)? WHERE was N.C. DHHS and the Attorney General as a "non-profit" hospital trampled all over a home-grown doctor in public service?
WHERE were all of these regulatory and oversight agencies BEFORE Bob Morrison and Steven went the extra added step of actually committing mulitple felonies in order to save themselves and their hospital a little extra money at settlement?
And WHERE is the Randolph County District Attorney? Bob Morrison and Steven Eblin walked into a Courtroom over which he has jurisdiction and REPEATEDLY LIED UNDER OATH to get their way. In SIX YEARS, Garland Yates has NEVER interviewed me . . . he has not lifted one finger to investigate the case . . . or thought it necessary to refer it up to Raleigh (where it belongs).
Two months ago, the lead attorney of the North Carolina Medical Board asked me if I realized that the N.C. Attorney General would likely not be inclined to pursure a criminal complaint (for perjury/contempt/fraud) against Randolph Hospital executives soley on my behalf.
The problem with that theory is that it is NOT just on my behalf - nor has this ever been all/only about me. In a lot of ways, I am really no different from the victims of Bernie Madoff. I trusted people who said they were looking out for me/my patients/my community. And they lied to me and defrauded me.
And, in fact I am not alone.
This case is about a pair of parents who, based on the false advertising of a "non-profit" hospital, chose a physician who was not what he said he was.
This case is about the newborn baby who very nearly lost her life because that physician was in over his head and refused to ask for help.
This case is about the terrified nurses who called in a doctor they knew they could rely upon and trusted to help - and then feared retribution/retaliation if they spoke up for her.
This case, is about the doctor they called in (in the middle of the night) . . . just days away from completing her state and Federal service obligations AND working under a "keep quiet or else" threat . . . disregarding her own security and happiness . . . FACING DOWN THREATS AND INTIMIDATION . . . to do what was right for the baby.
IT WAS 1998 FOR GOD'S SAKE! IT'S 2009 NOW. ON WHAT PLANET IS IT OKAY FOR A DOCTOR TO HAVE TO CHOOSE BETWEEN HER JOB AND A CHILD'S LIFE?
This case is about the doctor's colleagues . . . many of whom were intimidated into silence (and a number of whom just looked the other way).
This case is about antiquated North Carolina employment laws that do not consider at all a physician's unique duties and responsibilites . . . or provide for fair play or "due process" when their livelihoods are at stake.
This case is about the doctors' families -who were uprooted and/or humiliated in order to serve the whims of corporate bullies.
This case is about medcial peer review, something that enjoys special legal protections on the premise it protects patients, being used and abused to cover up bad medicine.
This case is about the taxpayer dollars that were poured down the drain when the doctor - actually two Pediatricians - left Asheboro.
This case is about the patients of those doctors - and the patients' parents (like Ellen Morgan) - who were taken for granted, patronized, blown-off and lied to.
This case is about a community that has lost a number of physicians and suffered mightily over the years because a few well-connected, over-paid, over-rated businessmen think they own the place and and have been allowed to do whatever they want to do to whomever they want to do with total impunity.
This case is about "non-profits" being accountable to the public they're charged to serve - instead of monopolizing public resources under the cover of "charity".
This case is about government regulatory agencies that do not effectively police or oversee their own programs . . . about law enforcement agencies that wink and nod at white-collar crime, and do not protect ordinary citizens . . . and about professional "advocacy organizations" whose so-called advocacy has been ineffective and even negligent/harmful.
This case is about politicians who say one thing and do entirely another.
This case is about a local press that has completely forgotten what its supposed to be about.
This case is about the law being readily accessible and fully applicable to everyone.
This case is about right and wrong.
And/so, tell me again, Mr. Mansfield, that the North Carolina Attorney General thinks prosecuting this case is only about me.
Tell me again, Robinson/Polinsky/Cone/Smith, Jr., that my experience in Asheboro is "irrelevant" to what is wrong with healthcare today (and Sue, say hello to those selfless crusaders-for-the-common man, John & Elizabeth Edwards, for me).
And tell me again, Mr. President, that the government that has utterly failed me at every juncture over eleven years . . . the mighty Federal government that sat back and allowed something that could have been stopped-in-its-tracks with one or two arm-twisting-phone-calls-from-Washington to fester and balloon into something this complicated and this ugly . . . tell me again that this same government can "fix" healthcare. That's the REAL "myth".
I am talking back (hell, I am YELLING), and I am telling you that you could not be more WRONG. GET A CLUE!
Hey, I know! Why don't we ask the parents of my former patients - people who wanted to keep the doctor they trusted and had chosen for their children - how the government fixed things for them?
And please be clear, Mr. Mansfield. The North Carolina Medical Board and JCAHO and N.C./U.S. DHHS all ABANDONED me eleven years ago. I am not going away until Randolph Hospital makes this right - or someone makes them make it right.
And I've got news for JCAHO. You're DAMNED STRAIGHT I was "DISRUPTIVE" in January 1998! DISRUPTIVE was the ONLY thing I could be and sleep at night. DISRUPTIVE was the RIGHT thing to be!
Someone is going to apologize to me for the HELL they put me through. Someone is going to apologize to my Mother for making her watch. And somone is going to apologize to my patients for LYING to them about what happened, and taking away their doctor.
AND IF SOMEONE DOES NOT DO IT SOON, AS GOD AS MY WITNESS, DR. MARY JOHNSON AND THE MEDICAL BOARD AND JCAHO AND DHHS ARE GOING TO DANCE!
Author's note: Addtional letters from parents will be published shortly.
8/24 Update: This post has been edited & "tweaked" today.
8/25 Update: A friend e-mailed me this story - probably hoping I'd work up a scather of a post. Another pal was on the warpath about a dead UNC student (shot by a Randolph County Police officer) and ADA Andy Gregson sealing the 911 tape (8/26: now unsealed - maybe someone in Randolph County has finally figured out that clamping down the lid isn't always the best things to do). I'm grateful for the tips, but apart from the fact that it's been a very long day, I really think this post should stay up, not be bumped and be given the opportunity to waft through the ether for a while. This blog is, after all, about me and my case.
I will say this about Amanda Tucker and the raffle ticket business. Sweetie, take it from someone who has been there and done that: It was just too good to be true. As pigs finally went airborne in our "dying" town, you're just another local girl who got ripped off by somebody that Asheboro's "right people" embraced as one of their own just a few months ago.
Meanwhile, this local girl, who got ripped off by the "right people" running Randolph Hospital, would still like to know what it takes to get on Fox 8 News.
8/26 Update: The N.C. Medical Board has a new edition of it's "Forum" out today. And, in this issue, in the wake of the rotten egg President Saunders laid in the last edition, the Board seems to be bending over backwards to "explain" its "disciplinary responsibilities".
Trouble is, the oversight of doctors is not just about taking disciplinary action against them for doing the wrong thing. It's about taking decisive protective action on their behalf when they do the right thing - when they face down the outside/corporate forces that might put them into the kind of totally unacceptable situation I was placed in eleven years ago - by a power-tripping peon with a grudge.
If you require duties of doctors you MUST protect them - especially now.
This Medical Board . . . this state . . . did not, and does not. It's pure & simple GROSS NEGLIGENCE.
And I'm so done with that being okay.
Pleasant Plains
I hope to get my next planned post up later today.
The post/project was delayed because this morning I accepted a colleague's invitation to church . . . for "Friends & Family Day".
It was a lovely little country church just outside of the small town where I am working. Baptist. Classic brick Gothic-revival construction, gorgeous stained-glass windows. Oak floors and pews. Red carpet.
It is a predominantly black congregation, but is populated by all the colors in the rainbow - a real community melting pot.
I arrived late (as I got tied up on hospital rounds), during the offering.
And I was overwhelmed with emotion the second I sat down and looked up at the nearest window. I had to pause/compose myself. Because the place felt like a church . . . warm, inviting, like a family . . . like the church my Grandfather attended and helped build.
Many places I've been don't.
The sermon was quite good. Lots to think about. And a memory to treasure.
The post/project was delayed because this morning I accepted a colleague's invitation to church . . . for "Friends & Family Day".
It was a lovely little country church just outside of the small town where I am working. Baptist. Classic brick Gothic-revival construction, gorgeous stained-glass windows. Oak floors and pews. Red carpet.
It is a predominantly black congregation, but is populated by all the colors in the rainbow - a real community melting pot.
I arrived late (as I got tied up on hospital rounds), during the offering.
And I was overwhelmed with emotion the second I sat down and looked up at the nearest window. I had to pause/compose myself. Because the place felt like a church . . . warm, inviting, like a family . . . like the church my Grandfather attended and helped build.
Many places I've been don't.
The sermon was quite good. Lots to think about. And a memory to treasure.
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Physician Shortages: A Personal Story Unfolds In Letters From Parents (Psst, Kevin, There's A Lot To Fix)
I've been sick the last week, and out-of-sorts . . . washed-out, and very, very tired on antibiotics. That, and I'm just plain disgusted with a lot of things.
I go to work. I do my job. I come back to the apartment and I sleep. I feed the cats.
I'm a 47-year-old Pediatrician and this is apparently it. I take very good care of other women's babies. I pay the mortgage on the house I own four hours away - a house that friends live in. I spend a whole lot of time in my car (a Camry as opposed to a Benz or BMW). Wanting a life of my own doing the work that (despite everything) I (still) love . . . and expecting just a little bit of fair play along the way . . . was apparently too much to ask for.
The admittedly self-indulgent, blue-dawg-blues set deeply in last week . . . about the time I saw an old Asheboro colleague - in order to carve a pre-cancerous nasty out of the back of my leg. He's a nice fella and I think a lot of him as a doctor (or I most certainly would be going somewhere else). But honest-to-God, I really didn't feel like making small talk . . . or smiling through what-is-obviously a broken heart . . . or taking extra steps to make an old colleague making nice-nice feel "good" about where I am now . . . as if having my guts splattered all over the walls of my hometown hospital (not to mention the local newspaper and courthouse) - in reward for doing the right thing - was all for the best . . . and I'm "better off" or "happy" now.
I just don't feel like making Asheboro's-doctors-who-are-still-there-and-know-better feel better about the stand they should have taken on my behalf (because I damned sure would have done it for them), yet didn't.
I don't know how else to put it. I'm too old to pretend.
I attended the birth of an absolutely beautiful baby girl this morning. I looked at her blinking and mewing on the warmer and it was all I could do not to cry.
And/so, I haven't felt like blogging - which seems more and more like an ECHO chamber where people hurl insults at one another (usually behind fake monikers) and nothing ever changes. In fact, you could call this post most more of a blogger's lament that the last one.
A really good well-named friend and I commiserated about it all in an e-mail exchange earlier today (in which he rattled off a series of small/personal apocalypses and apologized for not checking in on the blog as often).
We sounded like we need to be taking a number and screaming at some Congressional moron at a town hall . . . if only we could find the energy and still believed it would help:
Mary's Really Good, Well-named Friend: I'm becoming sort of apathetic towards the way the world is. I dropped my daily News and Record, and only take the Sunday edition so the wife can get Parade magazine. There's nothing worth reading in it as far as I can tell.
Mary: I've not been blogging as much lately. Like you, I'm not seeing the point. The world sucks and it apparently wants to suck. Let it suck. As long as it does not suck me under.
Mary's Really Good, Well-named Friend: Yeah, the world really does suck doesn't it? More and more I prefer to stay home with my dogs. They exhibit greater dignity of character than most people that I rub shoulders with. Sad. We live in a world where we no longer have honesty, respect, thrift, or just about any other virtue.
Speaking of sucking (or is it suck-ups?), Kevin Pho made CNN today. The medical blogosphere's man-in-the-AMA's-pocket was featured . . . pontificating on primary care and doctor shortages. Kevin talks a lot but never seems to have any answers . . . answers that might come from a close examination of the failures of the past.
Catching the article in a quick surf as I was wrapping up a busy morning at work, I posted a comment at CNN. The comment is not up, so I can only assume it's been censored/deleted (it makes me laugh a world-weary/half-hearted laugh now that I ever bought into "citizen journalism").
Of course, I posted at Kevin's too (where he boasted about the CNN article). Haven't been back to see, but I expect that comment has been deleted too. You see, I'm not supposed to talk about my horrific past experience in public service at Kevin's . . . for all that he says he wants to pull back medicine's "veil".
And hey, we're all in this together. Nevermind that my head is sore from banging it into the White Wall. On the other hand, maybe it will finally work out. I think I can craft a fairly decent lawsuit out of what the state of North Carolina hasn't done to protect doctors doing what the Medical Board tells us it's our duty to do (not that at least some of us need to be told).
Anyway, I did not save the CNN comment, but I saved the one left at Kevin's. Here it is:
These comments are interesting. I just posted a comment at CNN.
Alas, I have no doubt that at CNN (like here at Kevin's), my "voice" (one of sad experience) will be deleted. For all that people like our good Drs. Pho and Rohack say they "get it" and they "care", as a blogger/Pediatrician badly-burned in public service (because I provided that "excellent care" in podunk that everyone says they want), I can't talk about my past as a cautionary tale for those who want to "reform" the future.
That's pulling back the veil a little too far.
I've just about given up. Established medicine is going to get what it wants. Doctors - especially those in primary care (FP's/IM/Peds) are lowly pawns as the lawyers-turned-politicians make and break the rules. And we're dirt to the suits running the hospitals - a means to a profitable end. Moreover, the whole world is entitled to our labor - for free.
Those of us who've been burned/trampled can rot. After all, there are more innocent/naive newbies coming up through the ranks to replace us. More lambs for slaughter.
I've wondered for a while now, what was the point of going to medical school?
And before this comment gets deleted, before some smug/arrogant know-it-all (who has not walked in my shoes) comes on board and tells me that I need "professional help", I say to you, DAMNED STRAIGHT I DO!
I've needed professional help for eleven years. I NEED government agencies staffed with professionals that will really value me and protect me (so I can do my job) . . . I NEED professional law enforcement that does its job and does not play favorites. I NEED professional journalists to REPORT my story. But what I really NEEDED way back when were colleagues to act like professionals and stand up for one of their own when she was done wrong - instead of hiding under their desks afraid to make any waves.
And I can say to any physician on this thread that YOU NEED THESE THINGS TOO! ESPECIALLY IF GOVERNMENT IS GOING TO RUN THE WHOLE SHOW. And make no mistake, that's where the Obama train is taking us - come hell or high water.
One more thing. I've needed medical mega-blogger, Kevin M.D., with his foot so obviously in the MSM's door, to act like he really "got it" and he really cared . . . to say to one of his connections, "Look, I think you need to check this doctor's story out . . . . because IF THIS IS TRUE, IT IS WRONG."
Guess that was expecting/asking for too much.
If anyone has anything nasty to say, don't bother. I've heard it all before.
Of course the really sad thing about the last statement is that I first heard a good portion of the nasty things from local "enlightened" types like Ed Cone and Jon Robinson and Roch Smith, Jr. and Sue Polinsky . . . thoughtful, progressive types who don't seem to realize that in order to save the world, you have to treat the people doing the saving like human beings.
You see I just don't buy that one should have to "qualify" for justice by virtue of being a poster-child for some popular notion of victimhood . . . or some beyond-out-of-touch journalist's notion of "relevance". Justice is for ALL of us. Or at least that is what I was taught in Asheboro's public schools.
I mean, everyone can't be John & Elizabeth Edwards . . . Kennedy wannabes coming up with all those healthcare solutions while living above it all in a gad-zillion-dollar estate purchased with money siphoned & channeled off the medical system . . . saying one thing, yet doing completely another (I hear Elizabeth now wants a DNA test "quietly" done to determine "it's" paternity).
Somebody's got to actually DO the work. And it would be nice not to have to see/pay a single lawyer while we do it.
I digress. On the subject of not allowing the world to suck me under (not to mention needing "professional help"), this week I put in a rather pointed (and as-yet-unanswered e-mail) to the N.C. Medical Board. I haven't published it yet - because I'm waiting on a response. But I shared my thoughts on the matter with my well-named friend:
Mark my words. Dr. Mary is DONE. Our (*&^%$#@! NCAG is going to crawl out of his spineless black hole of do-nothingness and get the unconvicted felons running Randolph Hospital to a table of contrition . . . or I am so going to sue the crap out of anyone and everyone in a position of "oversight" who ever sneered and spit in my direction.
Bottom Line: In this era of health-care "reform", Law & Order Roy can make RH pony-up now, or he can do it later. I'm actually kind of hoping it's later, because I'd really like some of these worthless *&^ oversight & regulatory agencies to squirm in the glorious glow of a multi-million dollar lawsuit for gross/determined/malicious/methodical/well-practiced negligence.
I've said, on several occasions, that I was going to start publishing letters from parents . . . letters written about me before my hometown hospital turned me into a emotionally battered, financially-pummeled, world-weary, embittered shadow of my former self . . .
. . . in other words, before I became the kind of very angry/frustrated/disenfranchised person who might show up at a town hall and scream at the Barney Franks of this world.
I think people/readers need to see the real Dr. Mary Johnson . . . a Dr. Mary Johnson that has been mostly veiled by anger and pain on this blog . . . the idealistic & dedicated Dr. Mary Johnson who came home to Asheboro, and worked her ass off, and wanted/planned to practice there for the rest of her life (despite the Cheryl Freemans and Mick Irwins of this world). . . the Dr. Mary Johnson that all of the kings horses and all of the king's men (meaning NC&US DHHS, and JCAHO, and the NCMB, and the US & NC Attorneys General) DID ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to help or put back together again.
They did not care.
And if Dr. Mary is still standing (despite a lot of people's best efforts), it's because she scraped her guts up off the road and kept moving . . . forward, Ms. Polinsky.
Readers need to see the Pediatrician that Bob Morrison and Steven Eblin threw out on the street, even as as they made plans to pump up their own salaries and benefit packages . . . the Pediatrician who, had this not happened, would have NEVER used "flowery verbiage" on a blog - much less be caught dead on one.
Here is letter number one:
To the Courier Tribune Editor:
I was very shocked and disappointed that my children's Pediatrician, Dr. Mary Johnson, was terminated from Randolph Medical Associates, a branch of Randolph Hospital. Since RMA offers no explanation, one can only speculate why such an excellent physician would be terminated with only a 5 day notice. However I am beyond speculation. I cannot remain silent with my support while our community may lose a truly dedicated physician. It is time for concerned parents to rally around Dr. Mary Johnson. We must persuade her to continue practicing in Asheboro where she can provide to her very young patients her special care and compassion.
After hearing about her termination, I felt so isolated in my anger and frustration, but very quickly I learned I was not alone. After taking my daughter to Kindermusik and attending a Mom's Club meeting, 11 our of 13 Mothers said that Dr. Johnson was their primary Pediatrician. One Mother shared how Dr. Johnson had saved her son at birth. Another Mom talked about how promptly Dr. Johnson found a specialist for her daughter who has a speaking disorder - when physicians in another area were hesitant to do anything. Personally, I told everyone how Kristen, my 2 year old insists on seeing "Dr. J" even when it is her younger daughter who is sick. Kristen adores Dr. Johnson, and I appreciate her as an important role model for both my girls. Finally all the Mothers discussed her excellent care and unwavering dedication to her patients.
Obviously, I am not alone in wanting to show my support for Dr. Johnson. We have to fight for what is good for our families and the community. I hope Dr. Johnson, an Asheboro native, will remain practicing in Asheboro, either through RMA or another practice. Dr. Johnson, you have a devoted group of parents who are READY to support you. We hope you stay. Our children need your special care.
Ellen Byrum Morgan
Asheboro
Ms. Morgan wrote another letter - to Randolph Hospital Board Member Ted Matney. It will be published here within the next few days.
Mr. Matney, honorable/upstanding community stalwart that he is, sent Ms. Morgan a variation of a standard form letter that was prepared and sent to the rest of the parents who wrote in to complain. The letter was crafted by Randolph Hospital's attorney, Bob Wilson . . . and presented distortions and bold-faced lies as fact.
NOT ONE Board member - of RMA or of Randolph Hospital - not even the doctors who told parents they were going to personally look into it - EVER offered to sit down and speak to Dr. Mary Johnson . . . to get her side of the story . . . in other words, treat her like something other than a disobedient dog.
Meanwhile, the N.C. Medical Board, JCAHO and the N.C. & U.S. Departments of Health & Human Services sat silently and deliberately on the sidelines and let Dr. Johnson be professionally robbed, raped and left for dead. I just do not get it.
I wish to thank Ellen Morgan for the effort - even though it fell on deaf ears.
Meanwhile, they're still recruiting for Pediatricians in Asheboro. Note the salary being offered. I was at RMA almost three years and never made more than $130,000/year.
A "settlement" negotiated three years after that, without information purposely withheld from me/my lawyer (it's called PERJURY, CONTEMPT AND FRAUD) was for $125,000.
It gives the term "valued employee" a whole new meaning.
There's a lot to fix, Kevin.
I go to work. I do my job. I come back to the apartment and I sleep. I feed the cats.
I'm a 47-year-old Pediatrician and this is apparently it. I take very good care of other women's babies. I pay the mortgage on the house I own four hours away - a house that friends live in. I spend a whole lot of time in my car (a Camry as opposed to a Benz or BMW). Wanting a life of my own doing the work that (despite everything) I (still) love . . . and expecting just a little bit of fair play along the way . . . was apparently too much to ask for.
The admittedly self-indulgent, blue-dawg-blues set deeply in last week . . . about the time I saw an old Asheboro colleague - in order to carve a pre-cancerous nasty out of the back of my leg. He's a nice fella and I think a lot of him as a doctor (or I most certainly would be going somewhere else). But honest-to-God, I really didn't feel like making small talk . . . or smiling through what-is-obviously a broken heart . . . or taking extra steps to make an old colleague making nice-nice feel "good" about where I am now . . . as if having my guts splattered all over the walls of my hometown hospital (not to mention the local newspaper and courthouse) - in reward for doing the right thing - was all for the best . . . and I'm "better off" or "happy" now.
I just don't feel like making Asheboro's-doctors-who-are-still-there-and-know-better feel better about the stand they should have taken on my behalf (because I damned sure would have done it for them), yet didn't.
I don't know how else to put it. I'm too old to pretend.
I attended the birth of an absolutely beautiful baby girl this morning. I looked at her blinking and mewing on the warmer and it was all I could do not to cry.
And/so, I haven't felt like blogging - which seems more and more like an ECHO chamber where people hurl insults at one another (usually behind fake monikers) and nothing ever changes. In fact, you could call this post most more of a blogger's lament that the last one.
A really good well-named friend and I commiserated about it all in an e-mail exchange earlier today (in which he rattled off a series of small/personal apocalypses and apologized for not checking in on the blog as often).
We sounded like we need to be taking a number and screaming at some Congressional moron at a town hall . . . if only we could find the energy and still believed it would help:
Mary's Really Good, Well-named Friend: I'm becoming sort of apathetic towards the way the world is. I dropped my daily News and Record, and only take the Sunday edition so the wife can get Parade magazine. There's nothing worth reading in it as far as I can tell.
Mary: I've not been blogging as much lately. Like you, I'm not seeing the point. The world sucks and it apparently wants to suck. Let it suck. As long as it does not suck me under.
Mary's Really Good, Well-named Friend: Yeah, the world really does suck doesn't it? More and more I prefer to stay home with my dogs. They exhibit greater dignity of character than most people that I rub shoulders with. Sad. We live in a world where we no longer have honesty, respect, thrift, or just about any other virtue.
Speaking of sucking (or is it suck-ups?), Kevin Pho made CNN today. The medical blogosphere's man-in-the-AMA's-pocket was featured . . . pontificating on primary care and doctor shortages. Kevin talks a lot but never seems to have any answers . . . answers that might come from a close examination of the failures of the past.
Catching the article in a quick surf as I was wrapping up a busy morning at work, I posted a comment at CNN. The comment is not up, so I can only assume it's been censored/deleted (it makes me laugh a world-weary/half-hearted laugh now that I ever bought into "citizen journalism").
Of course, I posted at Kevin's too (where he boasted about the CNN article). Haven't been back to see, but I expect that comment has been deleted too. You see, I'm not supposed to talk about my horrific past experience in public service at Kevin's . . . for all that he says he wants to pull back medicine's "veil".
And hey, we're all in this together. Nevermind that my head is sore from banging it into the White Wall. On the other hand, maybe it will finally work out. I think I can craft a fairly decent lawsuit out of what the state of North Carolina hasn't done to protect doctors doing what the Medical Board tells us it's our duty to do (not that at least some of us need to be told).
Anyway, I did not save the CNN comment, but I saved the one left at Kevin's. Here it is:
These comments are interesting. I just posted a comment at CNN.
Alas, I have no doubt that at CNN (like here at Kevin's), my "voice" (one of sad experience) will be deleted. For all that people like our good Drs. Pho and Rohack say they "get it" and they "care", as a blogger/Pediatrician badly-burned in public service (because I provided that "excellent care" in podunk that everyone says they want), I can't talk about my past as a cautionary tale for those who want to "reform" the future.
That's pulling back the veil a little too far.
I've just about given up. Established medicine is going to get what it wants. Doctors - especially those in primary care (FP's/IM/Peds) are lowly pawns as the lawyers-turned-politicians make and break the rules. And we're dirt to the suits running the hospitals - a means to a profitable end. Moreover, the whole world is entitled to our labor - for free.
Those of us who've been burned/trampled can rot. After all, there are more innocent/naive newbies coming up through the ranks to replace us. More lambs for slaughter.
I've wondered for a while now, what was the point of going to medical school?
And before this comment gets deleted, before some smug/arrogant know-it-all (who has not walked in my shoes) comes on board and tells me that I need "professional help", I say to you, DAMNED STRAIGHT I DO!
I've needed professional help for eleven years. I NEED government agencies staffed with professionals that will really value me and protect me (so I can do my job) . . . I NEED professional law enforcement that does its job and does not play favorites. I NEED professional journalists to REPORT my story. But what I really NEEDED way back when were colleagues to act like professionals and stand up for one of their own when she was done wrong - instead of hiding under their desks afraid to make any waves.
And I can say to any physician on this thread that YOU NEED THESE THINGS TOO! ESPECIALLY IF GOVERNMENT IS GOING TO RUN THE WHOLE SHOW. And make no mistake, that's where the Obama train is taking us - come hell or high water.
One more thing. I've needed medical mega-blogger, Kevin M.D., with his foot so obviously in the MSM's door, to act like he really "got it" and he really cared . . . to say to one of his connections, "Look, I think you need to check this doctor's story out . . . . because IF THIS IS TRUE, IT IS WRONG."
Guess that was expecting/asking for too much.
If anyone has anything nasty to say, don't bother. I've heard it all before.
Of course the really sad thing about the last statement is that I first heard a good portion of the nasty things from local "enlightened" types like Ed Cone and Jon Robinson and Roch Smith, Jr. and Sue Polinsky . . . thoughtful, progressive types who don't seem to realize that in order to save the world, you have to treat the people doing the saving like human beings.
You see I just don't buy that one should have to "qualify" for justice by virtue of being a poster-child for some popular notion of victimhood . . . or some beyond-out-of-touch journalist's notion of "relevance". Justice is for ALL of us. Or at least that is what I was taught in Asheboro's public schools.
I mean, everyone can't be John & Elizabeth Edwards . . . Kennedy wannabes coming up with all those healthcare solutions while living above it all in a gad-zillion-dollar estate purchased with money siphoned & channeled off the medical system . . . saying one thing, yet doing completely another (I hear Elizabeth now wants a DNA test "quietly" done to determine "it's" paternity).
Somebody's got to actually DO the work. And it would be nice not to have to see/pay a single lawyer while we do it.
I digress. On the subject of not allowing the world to suck me under (not to mention needing "professional help"), this week I put in a rather pointed (and as-yet-unanswered e-mail) to the N.C. Medical Board. I haven't published it yet - because I'm waiting on a response. But I shared my thoughts on the matter with my well-named friend:
Mark my words. Dr. Mary is DONE. Our (*&^%$#@! NCAG is going to crawl out of his spineless black hole of do-nothingness and get the unconvicted felons running Randolph Hospital to a table of contrition . . . or I am so going to sue the crap out of anyone and everyone in a position of "oversight" who ever sneered and spit in my direction.
Bottom Line: In this era of health-care "reform", Law & Order Roy can make RH pony-up now, or he can do it later. I'm actually kind of hoping it's later, because I'd really like some of these worthless *&^ oversight & regulatory agencies to squirm in the glorious glow of a multi-million dollar lawsuit for gross/determined/malicious/methodical/well-practiced negligence.
I've said, on several occasions, that I was going to start publishing letters from parents . . . letters written about me before my hometown hospital turned me into a emotionally battered, financially-pummeled, world-weary, embittered shadow of my former self . . .
. . . in other words, before I became the kind of very angry/frustrated/disenfranchised person who might show up at a town hall and scream at the Barney Franks of this world.
I think people/readers need to see the real Dr. Mary Johnson . . . a Dr. Mary Johnson that has been mostly veiled by anger and pain on this blog . . . the idealistic & dedicated Dr. Mary Johnson who came home to Asheboro, and worked her ass off, and wanted/planned to practice there for the rest of her life (despite the Cheryl Freemans and Mick Irwins of this world). . . the Dr. Mary Johnson that all of the kings horses and all of the king's men (meaning NC&US DHHS, and JCAHO, and the NCMB, and the US & NC Attorneys General) DID ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to help or put back together again.
They did not care.
And if Dr. Mary is still standing (despite a lot of people's best efforts), it's because she scraped her guts up off the road and kept moving . . . forward, Ms. Polinsky.
Readers need to see the Pediatrician that Bob Morrison and Steven Eblin threw out on the street, even as as they made plans to pump up their own salaries and benefit packages . . . the Pediatrician who, had this not happened, would have NEVER used "flowery verbiage" on a blog - much less be caught dead on one.
Here is letter number one:
To the Courier Tribune Editor:
I was very shocked and disappointed that my children's Pediatrician, Dr. Mary Johnson, was terminated from Randolph Medical Associates, a branch of Randolph Hospital. Since RMA offers no explanation, one can only speculate why such an excellent physician would be terminated with only a 5 day notice. However I am beyond speculation. I cannot remain silent with my support while our community may lose a truly dedicated physician. It is time for concerned parents to rally around Dr. Mary Johnson. We must persuade her to continue practicing in Asheboro where she can provide to her very young patients her special care and compassion.
After hearing about her termination, I felt so isolated in my anger and frustration, but very quickly I learned I was not alone. After taking my daughter to Kindermusik and attending a Mom's Club meeting, 11 our of 13 Mothers said that Dr. Johnson was their primary Pediatrician. One Mother shared how Dr. Johnson had saved her son at birth. Another Mom talked about how promptly Dr. Johnson found a specialist for her daughter who has a speaking disorder - when physicians in another area were hesitant to do anything. Personally, I told everyone how Kristen, my 2 year old insists on seeing "Dr. J" even when it is her younger daughter who is sick. Kristen adores Dr. Johnson, and I appreciate her as an important role model for both my girls. Finally all the Mothers discussed her excellent care and unwavering dedication to her patients.
Obviously, I am not alone in wanting to show my support for Dr. Johnson. We have to fight for what is good for our families and the community. I hope Dr. Johnson, an Asheboro native, will remain practicing in Asheboro, either through RMA or another practice. Dr. Johnson, you have a devoted group of parents who are READY to support you. We hope you stay. Our children need your special care.
Ellen Byrum Morgan
Asheboro
Ms. Morgan wrote another letter - to Randolph Hospital Board Member Ted Matney. It will be published here within the next few days.
Mr. Matney, honorable/upstanding community stalwart that he is, sent Ms. Morgan a variation of a standard form letter that was prepared and sent to the rest of the parents who wrote in to complain. The letter was crafted by Randolph Hospital's attorney, Bob Wilson . . . and presented distortions and bold-faced lies as fact.
NOT ONE Board member - of RMA or of Randolph Hospital - not even the doctors who told parents they were going to personally look into it - EVER offered to sit down and speak to Dr. Mary Johnson . . . to get her side of the story . . . in other words, treat her like something other than a disobedient dog.
Meanwhile, the N.C. Medical Board, JCAHO and the N.C. & U.S. Departments of Health & Human Services sat silently and deliberately on the sidelines and let Dr. Johnson be professionally robbed, raped and left for dead. I just do not get it.
I wish to thank Ellen Morgan for the effort - even though it fell on deaf ears.
Meanwhile, they're still recruiting for Pediatricians in Asheboro. Note the salary being offered. I was at RMA almost three years and never made more than $130,000/year.
A "settlement" negotiated three years after that, without information purposely withheld from me/my lawyer (it's called PERJURY, CONTEMPT AND FRAUD) was for $125,000.
It gives the term "valued employee" a whole new meaning.
There's a lot to fix, Kevin.
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
"Always Love Your Country . . . But Never Trust Your Government"
Dim the lights. Take a moment. Uber-conservative, Robert Novack, died today. I loved watching the "Prince of Darkness" in action.
And that quote is the story of my life.
And that quote is the story of my life.
There Is Justice In Randolph County . . . But Only For Murdered Mailboxes
If the truth be told, despite a wealth of material lately, I have not felt like blogging. The wealth of material, especially as it pertains to healthcare reform, is quite disheartening for me (it seems no one ever learns - or even wants to learn - from mistakes previously made). It also took me longer than expected to recover from last week's lung-on-fire. It really knocked me on my butt - and I'm kitten-weak.
Besides, I'm behind on a project I promised, and that really needs to be the next task I tackle. There actually is a method to this madness.
As regular readers know, my mailbox was brutally murdered the weekend before last. It still pains me to speak of it because I was mighty fond of that mailbox.
Friends (of which I still have many - albeit most of them are "wrong people") did some detective work, and information was provided to the Randolph County Sheriff's Department yesterday which resulted in a confession from the guilty party.
The details will not be posted here. I do not plan to press charges provided the cost of replacing the post is completely covered. The city came out and marked lines last week - it appears digging up the concrete that the original post was anchored in could be problematic. And the new post will be steel, not wood.
No one else will be backing over it. Drunk or sober. Only into it.
I have actually commissioned a friend of one of the Yas . . . a fella currently out-of-work . . . to craft me a box made of steel in the resemblance of a train. The goal is to have it look something like Southern's 4501. I am not asking for reimbursement for that.
I suppose this proves that there can be justice in Randolph County . . .
. . . except when you are over-paid, over-rated white collars who run over doctor's lives and careers.
And we all know nobody cares about that . . . certainly not the people who are supposed to . . . like the N.C. Medical Board, JCAHO, US&NC DHHS, and the US&NC Attorneys General.
It increasingly appears that I am going to have to sue-the-crap-out-of-somebody in order to get anyone in any of those so-called oversight/law-enforcement organizations to do the right thing . . . the thing that they tell the public that they're there for (but in eleven years have failed to prove it). And despite the fact that it sucks the life right out of me to think about doing that, if that's what I have to do, then that's what I have to do.
At least the mailbox will rest in peace.
Besides, I'm behind on a project I promised, and that really needs to be the next task I tackle. There actually is a method to this madness.
As regular readers know, my mailbox was brutally murdered the weekend before last. It still pains me to speak of it because I was mighty fond of that mailbox.
Friends (of which I still have many - albeit most of them are "wrong people") did some detective work, and information was provided to the Randolph County Sheriff's Department yesterday which resulted in a confession from the guilty party.
The details will not be posted here. I do not plan to press charges provided the cost of replacing the post is completely covered. The city came out and marked lines last week - it appears digging up the concrete that the original post was anchored in could be problematic. And the new post will be steel, not wood.
No one else will be backing over it. Drunk or sober. Only into it.
I have actually commissioned a friend of one of the Yas . . . a fella currently out-of-work . . . to craft me a box made of steel in the resemblance of a train. The goal is to have it look something like Southern's 4501. I am not asking for reimbursement for that.
I suppose this proves that there can be justice in Randolph County . . .
. . . except when you are over-paid, over-rated white collars who run over doctor's lives and careers.
And we all know nobody cares about that . . . certainly not the people who are supposed to . . . like the N.C. Medical Board, JCAHO, US&NC DHHS, and the US&NC Attorneys General.
It increasingly appears that I am going to have to sue-the-crap-out-of-somebody in order to get anyone in any of those so-called oversight/law-enforcement organizations to do the right thing . . . the thing that they tell the public that they're there for (but in eleven years have failed to prove it). And despite the fact that it sucks the life right out of me to think about doing that, if that's what I have to do, then that's what I have to do.
At least the mailbox will rest in peace.
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