Thoughts On Shirley "No One Would Listen" Sherrod: Lady, It's The Federal Government. Your Civil Rights Were Violated For All Of 3 Days. Get In Line!

7/22 AM Note to readers: After sleeping on it, this post has been amended (for clarity) and updated.

For those who have inquired, I'm told my new nephew is doing well . . . although I haven't seen him yet (part of the ongoing price I continue to pay for doing my duty as a physician in a society that could not care less).

I'll also preface this post with some context: I am a tad morose this evening - because I just learned that fellow Randolph County blogging-whistle-blower, Mike Baron of DamScam (in his case, done wrong by the City of Greensboro), is calling it quits.

(I'm sure Cone, Robinson, Martin et. al. are all very happy. One down. One to go.)

It's been an interesting couple of days in the medical blogosphere. Indeed, it was an interesting morning. Be forewarned. There will be some bouncing from topic to topic until we get to Shirley. I'm gonna be Scrooge and do it all in one post/go back on break.

Today at work, minding my own business after rounds, I bumped into yet another physician who had worked at Randolph Hospital . . . and did not have a whole lot good to say about the people who run it. I'm certain the Bobber's ears were burning.

My fondest dream is that perhaps one of these days, "the right people" will wise up and show the Bobber & Evil Steve the door . . . or the general populace will finally get disgusted enough with "the team" to descend on the executive suite with burning pitchforks (please note that I am compelled to insert a disclaimer that I am not advocating domestic terrorism lest Blogger be shut down). Of course, I am not holding my breath on the right people un-circling the wagons . . . or seeing the flickering of burning pitchforks in Randolph's parking lot.

Back to the blogosphere and the Internet . . .

First, Michael Volpe e-mailed me to let me know about a story/thread on the Radiology site "Aunt Minnie" waxing poetic on the trials & travails of wanna-be/pretend VA "whistle-blower" Dr. Anna Chacko. You have to register with Aunt Minnie to see the thread. But it's safe to say that while there may be a whole lot to fix at the VA, Chacko's former colleagues are not buying the spin. I put in my two cents.

It still angers me that "progressive" Dems like Congressman Brad Miller have plenty of time to advocate for an out-of-state VA doctor who was disciplined after a complete review and a boatload of due process . . . yet they have stuck up their enlightened noses at my tale of woe as a public servant in Asheboro (me being an NHSC alumna who got NO review and ZERO due process FROM ANYONE prior to being crap-canned for defying threats/saving a child's life and seeing my practice/patients handed over to Kathleen Riley).

On the subject of medical whistle-blowers, the Mighty Orac (at Respectful Insolence) had a post up yesterday on the Texas Medical Board finally "getting off its tuckas" and initiating disciplinary action against the infamous Dr. Rolando Arifiles, Jr.

Regular readers might remember that, in a very "Asheborian" fashion, Dr. Arifiles joined forces with a crooked small town Texas Sheriff and filed trumped-up criminal charges against two nurses who had the audacity to report him to the proper authorities for practicing bad/questionable medicine. The women (fired for their trouble) were acquitted, and have now filed civil lawsuits. I hope they kick some good-ole-boy butt, and said so on the thread.

Before closing his post on Arifiles, Orac could not resist taking another whack at the North Carolina Medical Board's beyond-absurd "resolution" to the troubling case of Dr. Rashid Battar. You might remember that Battar's the guy whose "alternative medical" techniques include injecting filtered urine back into autistic children. Our Medical Board fixed it so alls you have to do is sign a waiver and that kind of criminal-quackery-equivalent-to-child-abuse is yours for the asking/paying . . . and Dr. Arifiles is free & clear as a bird.

People I do not make this stuff up.

Just like I did not make up the story of a local Pediatrician (that would be me) being threatened for complaining about quality-of-care issues at Randolph Hospital . . . then getting fired for intervening to stop a neonatology wanna-be from nearly killing a newborn baby with his ignorance & arrogance (Randolph fired me and rewarded him with a Chief-of-Staff position) . . . then having my local reputation trashed and my practice/patients handed over to the aforementioned Kathleen Riley (whose income miraculously and almost immediately went WAY up) . . . then getting SLAPP-sued for telling the government the truth about what Randolph's thugs-in-suits had done to me . . . then getting swindled by perjury, contempt and fraud on the part of said thugs-in-suits at settlement . . . then being TOTALLY ignored after I reported the aforementioned perjury, contempt and fraud to local, state & Federal authorities - in 2003 - before the statutes of limitations on my civil claims ran out.

(Of course, there is no statute of limitations on perjury. And it's actually not a very hard argument to make that I have been the victim of an ongoing/deliberate/methodical conspiracy to facilitate a cover-up. A lot of Asheboro notables have played both active and passive roles. Indeed, I'm convinced that several of the more "honorable" types on the medical staff must have to wear neck braces.)

Speaking of contortions worthy of orthopedic support, in the SEVEN YEARS since bringing these things to the attention of the Randolph County DA's office, Garland Yates has refused to even meet with me to discuss the (one would think very serious) allegations I've made - much less accept a sworn complaint.

Garland, you see, must protect "the right people". And/so he killed an investigation by the SBI - after his ADA led me to believe that the case had been referred out of Randolph County and up the legal food chain.

[Speaking of the SBI, did anyone else notice that it took the Courier three days to report that they're in town investigating a school principal for (wait for it) failing to report a pedophile teacher's assistant in her midst? Failing to report badness directed against children being a reason for teachers . . . or doctors . . . to get into trouble? I mean, who knew?]

FYI, in North Carolina, the willful and persistent failure of a DA to perform his duty (i.e. and conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice . . . you know . . . like letting non-profit hospital executives get away with repeatedly lying-under-Oath in order to save their institution some money) . . . is called "Habitual Intemperance".

Of course, NONE of this is deemed newsworthy or "relevant" by our local journalists - particularly the ones who blog.

(Be patient, readers. I'm working the "No One Would Listen" angle before I get to Ms. Sherrod. We'll get to her soon enough.)

As regular readers know, I turned to the "progressive" Greensboro blogosphere in 2005, after nearly 2 years of being shut-down & out by honest/transparent/oh-so-ethical "public servants" like the "honorable" types serving on Randolph Hospital's Board of Directors . . . and Garland Yates and Andy Gregson . . . and NC Attorney General Roy Cooper . . . and Secretary of State, Elaine Marshall . . . and even the IRS/US Department of Justice. You see, the state of North Carolina does not seem to have ANY mechanism in place by which non-profit hospital executives who abuse state & Federal programs to their own ends . . . lie to patients . . . terrorize good/ethical physicians . . . and break the law (by lying to the Court) . . . can be held accountable.

(The Feds, of course, DO have mechanisms to make non-profits dance. Alas, the US Department of Justice just doesn't care AT ALL about good doctors done very wrong. And that's really scary because Obama's new healthcare reform bill just gave the IRS a whole lot more power to do nothing.)

Lawyers I consulted (at the time that I put two & two together) told me that yes, they could certainly take my money and file all kinds of exotic motions & lawsuits, but the reality was that my case against Randolph Hospital is CRIMINAL and the best thing/least fiscally-devastating I could do in terms of getting real vindication/satisfaction would be to go public with the ugly truth and RAISE SOME HELL.

Ergo, Dr. J's Housecalls was born. The rest is history. And on this day that Roch Smith Jr. laments the departure of a fellow blogger that he/others routinely ridiculed and marginalized for the horrible sin of standing up and telling the truth (better late than never, eh, Roch?), let me just say that John Robinson & Ed Cone's peculiar brand of "citizen journalism" is not what it was cut out to be.

On a brighter note, I got a slightly better reception in the medical blogosphere - but only slightly. For I've still not gotten any substantial help from "my own kind" . . . many of whom are now railing against the joke that was healthcare reform - and are now calling for better whistle-blower protection. I've blogged about that fairly recently, so there's not reason to re-hash that here.

Moving on along, last week, I submitted last week's Housecalls post to blogborgymi's medical "Grand Rounds". The post picked apart an AP report relating a recently-released AMA study "revealing" the inconvenient truth that American doctors are not inclined to blow the whistle on impaired or incompetent colleagues. They tend to circle the wagons - or duck & run.

Duh.

AMA ethicists were horrified and troubled. There was "no excuse" they said.

But it's funny. Just like the blow-hard North Carolina Medical Board, the AMA has done NOTHING to protect/defend/help physicians who face retaliation for blowing that whistle.

Of course, I am the poster-child for that lost cause (like tort & peer review reform, effective whistle-blower protection was an issue not addressed by President Obama's precious healthcare bill). So the faux-outrage of a few AMA ethicists (over a decade too late . . . as smug local bloggers who've never lost any skin fighting for anything of import tell me that my case is "old" and I need to "get over it") is LOST on me.

Anyway, my post did not make the Grand Rounds (which was odd, because this week's host said he took all comers). I left a comment linking the omission at the site and later got an e-mail from "Captain Atopic" (as it turns out, a medical student). My e-mail did not make it to his Inbox, he said. He apologized for the omission and wished me well (shades of Ed Cone).

My gut is telling me that he's an earnest young man, still bright-eyed and idealistic, and not under the thumb of corporate medicine (like some of the more well-known medical bloggers who shall remain nameless), and that my e-mail/IP address has probably been tagged as "SPAM" - most likely by one of the "advocacy" or governmental agencies/officials that I've written to ask for help. Or perhaps someone with a more malicious intent.

I'm looking into it.

Now, we've finally reached the curious case of Shirley Sherrod. And we're going to compare and contrast our situations (and our skin colors) just a little bit. This white girl who did the right thing over a decade ago is going to talk about race in context of her service to the Federal government . . . and the difference in treatment she has experienced in terms of a proper review of her case (compared to a black woman who did the wrong thing twenty-some years ago and is only getting grief for it now). I'm quite certain that what I have to say will make some heads spin and stomachs spew. But I don't care. You either want an honest dialogue on race (and the veil pulled backon medicine) or you don't. Transparency isn't easy.

Deep down, as I've blogged before, I've always believed that if I had been descended from a poor or middle-class black family . . . or (even better) illegal immigrants brought in by Asheboro's mill owners, my story would NEVER have been ignored by the local media . . . particularly the professional race-baiters at the Greensboro News & Record.

I would have been a poster-child for politically-correct victimhood.

(Just think of it. Poor Jack Perdue might even be alive today if I had been victim-worthy enough for Ethan Feinsilver to give me more than a passing glance.)

I was also on the wrong end of some heavy-handed playing of the race card in Asheboro - most aptly embodied by the back-stabbing, self-serving machinations of the aforementioned Dr. Kathleen Riley (as a part of the laying-down-of-the-railroad that was going on just before I was shown the door of Randolph Medical Associates). I've never quite gotten over it - especially since I'm certainly not the non-profit executive who made the decision not to market RMA's services to East Asheboro (the rationale being that those children were best served by the Health Department).

That's the background-of-hurt-and-resentment upon which I will now paint. Getting on with the story, earlier this week, USDA official Shirley Sherrod (the state director of rural development from Georgia) was forced to resign her position by Obama's Agricultural Secretary . . . after a videotaped admission she made at a NAACP banquet this past March became public.

The admission was that once-upon-a-time-a-long-time-ago, when she was young (and racist), she did not do her best by a white farmer facing bankruptcy & foreclosure.

[Once again, in the interest of full disclosure, as the very proud grand-daughter of a white farmer from Eastern North Carolina . . . a man of modest means and great faith who got no assistance or compensation when times were bad . . . a man who was generous with (and kind to) his neighbors . . . all of his neighbors (black & white) . . . a man who gave folks work and lodging and aid to the point that people stopped in their fields and openly wept/bowed their heads as his funeral procession passed (it made quite an impression on his grandchildren), Ms. Sherrod's admission DID NOT FLY AT ALL.]

A selectively-edited (albeit revealing in other ways) clip from the video was posted by Breitbart and pretty much went viral after the story was picked up by Fox News.

Breitbart says he was motivated by the NAACP's recent resolution condemning the Tea Party's "racist elements". Of course, more rational, level-headed folk are not going to get too bent out-of-shape by a pot v. kettle accusation lobbed by an organization whose very name is inherently racist.

It would be Sherrod's misfortune to shed red blood by virtue of getting caught in the black vs. white crossfire. You see, it turns out Breitbart cheated to make his point.

After resigning, Sherrod came out swinging (the real lesson here for anyone under the gun) - insisting her remarks . . . which she had framed as a lesson on the importance of getting beyond race (nevermind that, in the case she described, she didn't exactly get beyond it) . . . were taken out of context. What's more, the farming couple that she referred to a lawyer "of their own kind" have come forward to support her. They say she did all she could.

(Another never mind, as Sherrod was crystal clear on the fact that, in the beginning, she didn't do all she could. Now don't fret, There was a happy ending for the couple. But like everything else that has anything to do with the Federal government, you have to wait for it. )

The NAACP, initially embarrassed by the video excerpt, condemned Sherrod and supported Agriculture Secretary's Vilsack decision to force her resignation.

But in the wake of the release of the full video, the NAACP and Secretary Vilsack have done an about-face. The argument now is that Sherrod's admission, taken "in context", was merely offered as "a lesson about race" (that very well may be, but NAACP officials seem to have missed the knowing laugher in the room as Sherrod spoke of just doing enough by the white couple to cover her ass/keep her job . . . when I first saw the video, I was chilled by the memory of those who wildly cheered the OJ verdict).

Besides, Sherrod/her supporters argued that she was actually not a Federal employee at the time she abused her power . . . she "only" worked for a NON-PROFIT (Dr. Mary certainly learned the hard way that no one cares what non-profits do).

And, like Robert Byrd, Sherrod has "evolved" beyond her formerly racist notions of going into government sevice to help black people and black people only.

I'm wondering. In 2010, how many public servants still do that? How many of them don't have the epiphany that Shirley Sherrod says she had . . and exercise their biases and prejudices every day? How many of them just do enough to get by? And turf people like me to the lawyers?

Secretary Vilsack (and the White House) admit now that they were engaged in premature rush-to-judgement (that was all about damage control). It's crystal clear they were worried about a backlash over the clip - because Michelle Obama (finally proud of her country) had attended the very NAACP convention that adopted the resolution against "racist elements" in the Tea Party . . . hell, by all news accounts, she "pumped up" the crowd before the vote.

I'm also thinking that Sherrod may be a little too close to the shenanigans behind the Pigford settlement for remarks such as those she made (even "in context") to get too much scrutiny.

Can you picture the elitist do-gooding eggheads in the White House when they first saw the (edited) Breitbart clip? Hipocrisy alert!!! Must . . . disavow . . . racist elements . . . in the NAACP . . . now!!!

It's like the people running our country are in the second grade and still living in the 1950's . . . before desegregation and the dawn of the welfare state.

Sherrod has given a vivid account of taking a call from her bosses and being forced to pull over her car and pro-offer her resignation over her Blackberry.

"No one would listen", she says.

(While I can certainly sympathize, I'm familiar with no one listening, Shirley. Try getting fired after saving a baby's life, sweetie. No due process. Every door of redress or fair review slammed in your face by "right people" who sneer and spit. No news reporters ready and willing to showcase your life being trashed solely to cover up the embarrassing facts that would showcase bad medicine and greed. And no Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton in the wings to hold press conferences and call for my vindication.)

Yes indeed, folks. It's been only three days, but Shirley Sherrod is a civil rights hero now. (7/22 Addendum: Her biography is now wafting out over the Internet, and it has been revealed that her Father was murdered by a white farmer back in 1965 - in an argument over the ownership of a few cows - and she might as well have lived in Asheboro, given that the crime was never prosecuted.) Her case has been reviewed, and Obama's White House Press Secretary was back-tracking and apologizing to Ms. Sherrod even as I drafted this post this afternoon. She's been offered a "unique" (made-up-just-for-her) job in civil rights.

Our tax dollars at work.

She'll probably be invited over to the White House for a beer.

Of course, it all sounds like just another day at the Greensboro PD. And I smell a lawsuit brewing (Sherrod is not sure she wants her job back). Gotta milk those three long hard days of victimhood.

All of this is just so hurl-worthy.

As for, "No one would listen"? Are you fricking kidding me?

Lady, you're FRONT PAGE ABOVE EVERY FOLD on CNN and DRUDGE and Fox News . . . embarrassed "i-reporters" are falling all over themselves to apologize to you . . . still others are patting themselves on the back because they did not rush to condemn you . . . all because you did something not very nice (and very racist) a long time ago . . . and you were stupid enough to flaunt it on camera under the guise of a life "lesson" . . . in front of a room full of people who LAUGHED at what you did.

(Can anyone else mulling over these lamentable events imagine the rabid uproar that would have ensued if a someone working under the Bush administration - especially a white someone - had made those kinds of admissions - and it was caught on tape? Would ANY amount of "in context" explanation matter?)

Yeah, Ms. Sherrod, you got canned. Yet, in a matter of DAYS you've been vindicated by an apology from the President of the United States and the Secretary of Agriculture . . . moreover, you have a "unique" job offer that you probably won't take because I expect you'd rather team up with the NAACP and sue the government that actually paused to take a second look. I'm thinking there will be CNN stories and book deals and maybe even a movie. So who really needs a government job?

It seems to me that EVERYONE IS LISTENING to you.

In stark contrast, how many YEARS has this white middle-class girl who did not fit any of our oh-so-enlightened and progressive society's current politically-correct/stereotypical notions of victimhood lanquished in medico-legal oversight hell . . . the white middle-class girl who served her country honorably and well . . . the white middle-class girl who, in fact, went above and beyond for a patient-not-even-her-own twelve years ago (as opposed to just doing enough to cover her ass and look good for her superiors) . . . the white-middle-class girl who, despite everything, has continued to work with and for the poor and under-served of all backgrounds/races in the inner cities and the most rural of areas (sticking her neck WAY out for minority patients badly-served as she went) - even as her country/state/hometown treated her like garbage, and sent her e-mails to SPAM (much like you passed off a poor white farmer on a white lawyer) . . . the white middle class girl who has BEGGED for even a small portion of the attention/assistance/vindication you're now getting from the highest levels of government and the national press?

It would have been REAL nice if, in twelve years, the once very idealistic white middle-class girl who wanted to save her small portion of the world for Pediatrics had seen ANY of those basic, simple civil rights you've been rewarded on a silver platter in a matter of days.

No one is listening?

Spare me, sister! And get in line (but, of course, you won't have to). In terms of the "dis-service" done to you by the government you served, and the "injustice" done, you've got nothing on the white middle-class doctor from North Carolina who has been battered black and BLUE.

My advice? Take your newly-created job from the Administration that will not go after Black Panthers intimidating white "crakers" trying to vote . . .

. . . the Administration that promised hope & change yet has only flipped the race & entitlement cards over and over again in its plays for power.

It's old and its stale and its tired and it's not playing with those of us who have paid-in-blood-and-tears the bills that really kill . . .

. . . disgusted people of all colors/backgrounds who will be flinging the tea in November.

And I guess my final point is this. Try as we might . . . and as noble/high-minded as we'd like to be, none of us is completely color-blind. We're all racists and bigots in one fashion or another . . . moreover, the people doing the most finger-pointing are probably protesting too much and the worst of the lot. It starts when we're very young (I mean very young), it is shaped by our life experience . . . our hurts and resentments . . . our family histories . . . and it is just a matter of degree.

Shirley Sherrod's folly, in this lamentable era of sound bite and "gotcha" journalism, was being honest about it. She didn't deserved to be fired. But what she owned up to doesn't need to be so easily drowned-out by the mea culpas.

You see, it's not very hard at all to visualize Sherrod as one of the dis-interested NHSC mid-level bureaucrats who passed me off on the lawyers . . . instead of doing their jobs and enforcing Federal contracts/the law . . . the people whose negligence and apathy let my practice - and my dream - die. How different would things be, if in the beginning, someone at the NHSC/DHHS (or one of the local newspapers) had had an epiphany and asked a question or placed just ONE phone call in my behalf?

In other words, I'm the white farmer. And in the Federal Bureaucracy, I found no "friends for life" . . . only injustice and poor service that I IN NO WAY deserved. After all, I did not go into public service resolved and determined to help only one group of people . . . well, unless you count children as one group of people.

To sum up, it's ALL about context. Racism is also a two-way street. And in our current era of "reform", this particular former Federal servant is tired of being a dead Mockingbird under the feet of people/Presidential administrations who profess to be progressive and enlightened and ethical and tolerant AND colorblind . . . but whose actions have proven exactly the opposite.

I'd like to speak to President Obama too, Ms. Sherrod. I know quite a bit about serving on the front lines . . . where the rubber meets the road.