Best Blog Comments I've Seen In A Long While From Physicians On Healthcare Reform

Interesting post/thread at Kevin MD's this past week on duty and conscience . . . the things that got me into trouble . . . and that I've been paying (dearly) for since February 1998.

I kind of have a very low tolerance for anyone lecturing me on the duties of my Oath.

One commenter, going by the moniker of "Anna", had some spot-on observations about the lack of accountability in medicine . . . referencing the recent case of the Pediatric pedophile in Delaware to help make her point. It's also been my point for the last five years on this blog . . . that we cannot/will not have effective tort reform until medicine cleans up its act in the accountability department . . . until "the White Wall" comes down. I couldn't really argue with anything she said until she closed with this:

And don’t say “the public will never understand . . . ”. I believe you’ll find we do . . . . we’re not as dumb as you think.

Unfortunately, when it comes to what really needs to be "reformed" in healthcare, that has not been my experience . . . especially when it comes to the politicians making policy and the journalists reporting it. Indeed, I would not be in this blogosphere at all if the general public were savy and educated and well-informed enough to know what was wrong and how to fix it . . . for if the public were tuned in, my situation would have been fixed long ago.

I was trying to come up with a reply when another doctor, going by the anonymous moniker of "jrm", beat me to it:

Well, yes you are. You will never understand the rigors of medical training, which approach that of armed combat at times. You will never give up your twenties. You will never understand that learning the profession of medicine is not at all like graduate school. And you will never understand that, no matter how bright you think you may be, no matter how expert you may be in your own field, you can never approach the knowledge and clinical judgment of even the average physician.

And yet you spit upon us, condescendingly acknowledging that the alledged Delaware abuser is "not representative of the majority of providers." You damn us with this faint praise, knowing full well that such incidents represent only a miniscule minority of physicians.

Physicians demonstrate more personal responsibility for less compensation in a single day than most people do in an entire lifetime. If you don't believe it, imagine what it would be like to do without us for a month or two. Be careful what you wish for . . . you might get it.

Shortly thereafter, "Doc99", chimed in with more keen insight:

Medical School selected out specific personalities willing to swallow anything . . . voluminous texts, extensive memorization, browbeating professors, etc . . . so they could get that degree. Those very personality traits that enabled survival in med school now have doomed doctors to put up with things like Medicare’s declining payments, HMO denials, Prior Approvals, Audits, etc.

We have met the enemy and they is us.

Yep. Add greedy/corrupt unconvicted felons in suits and that about covers it.

A Surgical Intern With The Steel

Two of the Yas are what locals call "The Law". Law as in law enforcement. I've talked about buying a handgun for a long while now, but I've also wanted to do it right (ala, take classes and get a concealed carry permit). And I've been procrastinating.

We're having a gathering of the Ya this weekend, and, very unhappy with all of the CRAP swirling around their Queen lately (and the lukewarm response of local law enforcement), my loyal subjects insisted that I be properly introduced to the art of firing a gun.

It is an art. And I was terrified. Because apart from being fairly good with my brother's Red Ryder BB gun when we were kids, I've shunned firearms.

I've always been more inclined to arm bears than bear arms. You could say I was a gun virgin.

As it turns out, I am very good at it (i.e. shooting things).

Amazingly, Asheboro does not have a gun club (at least we could not find one in the phone book). Of course I'm not counting the backyards and bullet-ridden trees of a good portion of its redneck citizenry (from which I proudly descend). So we drove up to Calibers Gun Club in Greensboro. The notion was to rent some different caliber handguns and see which one suited me best. My own personal firing instructors started their Queen (now also known as "Dirty Mary") off with a .22 semi-automatic and then bumped me up to a 9 mm.

And let me reiterate that I am quite good at it. Actually, I am a surgeon with the steel.

Well, maybe a surgical intern;)

After that first recoil, I was hooked. The smell of gunpowder was invigorating. It smelled like a steam engine . . . like Pops after a day of chasing trains.

And now, I am feeling a strange, uncontrollable urge to join the NRA.

Cyberstalking Update: Case 2009056649 CR, New Court Date May 4

Housecalls readers will recall that on February 17th, after hearing NOTHING out of the Randolph County District Attorney's office . . . and getting ZERO follow-up from the Sheriff's Department (several folks have noted that my comments are closed), I sent a certified letter to Randolph County District Attorney, Garland Yates.

To refresh everyone's memory, here's an excerpt:

As the only Pediatrician covering call at a small-town hospital in Eastern N.C., 24/7, 3 weeks a month, my absence during scheduled coverage time would inconvenience a lot of people - patients and doctors alike. If/when this case goes to trial, I hope that your office and Mr. Martin’s attorney can work within the constraints of my call schedule with regards to my appearance at any hearing.

A young lady from the DA's office called me a day or so later, advising me that I would not have to appear on February 23rd, as the case had been continued for a second time. With regards to scheduling a new Court date, when I asked her about the DA's office working with me to avoid disrupting my out-of-town call schedule, she said, "I'm sure that will not be a problem."

Very dryly, I told her it actually had been a bit of a problem in the past. She told me that she was just relaying a message, didn't know anything about my "history" with the DA's office, and that someone would be in touch.

I was subpoenaed by phone today. The new Court date is May 4th.

But (of course) no one from the DA's office bothered to touch base with me first.

I'm sure if I am not available on that day, Mr. Martin (and Mr. Bell) will not mind accommodating a continuance;)

These Ladies, They Rock

Last night at the Olympics was figure-skating perfection. And I was secretly Canadian.

As for the hocky team, leave 'em alone. They won the gold.

Beautiful Boy

I've been a Trekker since I was a kid. It's like a giant worldwide family. And we have the greatest respect for our "elders" (the original cast of Star Trek). The family is in mourning tonight. Andrew Koenig, the 40 year-old son of Walter (Pavel Chekov), missing since Valentine's Day, was found dead in Vancouver by a group of friends who had teamed up with his parents to search a park he frequented.

He took his own life. Those beautiful boys will break your heart.

Walter's website memorializes his son tonight. Among other things, Andrew was a blogger.

Keith Olbermann: "Life Panels" And An American Cry For Help

"Subhuman ghoul" Alert: In the wake of the healthcare summit, this post has been updated.

Surfing channels last night before the elusive Sandman finally came to visit, I came across Keith Olbermann.

Now, normally, I zip right on by. Olbermann, in my book, is the worst excuse for a journalist I've ever encountered in my forty-some years of news watching (and that's saying something since these days I'm mostly a Fox viewer). And it's not because he's dead wrong about just about everything. It's because what he does is not journalism. It's not impartial or balanced. It doesn't even try to be. And lately, as "the teabaggers" he hates wreak havoc on his plans for total world domination by and for those of a progressive mindset, Olbe's partisan rants have become increasingly shrill and rude and disjointed. It's actually painful to watch now. Like the Edwards saga.

Like last night.

Last night, I paused because Olbe's lip was quivering and his eyes were misted over. This was clearly must-see-TV. My surf had landed me smack-dap in the middle of a rant on healthcare reform featuring the trials and tribulations of his seriously-ill Father (it sounds like he has MRSA) . . . over whom our hero apparently has healthcare power-of-attorney.

That alone would scare the hell out of me. We'll get to why in a minute.

Now, I had landed on the tail-end of the rant . . . when Olbe characteristically glares into the camera with that educated hurt puppy-dog look and then, like a rabid bull dog, hurls what Ed Cone calls "invective" at the target(s) of his self-righteous rage (best recent example: his riff on Scott Brown). Coming in on the tail end, I could not make heads or tails of "the point" Olbe was trying to make except (obviously) that anyone who stood in the way of Obama's grand plans for healthcare reform (the much bally-hooed healthcare summit is today) were "sub-human ghouls". Then, Olbe delivered his "closing argument":

And I want all of you to think of somebody lying in a hospital bed tonight who needed that care and needed that conversation, and imagine that that is your father, or mother, or son, or daughter, or wife, or husband, or partner. If you cannot do that, if you cannot put aside the meaninglessness of your political careers for this, my request to you then, is that you not come back out of that meeting for you would not be worthy of being with the real people of this country who suffer, and suffer again because you have acted on behalf of the corporations and not the people.

If you cannot do this, go into that room and stay there and we'll get new ones to replace your worthless roles in the life of our country. My father cannot speak for himself. He appointed me to do so for him and I haven't the slightest doubt he wants me to say this tonight, right now.

He mouthed the words to me and I will now give them such voice as I have to you going into that summit tomorrow. Help. Help. Help. Help.

As Olbe's picture faded into the furrowed brow of Rachel Maddow (that's when the TV went OFF), I leaned back against my pillow and marvelled that this premeditated emotionally-manipulative clap-trap was on MSNBC passing itself off as journalism . . . while my story-of-woe still cannot get the time of day from even a local journalist.
This morning, I tracked down the text of Olbe's rant.

And I'm sorry to say, I still cannot make heads or tails out of it. I mean, Olbe seems to have taken a delirious plea for pain relief from his septic Father (again, it sounds like MRSA), realizing the man was not (at that time) terminally ill, and turned it into a request to die.

And Olbe (acting like the chairman of a death panel) actually took that request to doctors . . . doctors who wound up giving his Father a sedative instead of a lethal injection.

Olbe's rant proceeds on to its politicized end. Legitimate concerns about the rationing of care that will likely result from Obama's proposals for a government take-over of healthcare (which some have likened to "death panels") become, in Olbe's tortured mind, an affront to a simple request for pain relief blown all out of proportion.
Moreover, there's just something inherently creepy about the semantics of turning "death panels" into "life panels" . . . word-play that, historically speaking, always turns out badly.

Anyway, my point it this: I don't have a lot of hope that this healthcare summit is going to amount to very much. And that's because it's just not . . . and cannot just be . . . about the people on the receiving end of care.

It's about the people giving it. It's about the people who have to encounter and deal with the likes of a histrionic Keith Olbermann in the middle of the night (knowing full well he'll exploit the hell out of it the next day on TV) . . .

. . . people who respond to horrific disasters and find themselves facing criminal charges for murder . . .

. . . people who blow the whistle on bad care and wind up fighting off a bunch of Texas good-ole-boys . . .

. . . people who serve our country and are used/abused/abandoned . . .

. . . and, on a more local level (since that's what matters to the likes of Cone and Robinson), people who defy the edicts of "non-profit" executives in order to do their duty by a dying newborn, and as a reward see everything they held dear turned to ashes.

We need help too. We've needed it for a long time. But I don't see us being asked to testify about our horrible experiences before Congress . . .
. . . or sitting at Obama's table.

Ours is just as much an American cry for help as that of Keith Olbermann's Father.

And like Keith's dad, we just need some pain relief, not a lethal injection.

Evening Update: The summit is over. From my view not anywhere near the table (only two of the attendees were doctors), the blow-hard politicians put on a nice show that was essentially a massive waste of time (even the Brits think so). Obama did not appear the least bit "Presidential" as he made quips about not marking time because he was President . . . or showed his true colors when John McCain chided him about the closeted/highly partisan/laden-with-special-deals-&-outright-bribery process thus far . . . a process that fractured the President's own campaign promises.

Obama closed "the meeting" with a threat that makes it clear reconcilliation is going be to used to "Rahm" it down our throats. It's gonna be his way or the highway. Nice.
Right now, I vote for the highway . . . for the President and anyone who makes good on this threat. Like he said, that's what elections are for.

The promises you made during that campaign are how you got to sit in that chair and not mark your time, Mr. President. Baby steps actually work very well in terms of developing the stride that gets people where they need to go. And the process DOES matter.

I guess thinking this way makes me a "subhuman ghoul" in Olbe's book.

Whatever.

N.C. Blue Cross Blue Shielf Rate Increase

Yeah, "stunned" was a good word (my monthly premium went up almost $200). Just another example of a North Carolina "non-profit" with a monopoly running amuck.

But hey, we're supposed to just "shut up about it", "get over it" and "move on".

Note To The Board Of Directors And Corporate Membership Of Randolph Hospital

The law does not protect or indemnify corporate officers/members of "non-profits" against bad faith actions.

You-all have let Bob Morrison play his petty/manipulative games for years. Some of you, no doubt, thought it was funny. In one fashion or another, it will come back to bite.

Pedophile Pediatricians: You Ask How Can Monsters Operate In The Light?

Could it be because you do not care when those who would report/battle them are abandoned to flounder alone in the dark?

(Just a thought for those who want folks like me to "shut up about it", "get over it" and "move on".)

Now that most of the investigating is done in the Earl Bradley case, and the indictments are in, the journalists at CBS are all over the issue of "pedophile pediatricians":

Over the last decade alone, in states across the country, nearly 20 pediatricians have been charged with abusing children. Those are the criminal cases, but most complaints never get past state medical boards.

Pediatrician Eli Newberger is a professor at Harvard Medical School. He compares pediatric child abuse to the priest scandal that rocked the Catholic Church.

"We're dealing, I think, with a systemic problem, in which there is a reluctance to act on the part of colleagues for the various business and collegial reasons, and an organized cover-up," Newberger said.

But wait! (Insert sarcasm) Methodical, organized cover-ups do not happen in medicine. Especially NOT in Piedmont, North Carolina. It just doesn't happen.

And it's not like Dr. Mary Johnson hasn't been talking about the North Carolina Medical Board's fundamental failures in oversight . . . or protecting doctors that do report medical badness . . . for, oh I don't know, FIVE YEARS.

And our legal system couldn't possibly SUCK more at dealing with child abuse.

When all others ducked, Housecalls examined all of the ins and ugly outs of the Melvin Levine case. And when the Bradley case broke, the readers of Housecalls read (over a month ago) what CBS (and their fancy Harvard expert) is just now telling you:

Of course, it does not surprise me AT ALL that Dr. Earl Bradley was apparently on the Delaware Medical Society's radar for at least five years (not to mention that of the state's Attorney General . . . who felt she could not win the case . . . ergo, children could just keep on getting fondled and raped), yet a-whole-lot-of-nothing was done to investigate/stop him.

The children could just "get over it".

It just demonstrates (once again) that the "White Wall" is very real, and that (if standing alone) doctors and nurses and office managers (in this case, Bradley's own sister) generally keep their heads down/eyes averted/mouths shut until they cannot anymore . . .

We know what happens to medical whistle-blowers. And we also know that NO ONE (despite all the EMPTY PC blather about transparency and accountability and ethics) really cares.

And given what we KNOW, WHY would ANYONE want to put themselves through what I've been through? In my own hometown . . .

. . . and on these *&^%$# blogs.

The system is beyond broken. But Ed Cone-of-the-Cones, John Robinson & company don't think that any these things are interconnected or relevant.

They've got that "code of silence" down pat.

I wonder if these citizens and journalists would change their tunes if their child was dying . . . or their daughter was raped in her doctor's office by one of the people on this planet that she's supposed to trust most.

Randolph Hospital's CEO, Bob Morrison: To The Best Of His Knowledge Public Record Is Not Public Record

Anticipating legal action sometime later this year, last December I composed a letter to Randolph Hospital CEO, Bob Morrison (requesting public information), and posted it here on Housecalls. To refresh everyone's memory, here's the letter:

19 December, 2009

Mr. Morrison,

Please provide a list of ALL of the members of Randolph Hospital’s and Randolph Medical Associates’ Boards of Directors, . . as well as Randolph Hospital’s Corporate Membership . . . listed by year from 1995 to the current year (2009).

Randolph Hospital is a “non-profit” institution. This information is PUBLIC RECORD (much like the information you once knowingly lied about/withheld in Court), and should be provided in a timely fashion.

As I am updating files for an upcoming project, I also require complete hard-copies of both Randolph Hospital’s and Randolph Medical Associates’ IRS 990 forms for the last three fiscal years . . as well as copies of the IRS 990 reports for the next fiscal year (for both RH and RMA) as soon as they become available.

All of the above can be mailed to my home address.

Thank you for your attention to this matter,

Mary H. Johnson, M.D., FAAP

Life kinda got in the way and the letter did not go out until this past week.

Also to refresh everyone's memory, BOD and/or Corporate members (compensated and not) of "non-profits" are named on IRS 990's. IRS 990's are public documents. Nonprofit organizations are required to make their 990 and their exemption application available for public inspection without charge at their regional and district offices during regular business hours.

Today, I got a response from Bob Morrison (by certified mail):

Dr. Johnson,

I have received your letter of February 15 requesting information. There will be a charge of $0.20 per page for the forms 990, payable in advance. The total pages of the six forms 990 which you have requested are 207. There will also be a charge of $4.95, representing our actual cost of postage in mailing the copies to you, also payable in advance. This would bring the total amount due to $46.35. We will let you know the cost of the forms 990 for 2009 when they become available.

(Note: Morrison doesn't say when they will be available. I'm supposed to pay more postage. Every little thing.)

If you wish to proceed with your request for the forms 990, please make payment in advance. You may send your check to my attention or deliver it personally to me or my assistant, Mrs. Brenda Fales. The forms 990 will be mailed to you promptly after payment is received.

To the best of my knowledge, Randolph Hospital is not required to provide the additional information which you have requested.

Sincerely,

Bob Morrison, President

For the record, I don't really mind paying for copying costs or postage. But I do very much mind that once again, Bob Morrison's response to "non-profit" transparency and accountability is obfuscation and the withholding of information that is public record . . .

. . . whatever he thinks he can get away with.

Yes, indeed. I wish to proceed. Once Bob has his 2009's ready I am going to very happily write this check.

With regards to the names of Hospital Board and Corporate members, Bob is essentially pulling the same stunt he pulled in Court, i.e. withholding information that is public record. To refresh readers' memories, during the discovery phase of his own bogus/despicable "libel" lawsuit, Bob repeatedly lied under Oath about the "confidentiality" of financial information (very relevant to my damages claim) that was published on "the forms 990".

Multiple felonies. No statute of limitations on perjury. But where-oh-where is Garland Yates?

Moreover, once upon a time ago, Dr. Jim Kinlaw of White Oak Family Physicians told my Mother that serving on the hospital's Board-of-Directors and/or Corporate Membership was an "honorary" position (of course, at the time, he was trying to squirm out of responsibility for looking the other way while Randolph Hospital brazenly defrauded the Federal government out of the money it spent to bring Dr. Anderson and I to Asheboro).

Taking that line of logic one step further, if serving on a "non-profit's" Board is so "honorary" and members were truly proud of their service (and had nothing to be ashamed of or hide), they would not mind if a record of that service were provided to members of the tax-paying public who asked for it?

I already know many of the names . . . recorded on 990's in the legal files. All I have really asked for here is a comprehensive year-by-year list (to compare against what I have). I'm not sure why that's so hard for Bob (or more accurately, Bob's executive assistant).

Of course, in the alternative of all this USPS action, I could save a little money and just ask Bob to make the copies of the records I've requested available for my personal review at Randolph. I could then photograph what I needed and not waste another penny on Bob or his petty games.

I could also growl menacingly at him while he hovered . . . and give the volunteers something to talk about. It might be fun.

OBTW, while I'm at the hospital photographing records, I could just go read the names of Board members off the plagues on their expensive oil portraits.

The man truly is a piece of work. The only thing he knows how to do it crank it up another notch . . . push another button. It's all he's ever done when it came to Mary Johnson.

But I am resolved that I WILL have the name of every single fine upstanding Board and/or Corporate member of this "non-profit" who allowed this way over-rated, WAY over-paid JOKE of an executive to run rough-shod over the lives and careers of so many good people in Asheboro . . . the same fine, upstanding Board and/or Corporate members who now do not have the common sense God gave a goat to realize that WORD OF MOUTH MATTERS AND IT IS HURTING THEM.

At this point it really is not just about truth or transparency or accountability. It's also about professional credibility and fiscal survival. This Board of Directors should have stopped winking and nodding at Bob's shenanigans, owned up for what this smug jack-ass did to one doctor who defied him/his minions in order to do the right thing by a dying baby, and made amends a very long time ago.

The next certified letter that I get from Randolph Hospital ought to be from the Chairman of its Board of Directors saying, "We screwed up, we know we screwed up and we want to meet with you (as we did not before) and hear you (as we did not before) make it right (as a settlement negotiated on a pack of lies never did)".

I would be amenable to that meeting. What I am NOT amenable to is "just going away". "Bygones" and a white-wash of the small town values that these fine upstanding gentlemen trashed & betrayed are NOT going to happen.

But I won't ever get that letter because this bunch of mill-town big fish would rather keep doing what they've always done and let all life in their pond die.

They were never wrong. Even when they were.

The young professionals that the powers-that-be are trying so desperately to recruit now have no use for such garbage. I mean, why invest yourselves and bring your children here, raise them to be good citizens, and then be forced to watch while your community tears them down and rips them apart for doing the right thing?

As was the experience of my parents.

"Big Sis": DUH With A Capitol (Get It?) D

It's becoming fairly well known in the medical blogosphere that, baring an invitation to testify before Congress, I will not be planting an "Obama in 2012" sign on my lawn (even then, probably not). Housecalls is also occasionally honored by a visit from DHS. I guess these gems got me on the Secret Service watch list.

Almost five months after the fact, "Big Sis" finally calls the attack at Fort Hood "violent Islamic terrorism".

Keep The Faith, Mike

Unlike our Bubba or Sam (he's running - oh my!) I've never put on the blogging armour to do much battle over global warming. Much like the "woo" put out by the anti-vaccine crowd (the refutation of which is the mighty and insolent Orac's area of expertise - and he does it so well there really little need for the rest of us to chime in), I've always thought the notion was more-or-less hooey. The so-called "science" behind it has been steeped in greed (not to mention power-mongering ignorance) . . . and the methods/conclusions (forgive me), feckless.

Until fairly recently, that opinion would've made me a "wack-job" in the eyes of the more progressive and enlightened among us. Now, notsomuch.

The only reason I'm saying this now is because Mike Baron, Greensboro's one-and-only water conservation manager (and, as locals know, original victim of Fec-the-cyberstalker), is still hammering out his case for inyourface governmental fraud over at his (Randleman) "Dam Scam" blog.

It is simply amazing to me the stories under their collective stuck-up noses that our local journalists just dismiss/ignore. Commenting on Mike's post, Ed Cone's uber-arrogant "Show me the falsified documents", line was priceless (almost as priceless as the "invitation" he extended to me on his blog . . . to interview me for a blogging "lament" in the N&R . . . as opposed to picking up the phone or dropping an e-mail with an offer to tell the newspaper-reading locals the story of the medico-legal cluster-screw that brought me to the blogosphere in the first place).

GET OFF YOUR BUTT, MAN! Do something besides sit in the rarefied air behind that deep blue keyboard of yours . . . expecting the stories to just walk right up to you and sit in your lap.

Investigative journalism has just totally given way to spoon-fed soundbites supplied by special interests. If it were not so maddening, it would be pathetic.

Mike's story is compelling - and worthy of just as much of the sympathy & attention afforded former GSO police Chief, David Wray. I would encourage readers/citizens to take a look.

And I would encourage Mike to keep the faith. He did not deserve what the City of Greensboro dished out.

And he is not alone.

Wouldn't You Love To Be The Edwardian Court-Reporter?

For those still interested in way-bad Shakespeare, the Edwardian Love-Child saga continues to play out in (of all places) Hillsborough.

Shakes would have had a very hard time making some of this stuff up. Admitted "Slut Club" Founder (now represented in Court by the Chairman of the Guilford County School Board), mangles & defaces a "special" sex tape (obviously for purposes of "storage") featuring a Presidential candidate and Father-of-her-future-love-child (most likely filmed using equipment purchased by said candidate's campaign) . . . and, in a stroke of peroxide-induced New-Age lunacy, leaves said "special" tape behind in a box of trash (something for the underlings to clean up) . . . as she leaves for another stop on her magical mystery tour of luxury destinations funded by gullible campaign donors who fancied her Baby Daddy the reincarnation of John Kennedy.

On her way out the door, she hands a pile of unpaid medical bills (for birthing the aforementioned unfortunate love child) to the people who gave her aid and shelter . . . the aforementioned underlings whose fiscal dependence on her Baby-Daddy allowed him (and his Lady Macbeth of a wife) to keep lying to the County and/or writing books on resilience in the face of adversity.

Of course, the now-tossed off and much-maligned (mostly by Lady Macbeth) underlings can write books too. And OBTW, the FBI has a copy of the tape.

On the pretense of the privacy she obviously craved, our heroine then turns around and files a lawsuit to get the recording "of a personal nature" back (well, our heroine and the star of the sex tape . . . because we all know who is banking the truckload of lawyers trying to get her trash back). She has the burden of proof. But she's not even in the Courtroom?

Meanwhile, we have North Carolina's version of Judge Ito presiding.

I'm sure I've left something out.

Acidic Like An Ulcer

In my five years in the blogosphere, I've never submitted a Housecalls post to "Grand Rounds", a weekly collection of posts in the Medical Blogosphere hosted by different bloggers.

This week, it was hosted by "MD Whistle-blower" Michael Kirsch. And I was feeling frisky. So I submitted this one, on my (very low) opinion of the National Health Service Corps.

When I submitted the post, I got an e-mail from Kirsch:

"So Mary, how do you really feel?"

Kirsch very graciously featured all of the posts that were submitted. Each was "digested" . . . all but one getting stuck somewhere in the digestive track. Mine survived the stomach (it being more acidic than stomach contents) only to embed in a duodenal ulcer.

Loved it. I still have a chance to get out without getting flushed. Acidic old me can always perf the bowel. Then a surgeon can set me free;)

Update On Another Kind Of Predator

This e-mail was sent to Justin Trogdon at the Randolph County Sherriff's Department this morning:

Officer Trogdon,

I continue to be cyber-stalked.

I've gotten a number of "anonymous" comments on my blog - all from the same IP address in Greensboro - that are increasingly scary. I moderate comments so they wind up in my Inbox first.

The person who is doing this knows this - ergo what he/she is doing is essentially a continuation of the original e-mails.

The last comment could be construed as a threat against my safety.

I have saved the StartCounter data.

The Court case has been continued twice.

No one at the Randolph County Sheriff's cyber-unit has contacted me for follow-up. While I realize our local DA's office may wish me dead, this level of inaction is sad/unacceptable even for them.

Mary Johnson, M.D.

Several months back, upon the advice of other bloggers (and in an effort to encourage dialogue), I opened up the blog to Anonymous comments. As of today, that door is closed.

I have also been advised (by experts outside of Asheboro law enforcement) to disable Blogger e-mail links and such.

While I will continue to post (once I'm back off my imaginary "break"), commentary is going to be closed on most posts for a while.

Think of it like this: It will be like reading editorials on John Edwards at the Greensboro N&R;)

I apologize for any inconvenience to regular readers.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is blogging in Greensboro, North Carolina (aka "Blogsboro"). For despite all their blather about "civility" in the blogosphere (and just like all the hypocritical hot air they've spewed about citizen journalism and accountability and transparency for all) what has been going on for the last several months is a-okay with all of the big "important" area bloggers like Ed Cone and Roch Smith and Sue Polinsky.

Dr. Earl Bradley: Update On A Predator

I'm on break. Really, I am.

Related to this Housecalls post from last month, Dr. Earl Bradley, a Delaware Pediatrician, was indicted today on 471 counts felony counts involving the rape/molestation of 103 children (all but one of them girls) between 1998 and 2009. Much of the evidence against him was videotaped by the doctor himself when he "examined" children alone.

"A visit to BayBees Pediatrics was like going to an amusement park . . . with a ferris wheel and a merry-go-round . . ."

But they were lures set by a predator.

I'm still wondering. When exactly did medicine go to hell?

Former Randolph County, Excuse Me, Johnston County Prosecutor Gets Three-Year Sentence

Still technically on break, but I just caught the Raleigh N&O's wrap-up of a story I've been following: Former Johnston County prosecutor Cindy Jaeger will spend at least three years in prison after pleading guilty today to her role in a scheme to fix drunken driving tickets.

Jaeger pleaded guilty to 10 counts each of obstruction of justice and tampering with official court documents. She was also sentenced to three years probation after her prison term ends and must pay a $25,000 fine.

My comment on the thread:

The Randolph County DA's office does not have any problem employing ADA's who've had "issues" with the State Bar. Prosecutorial honesty is not a high priority.

Lying's not a really big deal with that crowd either.

I'm surprised she was fired. I mean, she fits right in.

Incredibly, the article indicates that right up until her sentencing, Jaeger was working as a private attorney in Winston-Salem, with nary a peep from the N.C. State Bar.

Par for this state's wretched course in all things pertaining to ethics.

A Spoonful Of Sugar Ain't Gonna Cut It This Time

Still on blogging break. But vehicle-less in High Point & then Kernersville this morning - getting all the recalls and warranty work taken care of on the Camry - I was once again forced to watch CNN, and caught a good portion of the President's introductory remarks on his "new & improved" (notsomuch) healthcare proposal.

Still digesting it. But already feeling nauseous (mostly because I'm agreeing with the Republicans in terms of starting all over and dialing it down - especially when it comes to tax increases).

Will likely ultimately throw up, and then have some tea to settle my stomach;)

Okay, Now This Is Just Getting Stupid: What Can Very Easily Be Perceived As A Death Threat In The Inbox

So much for my birthday break.

When what Sam Spagnola dubbed "the Fec & Mary show" began several months back, I resolved not to give into threats or intimidation tactics . . . or cut Jeff Martin any slack.

I also decided not to participate as a clown in Fec's circus and give interviews (the confession Martin made on TV should ultimately make for good Courtroom entertainment).

Keeping it real and on the blog, I've posted updates on the case periodically . . . so far a series of continuances requested by Martin's lawyer. Martin is being represented by Asheboro City Council member, Clark Bell.

I'm not the only one scratching my head over Bell's decision. Clearly, in North Carolina everybody needs a good defense. But, as with other cases recently in the news, perhaps accepting this case was not exactly the best example for someone in Asheboro city government (especially someone new to it) to set . . . or the right message to send (never mind that I'm sure "the right people" on Asheboro's lawyers' row . . . and holding post-Council meetings at "The Pig" . . . are all getting a really big kick out of this).

The nasty e-mails stopped the night they started (as soon as Martin realized that what he was doing was illegal and that I was not going to let it slide). But afterwards, in typical "Fec" style, Martin put up a number of very ugly posts at Via de Malchance . . . apparently designed to embarrass me into silence and force me to beat a humiliated retreat.

[I think that's what frightens so many of our more prominent local bloggers about this case. It turns out that "free speech" does not allow for some of the things they've been dishing out to so many so liberally (not a pun) for so long.]

Now "Fec" likes his head games. I've got some very sore spots on the psyche (which I do not hide) and at times in the past, "Fec" clearly enjoyed jabbing them. But the online relationship (such as it was) slowly changed (or at least I thought it had), and before Martin's keyboard meltdown, he was even fancying himself some kind of online white knight where I was concerned.

His "logic", apparently, was that a physician who has twelve years of fighting lying-scumbags-in-suits under her belt is psychologically fragile and unable to cope with bullies.

Once a regular reader/commenter at Via de Malchance, I have not been back in quite a while (translation: no more "pings" for Martin). Recently, I was told that his blog was down - infected by some kind of virus that the We 101 Wizard had "diagnosed" (very convenient for an accused cyberstalker who doesn't want anyone closely examining his posts/history).

But I continue to get very nasty/ugly comments in the Inbox here at Housecalls (as most folks know, I moderate the incoming) . . . all from the same IP address in Greensboro (cpe 174-098-172-113.triad.res.rr.com; Browser Safari 4.0, Operating System Mac OSX).

The last one (very predictably and more-or-less on cue) came in right after I posted this update on the case . . . offering the text of a letter I sent to the Randolph County DA (one more time) asking that he refer my case against Randolph Hospital executives to a Special Prosecutor at the North Carolina Attorney General's office . . . and informing Mr. Yates that I stand ready to testify against Mr. Martin.

[I took a call from the DA's office this morning informing me that they had gotten my letter and the case has been continued because Clark Bell will be out-of-town. The young woman who called me didn't have any answers for the rest of what was in the letter. And that, friends & neighbors, is CLASSIC Garland Yates.]

As I said in the letter, I believe that, as he blows the smoke, Martin has felt empowered by the DA's inaction in the case against Randolph execs . . . and my inability to do anything about it (well, short of suing somebody soon).

I digress. The comment to be moderated this morning said, "The only thing that must stop is you."

[Insert pause for reader to be completely creeped out.]

Now, I suppose there might be more than one way for "crazy"old-me to take that. Maybe the courageous anon wants me to lay off the more-or-less daily online rip of the lying Morrison and oily Eblin, to get over their perjury and contempt and and theft, and move right on along with that life he/she doesn't think I have. I would suggest that he/she allow Morrison & Eblin to answer these charges and defend themselves. If these two were innocent (and I have sworn original discovery documents that says they're not), I expect they would want the Attorney General to investigate and clear their names. I know I would if I were in their pricey shoes. Instead, they've let Garland Yates (not to mention David Renfro/John Robinson) cover their tails for six years.

On the other hand, maybe our anon wants me to let our poor, pitiful, horribly misunderstood "Fec" off the hook for crossing lines that the law says you don't cross. That's not going to happen either. You see, I just think that we have to sometimes do more than just talk about "civility" in the blogosphere.

But given that the source is thus far still anonymous (for all that it looks and smells like "The Stench", I'm not 100% certain it's Martin), it would be very foolish not to take the comment seriously . . . along the lines of I am a "thing" and I need to "stop" (breathing).

I have friends and family in state and Federal law enforcement. When this "spectacle" first got started back in November, I asked them what to do. They all told me to give it to the locals and let them handle it . . . and that the locals should be able to handle it without any problem or fuss.

(Yeah, like the Sherrif's Department "handled" my mailbox. Perps have all the rights in Randolph County . . . even to the point of a Deputy negotiating down their damages for them.)

Everyone told me, "We know they have a horrible track record with you, but you've got to give them a chance . . . "

The problem with that theory is that the locals have not really handled anything. It took two weeks to exercise an arrest warrant (based on the original e-mails and limply worded by the investigating officer . . . Martin was simply "annoying" me) . . . and there has been no follow-up whatsoever on the on-going online abuse . . . initially in the form of the posts at Via de Malchance (as far as I am concerned a manifestation and extension of the threats/insults Martin hurled in his e-mails) . . . and now taking the form of very ugly "anonymous" comments that pop into my Inbox every time I post an update on the case.

I've saved all the comments and their StatCounter data to give to the Sheriff's department. The DA can use the IP address to subpoena the server/webhost for more specific identifying information. That's how things are supposed to work - at least in theory.

But a lot of these theories just don't work in Randolph County - especially if you're Mary Johnson. So far, it's been a repeat of the silent treatment I've gotten in previous go-arounds with the District Attorney's office (most notably, the allegations I first lodged against Randolph Hospital's top dawgs for perjury, contempt and fraud in 2003). If doesn't have anything to do with murder, drugs, guns or liquor-they-cannot-tax, these guys don't do it.

And if one of the mill-town GOB set is involved, forget it. White collars are untouchable in Asheboro.

Of course, right now Jeff Martin is "right people" in all of the right peoples' eyes. And it's because he's taken local blogging to the dirtiest gutter under the lowest curb . . . for bullying a woman already horribly battered by North Carolina's beyond-broken justice system . . . a doctor who (in this era of healthcare reform) came to the blogosphere for help. The supreme irony here is that (although he denies it now) Martin was a fan of Housecalls before he got called on the carpet for taking his own blogging bad-boy act way too far.

It was actually kind of poetic (in a sick/warped way) for my anonymous "fan" (Fec or not Fec) to drop this latest comment on a post about a man wrongfully imprisoned for 17 years.

(OBTW, speaking of North Carolina's warped justice system, did you hear the latest about Crystal Gail Magnum?)

All of this is getting very old, and in terms of law enforcement, I will be looking into other avenues/options this week.

As we close, I'm wondering. In terms of the bigger blogging picture . . . in terms of someone who first came to this ether looking for those elusive societal virtues called accountability and transparency . . . someone who bought into the promise and relevancy of "citizen journalism" . . . do Ed Cone-of-the-Cones and Roch Smith, Jr. and John Robinson and Sue Polinsky all still think this show down in Randolph County is a hoot . . . or that Mary Johnson deserves all that has been dished out?

Is Ed Cone (of the Cones-whose-names-adorn-the-hospital-that-Randolph's-Executives-were-trying-to-sheild-&-serve-all-those-years-ago) really weeping?

Or is he doing more than just "watching" . . . is he egging "the Stench" on?

Wait. I know. Ed wishes me well.

Now, we're gonna try this again. I'm going on a short break. Comments are closed.

2/19 Afterthought:

Greensboro blogger, Sam Spagnola, announced yesterday that he may announce a candidacy for Guilford County Commissioner next week. He's going to think about it over the weekend. He said he wants to know what people think.

I don't live in Guilford County, so what I think probably does not count for much. But unlike other conservatives and pseudo-conservatives in the blogosphere, I'm afraid I will not be able to jump on this particular bandwagon. Based on what I've seen of Sam in the blogs (presenting a wealth of material for any opponent), I honestly don't think our Spag has the temperament for public office.

I also have a really big problem with any politician at any level of office (particularly a lawyer) who condones, excuses, minimizes or dismisses perjury in our (as we've established, beyond-corrupt) Court system . . . or hurling threats and insults into someone's personal Inbox.

Quite frankly, telling the victims of crime to, "Shut up about it", does not jive at all with change from the status quo.

I also think Sam has real issues with women who tell him he's wrong.

All that, and I just don't think we need another lawyer helping to run anything anywhere.

And that's all I'm gonna say about that.

Proven Innocent

Well, something earth-shattering did happen. After seventeen years in prison, an innocent man was set free today. I cannot get the look on his face off my mind tonight.

I dropped two comments on the N&O's story. Don't feel like repeating myself. Friends and neighbors, the North Carolina justice system is beyond corrupt. Innocents go to prison while the well-named and well-connected do whatever they like to whomever they like and totally get away with it. IT MUST STOP.

Cyberstalking Case Update: "(Dear) Mr. Yates . . ." [Subtitled Two Birds/One Stone]

This is going to make a certain nasty anonymous commenter's head spin (those comments were not published, but have all been saved in the "unfriendlies" file).

And no, at this point in the game, I really cannot help myself. You see, I'm very tired of being treated like a second-class citizen in the town where I was raised and came back to serve. Small town values have to mean something.

The following went out by certified mail this week:

15 February 2010

Garland Yates, District Attorney, Randolph County

RE: Case# 2009056649, The State of N.C. vs. Jeffrey Ray Martin

Mr. Yates,

I have been summoned to appear (by phone) as the victim/witness in the aforementioned cyber-stalking case on February 23rd. I have been notified by Clark Bell, representing Mr. Martin, that he plans to ask for a continuance and that there is no need for me to be in Court on that day (please see the attached letter). I have yet to hear anything from your office.

As you know, while I maintain a residence in Asheboro, I work out-of-town, as a Locum Tenens Pediatrician. However, I will be in town on that day, and can be reached by phone.

I believe the primary reason that Mr. Martin felt empowered to threaten/libel me in e-mails and online is because the Randolph County District Attorney’s Office has refused to take seriously the criminal allegations I made against Randolph Hospital senior executives, Bob Morrison and Steven Eblin in 2003 . . . or refer those allegations to the North Carolina Attorney General’s office for a full and proper investigation.

These “non-profit” executives lied under Oath about matters relevant to a civil damages claim filed by a physician formerly in public service. They negotiated a settlement upon those lies. Perjury is a felony and has no statute of limitations.

The primary reason I turned to the blogosphere, and developed Dr. J’s Housecalls, is because your office has habitually acted as if these things did not happen and that I do not exist.

I herein reiterate my repeated requests that the case against Randolph Hospital’s senior executives be referred to a Special Prosecutor at the North Carolina Attorney General’s office. I most recently spoke with Bill Hart (after being referred to him last November by N.C. Medical Board Chief Legal Counsel, Thomas Mansfield). Mr. Hart informed me that, much like the Duke “rape” case, Roy Cooper cannot intervene without being asked by your office to do so. As a law-abiding citizen and tax-payer, it is astonishing to me that, since the Nifong debacle, neither the N.C. State Bar nor the N.C. Legislature has done anything to plug the holes those wrongly accused - or victims poorly served by the legal system - can fall through.

As for the misdemeanor case against Mr. Martin (aka “Fecund Stench“), I stand ready to appear in Court and testify against him. The law is clear. He confessed to the crime online and on TV.

From my standpoint, nothing short of an unconditional apology and a full retraction of anything disparaging and/or libelous Martin has published online since sending the e-mails will be acceptable in any plea.

As the only Pediatrician covering call at a small-town hospital in Eastern N.C., 24/7, 3 weeks a month, my absence during scheduled coverage time would inconvenience a lot of people - patients and doctors alike. If/when this case goes to trial, I hope that your office and Mr. Martin’s attorney can work within the constraints of my call schedule with regards to my appearance at any hearing.

Thank you for your attention to these matters,

Mary Johnson, M.D., FAAP

Barring earth-shattering events, I am taking a break for a short while. On top of everything else, Dr. Mary is turning another year older today. Birthdays have never really bothered me before, but for some reason, this year it's quite sobering. I'm thinking it has something to do with watching a two-year old extended family member wage the fight-of-her-life in order to have a shot at blowing out three candles. Things have been discouraging lately. It's weighed heavy on the heart.

And/so, I'm looking forward to spending some quality time with the angels in my life next week (they know who they are):



I've really needed my angels. For since the age of 36, because I did the right thing by a patient-not-even-my-own, I have been living in the wreckage of a life uprooted and career disrupted/irrevocably altered by the liars and thieves running Randolph Hospital . . . banging my head against walls of small-town apathy, hypocrisy, and deeply-rooted, pervasive corruption . . . incomprehensibly forced to fight to be treated fairly, justly or even with a little simple common decency by people-supposedly-charged-with-the-public-good . . . people who've bent over backwards to shield Asheboro VIP's, Bob Morrison and Steven Eblin, from the consequences of their despicable, amoral, unethical & ultimately illegal actions . . .

. . . people like Randolph County's District Attorney, Garland Yates.

*Comments are closed*

The National Health Services Corps: Tired/Old/Recycled & Empty Promises In Obama's State Of The Union

This post has been on the back-burned for a while. Other stuff came up.

It was born a week or so ago, when a good friend of mine (a registered Democrat) and I were on the phone discussing the general state of the state of North Carolina (which has made for a lot of, "I told you fricking so's" on my part).

At one point (obviously trying to get on my good side) he said, "I thought of you during Obama's State of the Union address,".

Since lately I cannot stand the sound of the President's voice, I did not watch the SOTU address. Nor did I waste a lot of time on the pundits' reviews of said speech.

I honestly don't care what Olberman and Maddow - or Limbaugh and O'Reilly - want me to think. I mean really, who are these people? What are their credentials in anything REAL that make them qualified to judge anybody?

But I did care what my friend thought. So after the "Say what???", I asked him to elaborate. And he did (I'm paraphrasing):

He (Obama) talked about how young people need to work hard and get educations so they can contribute to their communities . . . and about how the government should make it easier for people to go to college if they would agree to public service later on.

All I could think of was you . . . and what had happened to you after busting your ass to get through medical school . . . in your own hometown . . . because you did the right thing . . . and how no the government just LET IT HAPPEN.

They just stood back and let you get treated like crap.

And it really pissed me off. Because I know everything Obama said was JUST SELF-SERVING BULLSHIT.

(The "BULLSHIT" wasn't paraphrased. Nor was it my language. It was his.)

Now, as regular readers know, my friend is referring to my 2-year stint stint in the National Health Service Corps (NHSC) . . . served more or less concurrently with a service obligation to the N.C. Office of Rural Health. Obama's pick for Surgeon General and I have something in common.

And mine is not a "success story" the NHSC will be featuring on their website. You see, they dropped every ball that was thrown their way.

It went something like this: In return for coming home to Asheboro/Randolph Hospital and practicing for two years, my medical school loans were forgiven and/or repaid by the state & Federal governments. When I was done, I would be free to continue within the practice where I was working, break off and form my own private enterprise, or move on to other places/other options.

In theory, it was a very sweet deal.

Actually, because I began service at a time when the Federal government ran out of money (and at one point even tried to renege on the deal), I wound up working in Asheboro nearly 3 years before all the debts were paid and obligations served. It was not a big deal for me, because when I decided to come home, I meant to stay home.

I spent a lot of time thinking about it before I came back . . . almost a year. And I told (Randolph VP/RMA President) Steven Eblin when I interviewed he had better not be wasting my time.

Since 1998, Steven Eblin has done nothing but waste my time.

OBTW, the money I got as loan repayment was taxable as income (???). It was stupid. What one hand of the government giveth, the other taketh away.

Now before talking to my friend, I was already vaguely aware of the President's noble plans to entice young medical/other professionals into indentured servitude. Forced to watch several hours of CNN while my car was being held hostage for repairs a few days before, I was educated as to what the the stimulus package is going to do for healthcare.

Obama's plans are a variation of the education theme that all Democrats turn to when they need to pump up the populists. Hillary had her village. Former N.C. Governor, Jim Hunt, was a master of the game. His successor, Mike Sleazely, used it like a battering ram whenever he got into trouble. And John Edwards made it one of the themes of his never-ending-Presidential-campaign-with-the-really-interesting-variation-on-documenting-"history"-that-I-can't-wait-to-come-out-on-You-Tube.

From a CNN report:

Realizing that a significant part of our health care problem is a shortage of primary healthcare providers in many areas of the country, the bill would provide $600 million for the National Health Service Corps (NHSC) to help pay medical school expenses for students who agree to practice in underserved communities.

Now one report says the NHSC will get 300 million. Another says 600 million. Makes you scratch your head and wonder who is keeping tabs? But, of course, what's the difference between friends and citizens paying the bills-that-kill?

The mission of the NHSC is to recruit and retain physicians to rural and under-served areas. And make no mistake, it is a noble mission. The problem is that the government's notion of recruiting is to throw money at something/someone and walk away. Apart from hammering the hell out of a doctor if they breach their end of the contract, there's no follow-up on physician retention (the NHSC sends out a questionnaire/feedback form immediately after the obligation is served, but as far as I know, they don't do any other follow-up).

In other words, the government has not done a lot of looking into what makes practicing in these areas so difficult . . . or what is making doctors so unhappy and causing the shortages in the first place (things like work-load and killer-call and malpractice risks and poor reimbursement and just over-all quality of life).

There's that, and, as my experience in Asheboro more than proves, OVERSIGHT OF FEDERAL PROGRAMS SUCKS.

I can say because, in what has to have been the stupidest move Bob Morrison and Steven Eblin ever made (well, apart from lying under Oath), I got sued over the letter I submitted with my NHSC questionnaire. And that supposedly confidential feedback . . . provided only to those who needed to know . . . vetted as true and accurate by colleagues who were there when it happened (one of them also an NHSC provider who left Asheboro) . . . was not protected or defended by the government that asked for it . . . the government that (key point for the stinkers and the roaches in our local blogosphere) took negative action against the practice based upon it.

So much for the whistle-blower protection that the pathetically misguided and ill-informed (I'm holding back) think is in place and beautifully/wholly functional for Federal employees and public servants.

More and more lately, assailed & insulted online by angry-white-men-who-have-no-clue (yes, it's "annoying"), I've considered publishing that letter I sent to Secretary Shalala . . . the letter in which I poured out my broken heart and battered soul to the gate-keepers of Hillary's village . . . the letter that Randolph Hospital ultimately did not want in front of a jury or a judge.

Of course, if I did that, I'd get nothing-but-grief from the likes of Cone. The letter was not written with sound bites or short attention spans in mind.

I've digressed. My point it this: These programs are a revolving door. I am massively skeptical of the 80% retention stats that the NHSC posts on its home page - and wonder where they came from (probably from the aforementioned questionnaire). I think those stats need to be qualified a whole lot more than they are . . . (i.e. what is REALLY going on with ex-participants 5 to 10 years later?). And they are certainly NOT the results I've seen in rural North Carolina.

Every physician in these kinds of public service arrangements that I've ever run into on the road - or heard from over the years - was miserably unhappy in their post . . . or taken-for-granted & abused . . . and was just marking time. If they had problems, the NHSC was deaf, dumb and blind to them . . . going so far as to tell one struggling young physician being treated like dirt by a dirty CEO in Western North Carolina (the CEO was later shown the door when someone finally looked at his books), "Just don't get fired".

???????!!!??????? That's ALL the mighty Federal government can say or do?

BULLSHIT to that!!! (Those were my words;)

(Of course, the President's wife, as a former hospital CEO, has some experience in being "creative" in her approach to problems on the job.)

In short, physicians join up, take the money, do their time and leave. Everyone is on their way to somewhere/something else.

The result is that despite the millions & millions of dollars spent, barely a dent is made in the goal of the overall mission. Doctors remain in dire shortage. The same areas remain under-served.

It's like putting Bandaids on cancer.

Indeed, as I see it (and have said before), sixteen years after I entered the workforce, when it comes to quality of care in rural and underserved areas, things are NOT getting better in Pediatrics, they are getting worse.

Back to the conversation that birthed this post, after hanging up the phone, I went looking for the text of the SOTU speech.

My friend was right. Kennedy wannabe Obama (like Bill & Hill Clinton and John Edwards before him) wants young Americans (not just doctors) to do what I did. Trust the government with their future. Join the home-town Peace Corps. Cue butterflies and dancing bunnies:

I know that the price of tuition is higher than ever, which is why if you are willing to volunteer in your neighborhood or give back to your community or serve your country, we will make sure that you can afford a higher education. And to encourage a renewed spirit of national service for this and future generations, I ask this Congress to send me the bipartisan legislation that bears the name of Senator Orrin Hatch as well as an American who has never stopped asking what he can do for his country – Senator Edward Kennedy.

Once again, my problem with the President's "plan" is that it's long on vision and short on follow-through. Again, like Bill & Hill and John & Lizzy before him, President Obama doesn't expound very much on what happens after you get that higher education . . . and fulfill your service obligation completely and honorably . . . but get screwed over by your community and your government . . . because the well-named and well-connected big fish in the small ponds that you served regard you and your education and your skills as "a dime a dozen". And OBTW, if you don't worship at their altars, you're "arrogant and cliquish".

These people don't know who you are or what you are about and they don't care. You're just there to be a pawn on their chessboards of greed. And God forbid if you get in their way.

Allow me to channel some of my inner Cajun: I can guarondamnedtee you that the government doesn't have any plan of action when good deals go bad. The government is nowhere to be found.
For when it comes to physicians in Federal and military service who do the right thing or blow the whistle or go the extra mile, the government has a long and storied history of not taking the backs of its own.

Just like the government isn't talking much at all to doctors as they plot to "reform" the entire healthcare "industry".

OBTW, as I'm reading these proposals, the service obligations in the medical programs are getting longer. What once was a 2-4 year gig (depending on if you were on "scholarship", in straight public service or the military) is now proposed to be drawn out for as long as ten years. That's a huge chunk out of someone's life . . . someone who has already done at least a decade of the starving student/intern/resident routine.

But hey, as long as we can pass out the discounted and/or free healthcare . . . by definition an expensive and valuable commodity . . . and as long as the President and his we-know-best party can buy those votes and all that power on the backs and by the labor of the doctors whose services they've so thoroughly devalued . . . who cares?

And/so, from my view in the cheap seats of healthcare, Obama's promises are empty. His rhetoric is re-cycled and stale. His plans for reform lack the vision necessary to really save healthcare . . . particularly primary care . . .

. . . and they are doomed to fail.

Just as they failed one young doctor and her parents/patients and a community in Asheboro, North Carolina . . .

. . . while the suits who killed the mission kept getting their raises (I really need to update that salaries page on White Wall).

2/16 Update: A friend sent me this sort-of-related story today.

A Valentine For Whistle-Blowers Done Wrong. Like Anne Mitchell. Like Debbie Crane. Like Mary Johnson. And Their Mothers.

I was profoundly grateful that Anne Mitchell, the Texas nurse who found herself defending criminal charges because she did her duty and reported a bad physician, was found NOT GUILTY earlier this week.

I was actually terrified that she would be convicted. You see, after my own experience in the good-ole hometown, I've got no faith left in the "small town values" espoused by those who live in them. I've never understood the ability of some people to abandon what they know to be right and true for the dubious privilege of going along to get along. I've seen people in Asheboro do this my entire life, but I still don't get it.

I used to attribute it to fear. But that's letting them off way too easy, I think.

Anne Mitchell is a true whistle-blower. This nurse did what she was supposed to do - what her duty required. The law should have protected her. Just like it should have protected me. Instead it was used as a battering ram.

Anyone with "real credentials" in the whistle-blower arena would have felt Mitchell's pain and not have supported the Sheriff's/DA's actions in this case . . . indeed, they would have railed against them.

Unfortunately, there are a lot of disciplined doctors out there that blame nurses for bringing them down . . .

. . . as opposed to blaming their own stupidity or ineptitude or greed (the stupid, it burns).

And doctors like this were very quick to jump on the prosecutorial band-wagon: By "many" accounts, Anne Mitchell was a horribly abusive/disruptive bitch with a baseless vendetta against the poor, put-upon doctor with buddies in convenient places . . .

. . . never mind that the doctor already had restrictions on his license, and Mitchell's methods (not to mention the complaint itself) were found to have merit by the Texas Medical Board and state investigators.

I don't suppose any of this is sounding familiar yet?

Now do not get me wrong. There is no question that "bad-faith" or "sham" peer review (i.e. doctors targeted for discipline or "diagnosed" as "disruptive" for less-than-noble reasons) exists. The most common less-than-noble reasons are professional jealousy and/or simple economic greed. And it is a problem that is way past the point of needing to be addressed. Good doctors have been destroyed.

Of course, that's why it's not being addressed at all in current healthcare "reform" legislation. We have a President thinks Pediatricians perform needless tonsillectomies for the money.

But, as I said in my recent post on Congressman Brad Miller's recent embarrassing faux-pax championing an out-of-state wack-job trying to hide her embarrassing job history behind the facade of medical martyrdom, not every doctor done-in has been done wrong:

A lot of terminated doctors these days are wrapping themselves in the the mantle of the "whistle-blower", never mind that they were not fired/disciplined for puckering up to blow.

I have no more use for these practitioners of "woo" and cranktitude than Orac does.

But because our system of medico-legal oversight is so fundamentally incestuous and broken (especially in smaller hospitals/small towns/rural areas) . . . because bad & good faith are not well-defined . . . and because due process for doctors in employment matters and/or peer review is oftentimes fundamentally non-existent (for instance, I am not a fan of anonymous complaints carrying any weight in a disciplinary proceeding) . . . it is often very hard to sort out the difference between the genuine "who's" living in Whistle-blower Hell and the "woos" who want you to think they are.

And/so even though there is strength to be found in numbers, you cannot sell your soul. That's the reason I cut all ties with the Semmelweis Society, and took the time to scold the AAPS on its position in the Mitchell case:

Honestly, the comments on this blog from doctors calling for this nurse’s head bring shame down upon physicians who have sacrificed and suffered much for doing the same things Anne Mitchell did:

I am appalled by this AAPS article and its lack of due diligence.

YES, hospitals and insurance companies use the legal system like a battering ram. YES, there should be accountability for bad faith and malice. And YES the reform measures currently proposed in Washington are a JOKE. But if you really want to change the things that are clearly wrong with medico-legal oversight (like giving anonymous complaints credence and piss-poor whistle-blower protection), this case is THE LAST case upon which you should plant your flag. You’ve set your cause back YEARS with this behavior.

This nurse did not deserve to be legally crucified by a bunch of good-ole-boys abusing their power.

Twice in the last few days, I've linked an N&O article on former NCDHHS spokeswoman, Debbie Crane, the unfortunate young woman who found herself targeted for character assassination by our former Governor, Mike Sleazely . . . for the horrible sin of trying to comply with public records law.

Ms. Crane was recently vindicated. As it turns out, it's our former Governor who is "dishonest and untruthful". And I loved her quote to the news media that once reported her to be a liar:

Being called a liar by Mike Easley is a badge of honor.

That's EXACTLY how I felt after sending Randolph Hospital packing on its despicable "libel" lawsuit (never mind that David Renfro buried my vindication in a second-page "short-take" in his third-rate newspaper).

The N&O article on Ms. Crane tugged mightily at my heartstrings . . . and reopened some very old wounds. From the Ruth Sheehan article (in blue - with commentary related to my own ordeal interspersed):

On the day Debbie Crane was fired for doing her job, and doing it well, she called a friend and asked for help getting in to see a psychiatrist. Immediately.

"I needed to talk to someone," the deposed Department of Health and Human Services spokeswoman said. "I couldn't have made it home to Hillsborough."

Immediately after Mike Bridges served notice of termination, for doing my job and doing it well, and I threw the back-stabbing weasel out of what would be my office for only five more days, I called Billie Vuncannon (then-Director of Hospice, and a dear friend since the days I volunteered for her as a teenager). She was disgusted but (sadly) not surprised. Unprintables were uttered.

I had called my Mom first. She said it would be all right.

I'd be lying if I did not admit that I've thought seriously about spending some (more) time in a therapist's chair. But the thing about that is I'd be letting Morrison and Eblin win. It's not crazy to be very angry about being fired for doing your job the way it was supposed to be done. It's not malice - or even remotely unreasonable - to want people who broke the law and hurt you to go to jail.

She was raw that day, raging, injured. Besides being axed, she had been called "dishonest, untruthful and insubordinate" by Gov. Mike Easley through spokesman Seth Effron.

Raw raging and injured. Yeah, that about covers it. I lost count of the nights I tossed and turned in the early months of this never-ending nightmare and screamed at God ("Why . . . why is this happening to me . . . and why are you letting it?) . . . crying myself to sleep.

What hurt even more than being tossed out on the street like so much garbage was seeing so many of the doctors I had rescued and helped quickly and totally turn their backs, and act as if I did not exist. I went from being a respected member of the medical staff to town pariah in the course of 24 hours . . . never mind that every single doctor on that staff knew that what was going down REEKED of abuse-of-power and retaliation/revenge.

On top of being fired for saving a baby's life, and black-balled for miles around, I was sued for telling the truth to the government I had served . . . the government that had abandoned me. That lawsuit was all about draining me emotionally and fiscally. For once openly challenged, it was not enough for Bob Morrison and Steven Eblin (and the rubber-stamp Boards of Directors that approved their every move) to destroy my dreams of building a life and a practice to be proud of in my own hometown.

THEY HAD TO DESTROY ME.

Crane and anyone who'd ever worked with her knew the allegations weren't true. Still, she found herself in the strange position of having been publicly maligned by the state's chief executive.

Anyone who had worked with me KNEW that I didn't give a crap about getting rich and all I had EVER cared about was providing good Pediatric care at Randolph Hospital. I was a "team player" and a "fixer-upper" if ever there had been one . . . despite all the back-stabbing, broken promises and stupid turf wars with small-town (often sexist) ego-monsters. But I was not a push-over and I was no one's patsy - or "honey". Orders are not suggestions. Pediatric protocols exist for a reason. "Yes," is not always the answer when people who are not doctors make it up as they go along. Winking and nodding is not an option when patients are being poorly served or are in harm's way.

Alas, getting through the day at RMA/Randolph Hospital was oftentimes like pulling wisdom teeth without anesthesia. The hospital's reputation was awful and parents did not want to go there.

Hell, I even had sinus surgery at Randolph . . . and was housed on the Pediatric ward . . . to prove to my parents that Randolph provided care that could be trusted.

Of course, we know how that turned out.

"My mother out in Brevard was hearing from old friends, saying, 'What is going on with Debbie?'" Crane said.

"What is going on with Mary?" It broke my heart that what happened to me broke my Mother's heart. But she and Daddy stood by me . . . at one point even paying my mortgage when the useless/negligent Steve Schmidly had to be paid first. Mama, who taught in Asheboro for thirty years and learned first hand how incestuous and ugly things could be, wrote scathing letters to the only newspaper that would print them. Daddy stood silent vigil when I protested alone in front of the hospital.

This taught me what family really is, and what love really means.

I will never forget what Mama said to me (with a tear in her eye and a catch in her voice) after we silently packed and unloaded the contents of my office onto the back of Dad's pick-up ("Big Red) . . . after hearing me comfort one of my sobbing nurses (who said over and over, "You are the heart and soul of this practice, Dr. Johnson . . . this is wrong . . . it is so wrong!") on the way out the door:

You reminded me of your Granddaddy Cecil today, Mary.

Higher praise I will not get in this life.

In truth, all Crane had done was follow the law. She'd provided public records to reporters. That those records led to damning stories about the administration's handling of mental health reforms was not her fault.

In truth, all I did was my duty by a very sick baby girl. I've told the truth while others have lied and lied and lied some more in order to cover it all up - and have gotten raises for doing it. I've followed the spirit and the letter of the law while others have ignored and/or spat on it. I've been marginalized and ignored by the local journalists who'd rather make up a fake story than tell a real one. And all the while, I've kept practicing medicine to the best of my ability . . . in places where a lot of doctors won't go . . . even sticking out my neck again to stop a dangerous doctor.

I've also been called every nasty name in the book by cyber-bullies in this oh-so-enlightened blogosphere (this means you Roch Smith, Jr., this means you Jeff Martin) who do not have the slightest clue as to what actually went down at RMA all those years ago . . . angry-white-men-who-just-don't-have-that-much-to-be-angry-about and who cannot possibly conceive (from the smug safety of their keyboards) of what I've been through fighting for right with all of my might . . . pounding my head against what we now know to have been very thick (mostly blue) walls of corruption . . . and with limited means.

So boys. You can take your nasty/childish ad-hominems and your libel and your PATHETIC/sick/warped head games and you can stuff them where the sun doesn't shine. And Fec, seriously, you might want to take your own "friendly" advice. Because, man you crossed a line and if you cannot see that . . . if you've made it my fault . . . then you really do need some help.

I have not been wholly vindicated yet, but I have faith that I will be. People like Anne Mitchell and Debbie Crane give me hope that one day, very soon I think, the truth will set me free too. I am not giving up, and I am not just going away.

I wear the same badge of honor they do and am proud to stand with these women of substance.

On this Valentine's Day, I dedicate this post to my Mother.