Tuesday, March 01, 2011

They're Baaack.......

Darleen @ Protein Wisdom has more!

If you read this blog, you know that I have been an outspoken critic of the physicians found to be handing out doctor's excuses to their political brethren without so much as a physical examination, medical record or legitimate diagnosis. If you are new to the site you can find my thoughts on the matter here, here, here, and here.


In the article entitled "The Scrubbing Has Begun" I noted that the bio's of the physicians known to be involved were removed from the UW DFM Faculty and Staff Directory and wondered "is this merely an attempt to cover up and avoid additional embarrassment or is University of Wisconsin Health making attempt to reestablish its reputation by coming down hard on a few as an example to the many?"


Unfortunately, I think that now we know. Being ever curious, I decided to reload the names of Wisconsin Health's infamous physicians of Family Practice. Interestingly everything seems to have returned to normal. At some point between the time I posted the referenced article and today all the information regarding Kathy Oriel, James Shropshire, Lou Sanner, Patrick McKenna, and Elizabeth Kvach have returned in all their glory. For some reason a reinstatement of sorts seems to have occurred. This is more than unfortunate. Instead of public chastisement and criticism the University seems more interested in letting bygones be bygones and moving forward. These doctors are an embarrassment to the profession, but Wisconsin seems more interested in promoting the "social good" than setting a example of what it means to be a leader to impressionable residents. As the initial publicity has faded the status quo recurs.


I have a question for these physicians and for the University which employs them. Would you feel the same about a cadre of physicians who started a website whose sole purpose was to provide doctor's excuses? Surely it is no different to standing on a street corner handing them out to passersby who happen to share a political ideology. Take the politics out of it for a moment, please, and try to be honest about the ridiculousness involved.


If you able to find a distinction here I would recommend you create a website of your own. Cater to unions, leftists, progressives and their ilk. I am sure there is quite the business to be had without all the negative publicity.

RELATED:
The Scrubbing has Begun...
University of Wisconsin, Department of Family Medicine is not Responsible? (Updated with Video)
Dean Robert Golden, MD, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health Releases a Statement
Physicians Betraying Their Oath and Their Professionalism!
NY Teachers Union Calls for Members to 'Agitate'
Go Figure: Obama White House Can't Spell Libya

9 comments:

  1. Doctors are just whores. In California they'll write a "prescription" for pot if little Jimmy shows up with a hang-nail that's giving him anxiety. In Wisconsin the whores are just giving it away for free on the street corners at the capital because they happen to be socialist whores.

    By the way, if you can read this, thank a taxpayer.

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  2. Good post!
    Btw it's: bygones
    One word, no apostrophe

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  3. The good doctors have moved to TEXAS by the thousands.

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  4. Doctors? Ethics?

    Haha. Medicare fraud doesn't fall out of the sky.

    It's telling, though, that I don't think I've heard any serious, official rebuttal of the claims of unethical behavior, nor have I heard of any disciplinary action.

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  5. I'd recommend sending e-mails to these "physicians", asking for a stack of work excuses for those days you might feel like attending a political rally.

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  6. >>Doctors are just whores. In California they'll write a "prescription" for pot (etc).

    You're mistaken. Even in CA, most MDs still won't prescribe marijuana (to anyone).

    Of course, market forces being what they are, the demand creates a supply.

    With managed care taking up nearly the entire market in CA, and reimbursements to physicians ever-shrinking, its understandable why physicians (particularly ones barely scraping by) might want to pad their practices revenues a bit.

    >>Medicare fraud doesn't fall out of the sky.

    Same thing. In my experience (and yes, I am a physician, and I deal with MANY others on a daily basis), 95% of physicians who participate in Medicare don't engage in fraud. Of course, offsetting that, there are a small number who engage in a LOT of it.

    And again, with medicare payments not actually keeping pace with the actual cost of doing business my sense is that many physicians believe that Medicare is defrauding THEM.

    While less than fair-market reimbursement certainly doesn't justify defrauding Medicare, given that seeing patients in a Medicare setting might generate actual losses for a physician, one can see why the temptation to pad bills might be present.

    I had lunch (separately) with two physicians last week who both told me that if the recent Medicare rates cuts "stick" they're both not going to accept any new Medicare patients into their practices. They just can't afford to do it.

    On these family medicine MDs in Wisconsin, I'm wondering why the residency program director involved here seems to be keeping her job in light of what is pretty clearly a serious ethical breach on her part.

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  7. I wonder where these doctors draw the line. If I drive to Wisconsin and ask for an oxycodone prescription because I was injured while marching for union "rights", will I get it? I can put on a good pain act.

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  8. Shouldn't these people be facing criminal charges as well for committing fraud against the government? This sort of thing is why no one trusts the government. The rules are only enforced against one side of the political spectrum. No way these guys get away with writing notes for Tea Partiers (not that any of them would engage in fraud against their employers on national television without getting their asses fired).

    This is why playing nice with these people will never work. Their sense of entitlement knows no bounds. Go ahead. Write them and tell them that you are feeling stressed about the $100 trillion dollars in unfunded mandates and need a work excuse so you can attend a Tea Party and see what they say. They would have exactly as much information on you as they did on the people they were handing out excuses to in WI with the exception that your reason for being stressed is a rational one.

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  9. I'm a doctor,too. And one of your commenters is spot on. Most doctors are just whores for money. There should be no government licensing of physicians to give artificial legitimacy to this or any other group.Read Milton Friedman:Capitalism and Freedom on this topic. It'll change the way you think about things.

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