MD Whistleblower

Patient satisfaction is an important element of medical care. It was always important, but it has taken on a new significance since hospitals and physicians will be graded on their bedside manners. And, these grades count for cash. Money motivates. Who believes that a leopard can’t change its spots? Throw a leopard into the pay-for -performance arena, define spots as inferior quality, and watch what happens. We would all witness a Darwinian tour de force as leopards would become spotless in just a few generations. Recently, I was exposed to 2 models of customer service. First, I endured the experience of setting up cable service for TV and wireless internet. Sounds easy, but I would not advise this task for anyone who has a heart condition. What should have been easily accomplished in one phone call took multiple calls to screw it all up. Of course, every single call ‘was important to them’ and required a generous amount of waiting time for me. With one exception, every customer serv...

I write now in a moment of introspection wondering if I am a corrupt doctor. Why would I even consider that my integrity is in question? I am not on the payroll of any pharmaceutical company. I am not paid to speak to physicians or the public about the latest medical breakthrough for flatulence. I submit squeaky clean billings to Medicare and insurance companies. I do not order medical procedures on patients for personal gain. My failing, if it truly exists, is an example of the power of the pen. In our office, many of the pens floating around are labeled with the name of a new drug. I assume that these evil instruments are left by pharmaceutical representatives, but I never actually see them make the drop. They are the ‘Adam and Eve’ of medical practices; they are fruitful and they multiply. These pens over time have mutated, like bacteria and viruses, and can now exist in a variety of harsh environments. For example, when I am in a restaurant about to sign my credit card bill, the ...

There are some patients we doctors never forget. They linger in our memories for various reasons. Often, it is their serious or unusual medical condition that stays with us. On other occasions, it is a zany or unique personality that we recall, even years later. Rarely, when the doctor-patient relationship becomes injured, then the patient may become unforgettable. I remember a particular patient from 20 years ago for a very different reason. I recall him clearly because he rejected my medical advice to him with aplomb. Although I haven’t seen him for two decades, I will never forget him. He taught me a lesson, which is not surprising since patients are our best teachers. There are no CME credits for these lessons, but I’ve learned more from them than I have at many medical conferences or from medical journals. It was July 1991, a month after I completed my fellowship in gastroenterology. I had jointed a multispecialty group, and I was the only gastroenterologist in this particular...

There was phone message on my desk to call a lawyer. I had no idea what he was seeking, but knew that I couldn’t be a target since plaintiff attorneys do not personally contact their victims to make a introduction. I had no idea if his inquiry even pertained to a medical malpractice issue. Perhaps, he was cold calling to convince me that his estate planning skills could enrich the next several generations of Whistleblowers. Maybe he was going to notify me about a huge inheritance. Could it be that he wanted a screening colonoscopy for himself ASAP, and threw out his lawyer title to assure he would get a prompt call back? I then drifted into a reverie where lawyers were lined up outside my office all waiting for me to perform colonoscopies on them. I returned the call and he asked if I would help in the defense of an internist who is being sued for medical malpractice. Years ago, this physician prescribed Reglan, an anti-nausea medicine, to a patient who subsequently developed tardive...

History matters. I didn’t realize this as a kid, but I sure do now. I endured 2 years of U.S. history in high school, as New Jersey state law required. Can you say, soporific? Only years later, as an adult, did I realize that history is a potent intoxicant that lured me into a deep addiction. Along with my Dad and brother, we sojourned many times across the country to many of our nation’s historical treasures. Most of these were civil war sites, which we properly regarded as hallowed ground. Through happenstance nearly 2 decades ago, I learned of an aging physician in Saginaw, Michigan, Dr. Richard Mudd. I read that he had spent nearly his entire life trying to clear the name of his grandfather, Dr. Samuel Mudd, who was convicted as a participant in the conspiracy to assassinate Abraham Lincoln. My Dad and I drove up to Dr. Mudd’s home and listened to him tell his stories in in his parlor. The memory of this wonderful afternoon is vivid and indelible. This man, just 2 generations r...

Whistleblower readers know my views on the perverse and dysfunctional medical liability system. I have read numerous plaintiff lawyers’ blogs, and those of other tort reform opponents, to better understand the issue from other perspective. As a physician, I bring bias to the issue, as do all the players in the game. After 20 years of thought, and some legal brushfires, I am persuaded that the medical profession has the better argument. I also do not believe that we physicians are as strident and ideological as the other side is, but perhaps this is simply because this gastroenterologist has a jaundiced view of the issue. For example, most physicians readily admitted that our health care system, before Obama and the Democrats cured it, had serious deficiencies that demanded reform. In contrast, rarely do I hear or read plaintiffs’ attorneys remarking that the medical liability system needs some healing. What I read in their columns and postings is a spirited defense of the status quo. W...

I read this morning in our local newspaper that Tennessee is soon expected to have a law that would permit public school teachers to offer views on climate change and evolution that are counter to orthodox doctrine on these subjects. No, I don’t think that creationism is science and it should not be disguised as such. Climate change, however, is more nuanced. While it is inarguable that temperatures have been rising, it is not certain and to what extent human activities are responsible for this. Clearly, this issue has been contaminated by politically correct warriors and those who have an agenda against fossil fuel use. Science, like all scholarship, should be a pursuit of the truth. Just because something sounds true and logical, doesn’t make it so. In addition, repeating an opinion like a mantra isn’t sufficient to confer legitimacy on the view. Many sidestep around these inconvenient truths. In medicine also, much is presented as true, which is either false or unproven. Consi...