MD Whistleblower

I was flummoxed that the man designated as my trained surgical assistant needed me to ‘talk him through’ the procedure. I wonder if he would be willing to be ‘talked through’ flying an airplane or defusing a bomb for the first time. I’m sure that the patient’s family seated nervously in the waiting room would be reassured by his brash confidence to proceed on their elderly relative. Was I nervous? Not at all because I knew that this man wasn’t going to touch my patient. I relieved him on the spot and arranged for the procedure to be performed by an individual trained to do so. What if I had decided to ‘talk him through’ the procedure? What if he didn’t disclose that he was inexperienced? How much do patients really know about the competence of their physicians and those who assist them? Studies have shown that most patients believe that their personal physicians are highly qualified, but how do they really know this? The scary truth is that they don’t and they can’t. Even experts in qu

This blog launches today, but it’s been germinating in my mind for at least 10 years. I am a full time physician for 20 years and have seen the good, the bad and the just plain ridiculous. I’ve finally decided to blow the whistle. These postings will take readers ‘behind the curtain’ to see an insider’s view of the medical profession. I warn you – much of it is not pretty. My purpose is not to highlight physician billing scams or outright fraud, although if reader comments lead the conversation there, I will respond. I will concentrate instead on what has gone wrong with legitimate medical care in America. There is not a day in my practice that I don’t confront another symptom of our broken health care system, and I am only 1 doctor. Imagine what the collective observations and anecdotes of our nation’s physicians would amount to. I hope that we hear from some of them. It is staggering how much excessive, inappropriate and unnecessary medical care is delivered – nearly all of it justif