Texas Medical Board misbehaving

I think a new underground community has sprung up in recent years.

I just returned from a hearing in which a friend was under scrutiny and in danger of permanently losing his medical license. It was suspended pending a hearing.

And what did he do to earn this trouble? He took care of his patients and lived by all the rules.

The Texas Medical Board received a complaint from the good doctor’s son who had been working at the doctor’s clinic. The son apparently was angry because his dad would not pay him $5,000 and “give” him a percentage of the business. Oh, yeah, and this came while the son was a fugitive from the law, and himself, strung out on drugs. The family had already suffered greatly at the hands of the son before the complaint was made.

Based on the complaint from the son, which charged Dr. Richard Massey of Fredericksburg, Texas with all sorts of misconduct, the TMB wanted the Dr. Massey to send his files to be reviewed so it could be ascertained that the doctor did no wrong. Dr. Massey , whose patients — 100 percent of them — are private-pay individuals, allowed his patients a choice in case they didn’t want their personal information looked at by strangers. His patients, all of them, took their files and each patient decided to maintain his or her own.

After the TMB letter “requesting” files was sent, it was followed by a notice of subpoena. By this time, the doctor no longer had possession of the files and couldn’t comply with the order from the TMB. After thousands and thousands of dollars spent on legal advice and assistance; even more dollars lost in revenue from his medical practice, the doctor was in official administrative hearings Tuesday and Wednesday in Austin and still no resolution.

My concern is that a government agency has the power and the will to turn a man’s life upside down to the point he must now consider finding another place to live, on the basis of a capricious complaint from a known felon, fugitive and drug addict. The doctor has paid thousands of dollars to the TMB over the years in fees required to keep his license current, but the moment any complaint comes in, he is automatically suspect.

Why is no effort made to vet the person making the complaint? Perhaps this “confidential” witness business needs to be done away with. The doctor’s experience has caused me to do some research, and I’ve found his story to be only one of this nature, suffered at the hands of the TMB. That brings me to my lead-in statement. The new, under-ground culture is developing among people who’ve been oppressed and mistreated by the legal system. Individuals who’ve been forced to defend themselves against the TMB, probate courts or excessive and unnecessary law suites — many of them losing everything — are sharing their hard-earned knowledge with others who are beginning the fight and the Internet is assisting this community to assimilate its information and to organize.

In a letter from the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons Inc. to the Sunset Commission in 2004, the question is raised of excessive fines imposed by the regulatory agency. The letter “Suggestion by AAPS for the Sunset Review Committee” may be seen in its entirety at www.aapsonline.org/testimony/txsrc.htm. Part of item No. 7 “Complaints and Sanctions” follows:

Complaints are exaggerated to make accused physicians sound worse than they are; information inadvertently left off an application but indicated elsewhere leads the board to charge physicians with “defrauding the public;” a physician who removed the wrong lung during surgery received public reprimand plus a $2,500 fine while a physician failing to provide records within two weeks of the board’s request received a public reprimand plus a $10,000 fine. Fusing the spine in the wrong area resulted in a patient’s need for additional surgery and led to a public reprimand with no fine, but failure to provide requested information to the board in a timely manner resulted in a $5,000 fine.

A further look into TMB’s financial status may reveal more about the mindset of the individuals who act on behalf of the people of Texas. On the TMB Web site under the “revenue” sub-head, it states “In FY 2008-2009, the agency will collect revenue of approximately $58.1 million, an excess of $39.7 million above the agency’s current biennial budget of $18.4 million. The agency projects revenue of approximately $60 million in the FY 2010-2011 biennium and is requesting a total appropriation of approximately $21.6 million including all exceptional items. One may read the entire file at www.tmb.state.tx.us/agency/TMB_LAR_FY_2010-2011.pdf. In light of the letter from AAPS to the Sunset Committee, I think I know where that “excess revenue” is coming from. The doctors are being indiscriminately fleeced. And, the agency is requesting to increase its enforcement staffing to be able to handle the “increased number of investigations in a timely manner.” Translation: So we can fleece more doctors faster.

To add insult to injury, this government agency has never been audited. An audit would give us a picture of its revenue and the fairness of the fines imposed upon Texas doctors.

If allowed to continue in this manner, Texas will have a great deal of trouble attracting good doctors. Before long, doctors who practice alternative medicine will be gone and that will be a great loss to the people of this great state. 

If interested in more information see the following Web sites:

• Hall of Shame - Texas State Board of Medical Examiners (www.aapsonline.org/hallofshame/tx.php);

• Texas Medical Board Watch (www.texasmedicalboardwatch.com);

• The Texas Medical Board Vs. Doctors...More Corruption in Texas (http://theeprovocateur.blogspot.com/2008/05/texas-medical-board-vs-doctorsmore.html);

• or use one of the search engines and search for “Texas Medical Board.”

From Thomas Jefferson:    

WHEN THE PEOPLE FEAR THEIR GOVERNMENT ,THERE IS TYRANNY...

WHEN THE GOVERNMENT FEARS THE PEOPLE , THERE IS LIBERTY.