Who Controls Medicine?

Shirley Pigott MD [email protected] Texas Medical Board Watch Victoria, Texas August 10, 2009 Mike Volpe The Provocateur RE: Who controls medicine? Mike, I would like to explore the subjects below, especially if you're interested in doing a story for the Provocateur: Who controls the practice of medicine in this country? Is this a question which should be answered before we determine how healthcare should be "reformed"? What voice should doctors have in the consideration of healthcare reform? What should be done about the crisis in primary care? Does an individual state medical board have the right to put a primary care doctor out of business because that doctor made charges of corruption against the executive director of that medical board? What provision do states have for investigating corruption in state agencies? ... in state medical boards? Are medical boards a means to tax a specific group of people (doctors) or a means to extort them? What is the function of the Federation of State Medical Boards? Who pays for operations of the Federation of State Medical Board? I would presume it gets its money from member state boards. Would its corrupt practices be federal crimes? How much does corruption in state medical boards affect the quality of medical care nationally? Should corruption of state medical boards as a whole be a valid subject for the national media to pursue? How important is it compared to, say, who Britney Spears is going out with? How hard would it be to find data on medical boards across the country? Public Citizen "rates" medical boards according to how many doctors they put out of business a year. Is that a valid way to rate medical boards? The Texas Medical Board spends about $10 million per year and takes in about $20 million per year, according to the Texas Sunset Commission. It dumps the difference into the state general fund. Wonder where the $20 million comes from? As I recall, I paid about $800 for my license update last year and it's paid every two years. If there are 60,000 doctors in Texas, that's $400 x 60,000 = $24,000,000 per year. Somebody ck my math. It's obviously at least $4,000,000 off. How much does the medical board collect in fines for doctors? I have personally filed complaints on three very bad Texas doctors in the last three years: 1. Doug Curran MD - I alleged that he bribed Keith E Miller MD to suspend or revoke my medical license over two years ago. Two years later the TMB suspended my license. The board's expert used an altered DPS video showing my "flight" from a DPS officer who was breaking into my car, duplicated multiple times, to persuade a biased medical board

panel that I was "mentally impaired", and that my medical license should be suspended on an emergency basis. On the evening of the traffic stop that precipitated the event, I was on my way to an out-of-state medical meeting where I was to confront Doug Curran, the president of my state professional organization, with his conflicts of interest with BCBS. Has the Texas Medical Board ever conducted an investigation of Doug Curran? If they did, they never talked to the witnesses. Is this something the legislative oversight committees should be concerned about? What action should they take? 2. Keith E Miller MD - I alleged that he accepted a bribe from Doug Curran to suspend or revoke my license. Although Miller resigned from the board two years ago, he had confidential information in the board's expert witness report within a few days after the hearing where my license was revoked - information I didn't have. In fact, I learned what the board's experts told the board from Keith Miller in documents which were sent to my lawyer! Has the Texas Medical Board ever conducted an investigation of Keith Miller? If they have, they never talked to the witnesses. 3. Mark Blotcky MD - I alleged that he was hired for large sums of money to destroy the lives of five persons who will testify under oath if called. None of these persons were ever called. Is there an investigation on file on Dr. Blotcky? www.TexasMedicalBoardWatch.com 361-652-9474 cell 361-894-6464 home