Well, this is terrifying: Medical Board Mission Creep at its most Pernicious
Louise B Andrew MD JD FIFEM (MD Mentor)
Physician Advocate specializing in physician health and wellness, litigation and regulatory stress management, and discrimination especially age and disabilities based.
Not to me personally, mind you, as my practice since EM is largely pain relief exclusive of narcotics. California Med Board "Death Certificate" Project seems to be an outgrowth of a policy in which the coroner "as a courtesy" notified practitioners whose patients had died relating to opioid overdose.
Why am I not surprised that the Cal Med Board is now using the data so generated as a case finding method to find low hanging fruit to discipline doctors? They are doing so, OF COURSE, "only to protect patients from bad actors", since everyone knows that is the only reason a doctor would volunteer to participate in medical regulation is to protect the publc. NOT.
It was not even a decade ago that I remember the California Med Board accusing and sometimes fining or even prosecuting licensees for elder abuse for "NOT prescribing adequate pain relief" to patients. Thank you, TJC and pain scales, you definitely did improve things by this catchy gimmick.
In 2018, Cal Med Board is reportedly scrutinizing data relating to death certificates for any even slightly suggestive evidence with which to accuse docs of inappropriate over-prescribing (or simple prescribing) of opiates which patients may then choose to combine with other means of completing suicide or attempting to get high, with fatal results.
As a fifth (and last) generation physician, I honestly cannot see why ANY parent would encourage their child to enter medicine. You are damned if you do, and damned if you don't. SOMEONE will always be watching to see whether they can extract that purported lavish income and lifestyle from you. But of course, it is ONLY because they care more about the safety of your patients than you ever could! You are just a pawn in this scheme.
President at Doctorsofcourage.org, Sevenpillarstotalhealth.com
5 年I completely agree on all points. Why anyone would enter the medical field today is beyond me. We have to get the illegal government overreach out of the doctor's office and restore the doctor/patient relationship.?
Lawyer at Self Employed Independent Peoplesoft Consultant
6 年Good Christian! Stay in touch!
Executive Co-Director & Co-Founder at HARBR - Healthcare Alliance for Regulatory Board Reform
6 年I think the "could be" double entendre in the word "creep" is apropos (thank you). What sort of morally bereft "player" would participate in a PREMATURE insidious advance of this kind? Solely addressing the repeated stabbings at the "opioid crisis," I assert that any lawmaker addressing the matter can be expected to know that the etiology of or culprits behind the real or constructed opioid crisis has yet to be determined. Was it Purdue Pharma? Big Pharma more generally? FSMB pamphlets? Unethical doctors? Duped doctors spending half their time just trying to keep up with the spinning wheel of standards (on this matter)?Perrenial attacks?on alternative medicine? No one has made any strong claims to KNOWING these answers. Nevertheless, medical boards known for this generally, use the "bad doctor" HYPOTHESIS to justify acting against individuals doctors knowing full well that they may need to issue an official "oops" when the next "right-sounding" popular hypothesis has its day in the sun. My experience shows however, that innocent doctors so maligned will never get an apology nor any reparations from their boards nor from the state. Fickle dynasties of lawmakers along with the newbies are playing fast and loose with the law not only in California, but across the nation. We're not having it. Thank you for this post, Dr. Andrew. ?