The Texas Medical Board continues to allow this bad, unethical doctor, Keith E Miller MD, to continue his antics.
I'm reminded that one of the last TMB meetings I attended, TMB member Tim Turner commented to me, "...well I guess he's taking care of you...", referring to Miller's lawsuit against me.
My lawyer, Jerry Payne, tells me that slimy Dr. Miller tried to have me arrested last time I went to a deposition in Center on January 8, 2010. On January 5, he conspired with Shelby County officials who are already defendants in one civil rights lawsuit in federal court to provide me with another cause of action for another civil rights lawsuit. The Miller clowns appear to have falsified a fax which my advocate, Tammy Herchek, was supposed to have sent them. By the wildest stretch of his creative sinister mind, the fax was supposed to be evidence that I was trying to obtain narcotics illegally.
Guess Dr. Miller forgot that I have been proven to be intolerant of narcotics, in that I have developed a movement disorder called akathisia twice after taking them for ten days. Pretty much that guarantees that my lifetime risk of narcotics abuse is slightly less than the reciprocal of Avogadro's number.
Those who conspired with Dr. Miller are Lynda K Russell, Shelby County District Attorney, and her investigator Kevin Windham. We have a theory that Mr. Windham's willingness to sign a perjurious probable cause affidavit when he only heard Dr. Millers's complaint about me may have had something to do with the fact that Mr. Windham had just been ordered to pay $50,000 for violating someone's civil rights he investigated on behalf of the DA.
What's a little bribe among friends? This, of course, is just my theory.
Here is Exhibit A demonstrating Dr. Miller's retaliation against me.
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Criminal behavior of Keith E Miller MD, Mari Robinson JD, and Racketeering at Texas State Agencies
I've been talking to Tammy and Mark. They are very upset about having criminal charges filed against her with a warrant outstanding for her arrest in Shelby County. Keith E Miller MD is illegally retaliating against her for collecting criminal against him and his nurse Bridget Hughes on my behalf.
It is natural for her and Mark to blame me for actions taken by state employees and agencies against her, even though I tried to talk her out of taking the trip to Center. The only thing I did not do to keep her from going was that I did not actually forbid her, as if I could have done that.
I had never previously told Tammy about the fax which she supposedly sent from my office to Miller's office describing her pain, because I thought they might think I was blaming them for the Miller lawsuit, and my subsequent arrest in Center.
Mark informs me that a fax machine can be programmed to say falsely that it was sent from a particular location.
Tammy denies sending the fax at all. Mark says that she's much too smart to have done something so stupid which obviously would have identified her and linked her to me. He describes all the precautions she would have taken, and sending a fax from my machine is just not something she would have done. So it appears that she and I were both framed and that the document is false. ...more evidence of malice against former Texas Medical Board member Keith E Miller MD.
Does the guy really not understand that he's hanging himself and other persons who remain at the board, but who are just as guilty? Not only does he prostitute himself in false expert testimony, but he's clumsily tying himself together with a national Tenaha police scam, DA Lynda K Russell and her federal class action lawsuit.
I believe Tammy's civil rights are being violated by racketeering crimes committed by the State of Texas because she collected criminal evidence against Bridget Hughes and Dr. Miller. The state of Texas should protect her, her sons, and her husband from this harassment and intimidation and pay and her family for the mental anguish they are suffering.
My husband committed suicide under similar circumstances but at the time of his death we didn't have nearly the evidence against Mari Robinson and Keith Miller for their obvious criminal conspiracy as we have now.
The email which my former attorney, Jeff Grass, Jeff's wife, and I found in the Wharton County evidence file prior to my criminal trial was an exchange between Miller's nurse Bridget Hughes and DPS Captain Patrick Mulligan. Captain Mulligan illegally sent Tammy's DPS driver's license to Hughes for her to identify. Hughes sent back a handwritten fax which said, "Yikes! She didn't look like that when she was here!", but she confirmed Tammy's identity. Thus, Miller and Hughes colluded with Captain Mulligan and Josh McCown to disseminate Tammy's identity and her home address illegally. Shortly after that, an unidentified vehicle ran Mark off the road almost into a bridge, miles out of town in the country where they live in an obscure cul-de-sac.
Tammy and Mark believed that to be an attempt on her life.
Pamela Munn at the Texas State Auditor's office has detailed information from both me and Tammy, which we presented to her in Representative Geanie Morrison's office in Austin. The General Counsel of the TSA and Ms Munn called us about a week later and told us that their 'thorough investigation' didn't produce any evidence of a crime, even though they never contacted us again to ask if there were other witnesses.
Representative Morrison arranged for us to meet with Ms Munn, a 'special investigator' and has it on record.
While I was pro se, I filed a motion to compel the DA to produce the email exchange among Hughes, Mulligan, (Ritter, and Josh McCown). The judge granted it. Gordon Dudley and Josh McCown ignored a direct order from the judge. I then filed a motion to hold the DA in contempt of court and Judge Clapp, in error, refused to grant it. I argued that the email exchange was exculpatory evidence because it demonstrated conspiracy. Jeff refused to adopt it. You asked me, when I hired you, why he would not adopt my motions, and I told you that was why I fired him.
The email exchange went further. Captain Patrick Mulligan then sent it to Cassie Ritter, Judge Clapp's Court Administrator, at one of these email addresses: ["Cassie Ritter Texas Administrator Judge Randy Clapp" or "Cassie Ritter Administrator, 329 Criminal District Court, Wharton County, Judge Randy Clapp" ; I don't remember which, since I never was able to get a copy]. Cassie Ritter, in an ex parte communication from the 329th court, forwarded it to DA Josh McCown, with the terse comment, "GOT IT!"
I thought it was illegal for the judge's secretary to collect evidence for the DA.
I stated to the court that the DA was withholding exculpatory evidence of my innocence and their actions prove collusion among the following parties: Keith E Miller MD, Bridget Hughes RN, DPS Captain Patrick Mulligan, the 329th Court through its administrator, and the DA.
Since the email proved the 329th court participated in the conspiracy, I argued verbally that Judge Clapp should be recused, but I DID NOT FILE A MOTION demanding it! Since I refused to file such a motion, Judge Clapp wrote his own! Then he, illegally, in his own ex parte interchange, called in an out-of-town elderly judge who admitted not understanding the US Constitution, and then denied Clapp's motion for recusal.
It was very obvious that I was not privy to a long string of illegal ex parte discussions.
They also had the motion heard the same day, probably in violation of state notice requirements for hearings.
All of this is why Gordon Dudley tricked you into agreeing that 'we wouldn't allege conspiracy'. ....because conspiracy is so easily proved.
At another hearing, while I was still pro se, I filed a motion to dismiss the criminal charges with prejudice because the elements of a felony (lacking the mens rea, plus even if mens rea did exist, the only crime would have been 'fleeing arrest', a Class B misdemeanor, certainly not the felony of aggravated assault against a law enforcement officer, in the line of duty, with a deadly weapon. Judge Clapp acted in further error by refusing to rule on my motion to dismiss with prejudice.
The evidence Tammy collected in Center proved that Hughes was in violation of her non-disciplinary order for forging the 50 narcotics prescriptions which Dr. Miller was supervising. Her office visit to Hughes was in early April, while the order was still in effect. Hughes now actually has a disciplinary order for giving herself an antibiotic shot (not quite as serious as forging 50 narcotics prescriptions) where she admits to being violation of the earlier order.
The later disciplinary order, which Miller also was supervising, proves that Miller knew Hughes was in violation of the order prohibiting her from forging narcotics prescriptions. Thus, the later order proves that Miller, because he did not stop Hughes' forgeries, was aiding and abetting her crimes; ie, it's proof of his felonious actions.
I have a record of my complaint of Miller's felonies which I submitted to the medical board about him. I have a record that Mari Robinson, in an email (from Robinson directly to me), told me she would not 'allow the Texas Medical Board to investigate Miller's felonies'. I have the receipt for the certified US Mail the Texas Medical Board representative signed for upon receiving my complaint against Miller. I have a record of Mari Robinson telling me she didn't get the certified mail for which I have the receipt. Thus, I have proof that Mari Robinson destroyed or caused to be destroyed my US Mail certified complaints, ie, I have proof she committed a federal crime and has denied it.
Tammy, Mark, and I have tape recordings of her verbal communications with an Internal Affairs officer at DPS during which she alleged multiple crimes and coverups of four DPS officers. We have proof that DPS Internal Affairs failed to follow up.
I have about 15 Texas Medical Board members who witnessed my accusations against their Executive Director that she committed state and federal crimes, both felonies and misdemeanors. I have a record that they failed to act. I have a record that they sent me notice two weeks later that they intended to suspend my license. I have proof that they suspended it on March 24, 2009. I have proof that Jill Wiggins, Media Representative of the TMB, sent a malicious, slanderous press release to my home town newspaper reporting that my license was suspended and that I was mentally impaired.
I have a witness at the Victoria Advocate, Reporter Gabe Semenza, that Editor Chris Cobler refused to hear my side of the story or examine my evidence of fraud at the Texas Medical Board and of Mari Robinson's criminal activity.
It is natural for her and Mark to blame me for actions taken by state employees and agencies against her, even though I tried to talk her out of taking the trip to Center. The only thing I did not do to keep her from going was that I did not actually forbid her, as if I could have done that.
I had never previously told Tammy about the fax which she supposedly sent from my office to Miller's office describing her pain, because I thought they might think I was blaming them for the Miller lawsuit, and my subsequent arrest in Center.
Mark informs me that a fax machine can be programmed to say falsely that it was sent from a particular location.
Tammy denies sending the fax at all. Mark says that she's much too smart to have done something so stupid which obviously would have identified her and linked her to me. He describes all the precautions she would have taken, and sending a fax from my machine is just not something she would have done. So it appears that she and I were both framed and that the document is false. ...more evidence of malice against former Texas Medical Board member Keith E Miller MD.
Does the guy really not understand that he's hanging himself and other persons who remain at the board, but who are just as guilty? Not only does he prostitute himself in false expert testimony, but he's clumsily tying himself together with a national Tenaha police scam, DA Lynda K Russell and her federal class action lawsuit.
I believe Tammy's civil rights are being violated by racketeering crimes committed by the State of Texas because she collected criminal evidence against Bridget Hughes and Dr. Miller. The state of Texas should protect her, her sons, and her husband from this harassment and intimidation and pay and her family for the mental anguish they are suffering.
My husband committed suicide under similar circumstances but at the time of his death we didn't have nearly the evidence against Mari Robinson and Keith Miller for their obvious criminal conspiracy as we have now.
The email which my former attorney, Jeff Grass, Jeff's wife, and I found in the Wharton County evidence file prior to my criminal trial was an exchange between Miller's nurse Bridget Hughes and DPS Captain Patrick Mulligan. Captain Mulligan illegally sent Tammy's DPS driver's license to Hughes for her to identify. Hughes sent back a handwritten fax which said, "Yikes! She didn't look like that when she was here!", but she confirmed Tammy's identity. Thus, Miller and Hughes colluded with Captain Mulligan and Josh McCown to disseminate Tammy's identity and her home address illegally. Shortly after that, an unidentified vehicle ran Mark off the road almost into a bridge, miles out of town in the country where they live in an obscure cul-de-sac.
Tammy and Mark believed that to be an attempt on her life.
Pamela Munn at the Texas State Auditor's office has detailed information from both me and Tammy, which we presented to her in Representative Geanie Morrison's office in Austin. The General Counsel of the TSA and Ms Munn called us about a week later and told us that their 'thorough investigation' didn't produce any evidence of a crime, even though they never contacted us again to ask if there were other witnesses.
Representative Morrison arranged for us to meet with Ms Munn, a 'special investigator' and has it on record.
While I was pro se, I filed a motion to compel the DA to produce the email exchange among Hughes, Mulligan, (Ritter, and Josh McCown). The judge granted it. Gordon Dudley and Josh McCown ignored a direct order from the judge. I then filed a motion to hold the DA in contempt of court and Judge Clapp, in error, refused to grant it. I argued that the email exchange was exculpatory evidence because it demonstrated conspiracy. Jeff refused to adopt it. You asked me, when I hired you, why he would not adopt my motions, and I told you that was why I fired him.
The email exchange went further. Captain Patrick Mulligan then sent it to Cassie Ritter, Judge Clapp's Court Administrator, at one of these email addresses: ["Cassie Ritter Texas Administrator Judge Randy Clapp"
I thought it was illegal for the judge's secretary to collect evidence for the DA.
I stated to the court that the DA was withholding exculpatory evidence of my innocence and their actions prove collusion among the following parties: Keith E Miller MD, Bridget Hughes RN, DPS Captain Patrick Mulligan, the 329th Court through its administrator, and the DA.
Since the email proved the 329th court participated in the conspiracy, I argued verbally that Judge Clapp should be recused, but I DID NOT FILE A MOTION demanding it! Since I refused to file such a motion, Judge Clapp wrote his own! Then he, illegally, in his own ex parte interchange, called in an out-of-town elderly judge who admitted not understanding the US Constitution, and then denied Clapp's motion for recusal.
It was very obvious that I was not privy to a long string of illegal ex parte discussions.
They also had the motion heard the same day, probably in violation of state notice requirements for hearings.
All of this is why Gordon Dudley tricked you into agreeing that 'we wouldn't allege conspiracy'. ....because conspiracy is so easily proved.
At another hearing, while I was still pro se, I filed a motion to dismiss the criminal charges with prejudice because the elements of a felony (lacking the mens rea, plus even if mens rea did exist, the only crime would have been 'fleeing arrest', a Class B misdemeanor, certainly not the felony of aggravated assault against a law enforcement officer, in the line of duty, with a deadly weapon. Judge Clapp acted in further error by refusing to rule on my motion to dismiss with prejudice.
The evidence Tammy collected in Center proved that Hughes was in violation of her non-disciplinary order for forging the 50 narcotics prescriptions which Dr. Miller was supervising. Her office visit to Hughes was in early April, while the order was still in effect. Hughes now actually has a disciplinary order for giving herself an antibiotic shot (not quite as serious as forging 50 narcotics prescriptions) where she admits to being violation of the earlier order.
The later disciplinary order, which Miller also was supervising, proves that Miller knew Hughes was in violation of the order prohibiting her from forging narcotics prescriptions. Thus, the later order proves that Miller, because he did not stop Hughes' forgeries, was aiding and abetting her crimes; ie, it's proof of his felonious actions.
I have a record of my complaint of Miller's felonies which I submitted to the medical board about him. I have a record that Mari Robinson, in an email (from Robinson directly to me), told me she would not 'allow the Texas Medical Board to investigate Miller's felonies'. I have the receipt for the certified US Mail the Texas Medical Board representative signed for upon receiving my complaint against Miller. I have a record of Mari Robinson telling me she didn't get the certified mail for which I have the receipt. Thus, I have proof that Mari Robinson destroyed or caused to be destroyed my US Mail certified complaints, ie, I have proof she committed a federal crime and has denied it.
Tammy, Mark, and I have tape recordings of her verbal communications with an Internal Affairs officer at DPS during which she alleged multiple crimes and coverups of four DPS officers. We have proof that DPS Internal Affairs failed to follow up.
I have about 15 Texas Medical Board members who witnessed my accusations against their Executive Director that she committed state and federal crimes, both felonies and misdemeanors. I have a record that they failed to act. I have a record that they sent me notice two weeks later that they intended to suspend my license. I have proof that they suspended it on March 24, 2009. I have proof that Jill Wiggins, Media Representative of the TMB, sent a malicious, slanderous press release to my home town newspaper reporting that my license was suspended and that I was mentally impaired.
I have a witness at the Victoria Advocate, Reporter Gabe Semenza, that Editor Chris Cobler refused to hear my side of the story or examine my evidence of fraud at the Texas Medical Board and of Mari Robinson's criminal activity.
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Resolutions on Texas Medical Board reform and how State Representatives can participate constructively
Representative Geanie Morrison
Victoria, Texas
Dear Representative Morrison,
Thank you so much for seconding my resolution on Texas Medical Board reform.
Would you kindly tell me whom I should contact to serve on the Resolutions Committee for our county convention, if that would be possible?
I know that a precinct in Harris County also passed a Resolution about reforming the TMB, but have not yet received other feedback.
How might persons who are interested in TMB reform help their Representatives get appointed to serve on the House Committee on Public Health?
I appreciate your interest in medical board reform. I would like to meet with you in the District at your convenience to discuss some ways that the board should be reformed. It's quite simple, really, and should not require new legislation. Here are key points:
1. The House Committee on Public Health should exercise sufficient oversight. It has utterly failed.
2. Open government laws, Constitutional due process, and the Medical Practice Act should be respected and followed. They are not. The House Committee on Public Health should request Attorney General opinions as to the legality of medical board procedures. The Attorney General should be directed, if necessary, to enforce the law. There must be procedures that doctors can follow to insure that our rights are protected. All of this should receive the oversight of the doctor's personal elected Representative who should make the House Committee on Public Health fully aware of violations.
It should be clear that no new laws are needed to provide this oversight. That is how government is supposed to function, as you know.
3. As you know from my resolutions presented at the precinct convention, several doctors have conclusive evidence that Executive Director Mari Robinson has committed multiple state and federal crimes. We have observed this to be her pattern and practice. We have affidavit testimony and other evidence, including altered government documents, which we wish to present to the Travis County Grand Jury. We need to know the proper procedure.
Our presentation of evidence needs the oversight of the House Committee on Public Health.
4. Doctors presenting criminal evidence against Robinson need protection from retaliation.
5. The medical board must implement, as soon as possible, a voluntary procedure by which doctors (any Texas doctor) may review complaints against licensees as to their significance in the overall practice of medicine and the severity of an alleged violation of the Medical Practice Act. The board should streamline the way complaints are evaluated so that, again, as soon as possible, every Texas physician, as a condition for licensure, should review several complaints per year, unpaid, and receive Continuing Medical Education credit for his services. I recommend that the goal should be that a minimum of 10 primary care physicians would review each complaint for significance and potential for patient harm and that 5 physicians in the doctor's specialty should review each complaint as to whether a reasonable standard of care was followed, as well as potential for patient harm.
Every complaint should be evaluated for the opportunity to see if there is a process which, if changed, could improve the health of Texans.
I have evaluated newly published medical literature for many years for a Canadian medical school which feeds its results to Clinical Evidence.
Our work is sent out daily to clinicians all over the world. I have included a copy of the most recent update. As you can see, we rate every study as to its relevance to our discipline (I assume that all specialties are represented, but mine as you know, is primary care.) and newsworthiness to doctors in our discipline. I often notice that something, for example, in cardiology, might be big news for primary care physicians, but is hum-drum for cardiologists.
One of the benefits of participating in this international effort is that I am regularly notified of "Stellar Articles" which are both highly relevant and newsworthy. Having participated in such a worthwhile project for nearly 10 years makes me all the more ashamed of what the Texas Medical Board does to the people of Texas. I believe that the people of Texas have the opportunity to completely overhaul the medical board and cause it to become an agency which can show the country how a regulatory agency should behave. With a restructuring of priorities, we can make the "worst medical board in the country" of historical interest only.
Provided by the BMJ Evidence Centre, EvidenceUpdates service
Dear Dr. Pigott:
New articles: colleagues in your discipline have identified the following article(s) as being of interest:
Article Title Discipline Rele-
vance News-
worthiness
Development and validation of a case ascertainment tool for ankylosing spondylitis.
Arthritis Care Res (Hoboken) Rheumatology 5 5
Long-term outcome and prognostic factors of juvenile dermatomyositis: A multinational, multicenter study of 490 patients.
Arthritis Care Res (Hoboken) Rheumatology 6 6
Pediatrics (General) 6 6
Dermatology 6 5
Evidence for predictive validity of remission on long-term outcome in rheumatoid arthritis: A systematic review.
Arthritis Care Res (Hoboken) Rheumatology 6 5
Effect of hemodialysis before transplant surgery on renal allograft function--a pair of randomized controlled trials.
Transplantation Nephrology 6 6
Adenoidectomy for recurrent or chronic nasal symptoms in children.
Cochrane Database Syst Rev Pediatrics (General) 6 5
Regular treatment with formoterol and an inhaled corticosteroid versus regular treatment with salmeterol and an inhaled corticosteroid for chronic asthma: serious adverse events.
Cochrane Database Syst Rev Respirology/Pulmonology 6 6
Just click on the title to review the abstract and/or PubMed record.
Best wishes from EvidenceUpdates
* Note: if you are unable to access your alert by clicking on the article link, please login directly to EvidenceUpdates at http://plus.mcmaster.ca/EvidenceUpdates/ and access the article under 'My Alerts' which is listed in the top panel of the EvidenceUpdates system. If you continue to experience difficulties, please contact us for further assistance.
This email is being sent by the EvidenceUpdates system at your request. Click here if you wish to disable email alerts.
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The recipient should check this email and attachments for viruses because the BMJ Group accepts no liability for any damage caused by viruses. Emails sent or received by the BMJ Group may be monitored for size, traffic, distribution and content.
Use of our content is governed by our website terms and conditions http://group.bmj.com/group/about/legal/terms.
BMJ Publishing Group Limited trading as BMJ Group.
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Dear Dr. Pigott,
You have an article to rate for McMaster PLUS, PIER, EvidenceUpdates, and the Evidence-Based Journals:
Discipline: Internal Medicine and its subspecialties
Title: The benefits of statins in people without established cardiovascular disease but with cardiovascular risk factors: meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials.
Article ID: 28393
NEW!! NB: The rating form now includes a Conflict of Interest statement. Answering YES to the question on the rating form in MORE will automatically remove this article from your rater's inbox. A NO answer will permit you to proceed with your ratings. Click here* to be automatically signed into the MORE system. Rating instructions are included below.
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www.texasphoenix007.blogspot.com
www.facebook.com "Shirley Pigott"
Victoria, Texas
Dear Representative Morrison,
Thank you so much for seconding my resolution on Texas Medical Board reform.
Would you kindly tell me whom I should contact to serve on the Resolutions Committee for our county convention, if that would be possible?
I know that a precinct in Harris County also passed a Resolution about reforming the TMB, but have not yet received other feedback.
How might persons who are interested in TMB reform help their Representatives get appointed to serve on the House Committee on Public Health?
I appreciate your interest in medical board reform. I would like to meet with you in the District at your convenience to discuss some ways that the board should be reformed. It's quite simple, really, and should not require new legislation. Here are key points:
1. The House Committee on Public Health should exercise sufficient oversight. It has utterly failed.
2. Open government laws, Constitutional due process, and the Medical Practice Act should be respected and followed. They are not. The House Committee on Public Health should request Attorney General opinions as to the legality of medical board procedures. The Attorney General should be directed, if necessary, to enforce the law. There must be procedures that doctors can follow to insure that our rights are protected. All of this should receive the oversight of the doctor's personal elected Representative who should make the House Committee on Public Health fully aware of violations.
It should be clear that no new laws are needed to provide this oversight. That is how government is supposed to function, as you know.
3. As you know from my resolutions presented at the precinct convention, several doctors have conclusive evidence that Executive Director Mari Robinson has committed multiple state and federal crimes. We have observed this to be her pattern and practice. We have affidavit testimony and other evidence, including altered government documents, which we wish to present to the Travis County Grand Jury. We need to know the proper procedure.
Our presentation of evidence needs the oversight of the House Committee on Public Health.
4. Doctors presenting criminal evidence against Robinson need protection from retaliation.
5. The medical board must implement, as soon as possible, a voluntary procedure by which doctors (any Texas doctor) may review complaints against licensees as to their significance in the overall practice of medicine and the severity of an alleged violation of the Medical Practice Act. The board should streamline the way complaints are evaluated so that, again, as soon as possible, every Texas physician, as a condition for licensure, should review several complaints per year, unpaid, and receive Continuing Medical Education credit for his services. I recommend that the goal should be that a minimum of 10 primary care physicians would review each complaint for significance and potential for patient harm and that 5 physicians in the doctor's specialty should review each complaint as to whether a reasonable standard of care was followed, as well as potential for patient harm.
Every complaint should be evaluated for the opportunity to see if there is a process which, if changed, could improve the health of Texans.
I have evaluated newly published medical literature for many years for a Canadian medical school which feeds its results to Clinical Evidence.
Our work is sent out daily to clinicians all over the world. I have included a copy of the most recent update. As you can see, we rate every study as to its relevance to our discipline (I assume that all specialties are represented, but mine as you know, is primary care.) and newsworthiness to doctors in our discipline. I often notice that something, for example, in cardiology, might be big news for primary care physicians, but is hum-drum for cardiologists.
One of the benefits of participating in this international effort is that I am regularly notified of "Stellar Articles" which are both highly relevant and newsworthy. Having participated in such a worthwhile project for nearly 10 years makes me all the more ashamed of what the Texas Medical Board does to the people of Texas. I believe that the people of Texas have the opportunity to completely overhaul the medical board and cause it to become an agency which can show the country how a regulatory agency should behave. With a restructuring of priorities, we can make the "worst medical board in the country" of historical interest only.
Provided by the BMJ Evidence Centre, EvidenceUpdates service
Dear Dr. Pigott:
New articles: colleagues in your discipline have identified the following article(s) as being of interest:
Article Title Discipline Rele-
vance News-
worthiness
Development and validation of a case ascertainment tool for ankylosing spondylitis.
Arthritis Care Res (Hoboken) Rheumatology 5 5
Long-term outcome and prognostic factors of juvenile dermatomyositis: A multinational, multicenter study of 490 patients.
Arthritis Care Res (Hoboken) Rheumatology 6 6
Pediatrics (General) 6 6
Dermatology 6 5
Evidence for predictive validity of remission on long-term outcome in rheumatoid arthritis: A systematic review.
Arthritis Care Res (Hoboken) Rheumatology 6 5
Effect of hemodialysis before transplant surgery on renal allograft function--a pair of randomized controlled trials.
Transplantation Nephrology 6 6
Adenoidectomy for recurrent or chronic nasal symptoms in children.
Cochrane Database Syst Rev Pediatrics (General) 6 5
Regular treatment with formoterol and an inhaled corticosteroid versus regular treatment with salmeterol and an inhaled corticosteroid for chronic asthma: serious adverse events.
Cochrane Database Syst Rev Respirology/Pulmonology 6 6
Just click on the title to review the abstract and/or PubMed record.
Best wishes from EvidenceUpdates
* Note: if you are unable to access your alert by clicking on the article link, please login directly to EvidenceUpdates at http://plus.mcmaster.ca/EvidenceUpdates/ and access the article under 'My Alerts' which is listed in the top panel of the EvidenceUpdates system. If you continue to experience difficulties, please contact us for further assistance.
This email is being sent by the EvidenceUpdates system at your request. Click here if you wish to disable email alerts.
EvidenceUpdates c/o
1200 Main Street West, Room 3H7
Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, L8N 3Z5
Tel: 905-525-9140 x22255
Fax: 905-546-0401
The BMJ Group is one of the world's most trusted providers of medical information for doctors, researchers, health care workers and patients.
www.bmjgroup.bmj.com
The recipient should check this email and attachments for viruses because the BMJ Group accepts no liability for any damage caused by viruses. Emails sent or received by the BMJ Group may be monitored for size, traffic, distribution and content.
Use of our content is governed by our website terms and conditions http://group.bmj.com/group/about/legal/terms.
BMJ Publishing Group Limited trading as BMJ Group.
A private limited company, registered in England and Wales under registration number 03102371.
Registered office: BMA House, Tavistock Square, London WC1H 9JR, UK.
Here is an example of a notification that I have an article to rate:
morehlp@mcmaster.ca
to me
show details 7/7/09
Dear Dr. Pigott,
You have an article to rate for McMaster PLUS, PIER, EvidenceUpdates, and the Evidence-Based Journals:
Discipline: Internal Medicine and its subspecialties
Title: The benefits of statins in people without established cardiovascular disease but with cardiovascular risk factors: meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials.
Article ID: 28393
NEW!! NB: The rating form now includes a Conflict of Interest statement. Answering YES to the question on the rating form in MORE will automatically remove this article from your rater's inbox. A NO answer will permit you to proceed with your ratings. Click here* to be automatically signed into the MORE system. Rating instructions are included below.
The full text article you review is protected by copyright and is for your viewing purposes only. Please do not download or distribute copies to others in any format...
www.texasphoenix007.blogspot.com
www.facebook.com "Shirley Pigott"
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Response to passing resolutions on reform of the Texas Medical Board at the Texas
Well, these problems will get fixed in Texas as soon as I become the next medical director. If there is one Texas Medical Board member or staff attorney who was not put there because of a conflict of interest, I wouldn't know who it is.
When I'm medical director doctors won't practice law and lawyers won't practice medicine. We will have a failsafe mechanism to file all complaints.
Every complaint will be evaluated initially by volunteer physicians who obtain continuing medical education for their efforts. Eventually, every physician in the state will participate in reviewing complaints. Every complaint will eventually be reviewed by no less than 10 primary care physicians and 5 physicians in the doctor's specialty. Every complaint will initially be determined to be jurisdictional (ie, is the doctor licensed to practice medicine in Texas?) or non-jurisdictional. For complaints which are not jurisdictional to the medical board, this 15-person panel will decide where the jurisdiction lies.
Every complaint will require a probable cause affidavit by someone not affiliated with the medical board.
The function of the board members will be to guard the integrity of the process. They will work with the Texas House Committee on Public Health to bring similar reforms to other state healthcare licensing boards.
The most important thing for readers to help me do right now is to facilitate the momentum we have because of the primary elections we had yesterday, any runoff elections, and the general elections in November.
I need to know where else (Democratic or Republican; Victoria County precinct 33 or other precincts in Texas) these or similar resolutions were passed.
If you care about health care in Texas and voted in either party's primary, get on the Resolutions Committee for your county. The ONLY requirement by law for you to get on this committee is to have voted in the primary.
If you voted in your party's primary and anyone prohibits you from serving on the Resolutions Committee of your county, PLEASE LET ME KNOW. Please also report this obstruction of justice to Rule of Law Radio and Alex Jones, both in Austin.
When I'm medical director doctors won't practice law and lawyers won't practice medicine. We will have a failsafe mechanism to file all complaints.
Every complaint will be evaluated initially by volunteer physicians who obtain continuing medical education for their efforts. Eventually, every physician in the state will participate in reviewing complaints. Every complaint will eventually be reviewed by no less than 10 primary care physicians and 5 physicians in the doctor's specialty. Every complaint will initially be determined to be jurisdictional (ie, is the doctor licensed to practice medicine in Texas?) or non-jurisdictional. For complaints which are not jurisdictional to the medical board, this 15-person panel will decide where the jurisdiction lies.
Every complaint will require a probable cause affidavit by someone not affiliated with the medical board.
The function of the board members will be to guard the integrity of the process. They will work with the Texas House Committee on Public Health to bring similar reforms to other state healthcare licensing boards.
The most important thing for readers to help me do right now is to facilitate the momentum we have because of the primary elections we had yesterday, any runoff elections, and the general elections in November.
I need to know where else (Democratic or Republican; Victoria County precinct 33 or other precincts in Texas) these or similar resolutions were passed.
If you care about health care in Texas and voted in either party's primary, get on the Resolutions Committee for your county. The ONLY requirement by law for you to get on this committee is to have voted in the primary.
If you voted in your party's primary and anyone prohibits you from serving on the Resolutions Committee of your county, PLEASE LET ME KNOW. Please also report this obstruction of justice to Rule of Law Radio and Alex Jones, both in Austin.
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Resolution regarding the Texas Medical Board was accepted in Republican Party of Texas precinct conventions
Tonight, as I have done for the last 15 - 20 years, I attended my precinct convention after the polls closed in the Republican Party primary election. I presented the resolution below.
Things took a different twist this time, however.
Our Texas State Representative Geanie Morrison seconded.
Victoria Advocate reporter Gabe Semenza took notes as his photographer filmed my presentation.
Representative Morrison explained to the group that there were, indeed, problems which need to be addressed at the Texas Medical Board
Mr. Semenza refused to comment on my pointed questions as to the reasons his boss, Chris Cobler, has never examined my evidence of fraud and corruption at the Texas Medical Board after it suspended my medical license on March 24, 2009, shortly after 5 pm.
On March 25, 2009, Cobler, who will never be noted for his adherence to 'ethics in publishing', printed the slanderous press release sent to him by the medical board word for word.
A few days later, I asked him to review with me the DPS video which Mari Robinson, I believe, had altered in order to show me in an unfavorable light. Without so much as a break in his step, Cobler told me he couldn't be bothered with looking at my evidence of malfeasance at the board. When I questioned him why he had printed what the medical board told him, but would not hear my side of the story, as if it made sense, he said, "...the Texas Medical Board is a STATE agency."
Oh...I see....
The following resolution was accepted at various Republican Party precinct conventions across the state of Texas on March 2, 2010. It will now rise upward to various County conventions, and eventually be considered for inclusion in the State of Texas Republican Party Platform.
Resolution regarding the Texas Medical Board
Whereas, the Texas Medical Board has come under considerable public scrutiny in Texas and around the country, and
Whereas, the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons has filed a lawsuit against it because of its abuses and failures to protect the health of Texans, and
Whereas, the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons has recognized the Texas Medical Board as being 'the worst medical board in the nation' and being rife with constitutional violations of due process, corruption, and unethical conflicts of interest, and
Whereas, the Executive Branch, under which it operates, has failed to take appropriate action, and
Whereas, the Legislature has failed to execute sufficient oversight or provide legislative relief, and
Whereas, the possibility of Judicial relief is remote, and
Whereas, Constitutional Due Process and other freedoms we all hold dear are threatened if Texans do not intervene, and
Whereas, health care is too important to leave to politicians and lawyers who have no training or experience in healthcare,
Be it therefore now Resolved, the people of the Republican Party of Texas direct their elected officials to intervene in specific cases to ensure that physicians and other healthcare providers have their Constitutional Due Process rights protected, and
Be it therefore now Resolved, the people .... direct their elected officials to intervene in specific cases to guarantee that physicians with disabilities are given state and federal protection under the Americans with Disabilities Act, and
Be it therefore now Resolved, the people .... direct their elected officials to demand that the Texas Medical Board shall comply fully with Open Government Laws, and
Be it therefore now Resolved, the people .... direct their elected officials to demand that all healthcare licensing agencies require their licensees to participate in continuing medical education such that every complaint about any licensee is evaluated as to its significance and whether a change of process might have prevented patient harm or improve the health of Texans, and
Be it therefore now Resolved, the people .... direct their elected officials to care less about giving or not giving "legal advice" and care more about stopping the abuses of the Texas Medical Board, and
Be it therefore now Resolved, the people.... condemn the Texas legislature for not conducting proper oversight of the Texas Medical Board, and
Be it therefore now Resolved, the people .... condemn the Texas Executive Branch for not enforcing constitutional due process at the Texas Medical Board, and
Be it therefore now Resolved, the people ... condemn the Texas Attorney General because of his refusal to render constitutional opinions enforcing open government laws at the TMB and other applicable state and federal laws, including the Medical Practice Act, and
Be it therefore now Resolved, the people ... direct the Texas Executive, Legislative, and Judicial Branches to correct such gross abuses of human rights as evidenced by the daily activities of the Texas Medical Board and act with utmost haste to correct these injustices.
Things took a different twist this time, however.
Our Texas State Representative Geanie Morrison seconded.
Victoria Advocate reporter Gabe Semenza took notes as his photographer filmed my presentation.
Representative Morrison explained to the group that there were, indeed, problems which need to be addressed at the Texas Medical Board
Mr. Semenza refused to comment on my pointed questions as to the reasons his boss, Chris Cobler, has never examined my evidence of fraud and corruption at the Texas Medical Board after it suspended my medical license on March 24, 2009, shortly after 5 pm.
On March 25, 2009, Cobler, who will never be noted for his adherence to 'ethics in publishing', printed the slanderous press release sent to him by the medical board word for word.
A few days later, I asked him to review with me the DPS video which Mari Robinson, I believe, had altered in order to show me in an unfavorable light. Without so much as a break in his step, Cobler told me he couldn't be bothered with looking at my evidence of malfeasance at the board. When I questioned him why he had printed what the medical board told him, but would not hear my side of the story, as if it made sense, he said, "...the Texas Medical Board is a STATE agency."
Oh...I see....
The following resolution was accepted at various Republican Party precinct conventions across the state of Texas on March 2, 2010. It will now rise upward to various County conventions, and eventually be considered for inclusion in the State of Texas Republican Party Platform.
Resolution regarding the Texas Medical Board
Whereas, the Texas Medical Board has come under considerable public scrutiny in Texas and around the country, and
Whereas, the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons has filed a lawsuit against it because of its abuses and failures to protect the health of Texans, and
Whereas, the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons has recognized the Texas Medical Board as being 'the worst medical board in the nation' and being rife with constitutional violations of due process, corruption, and unethical conflicts of interest, and
Whereas, the Executive Branch, under which it operates, has failed to take appropriate action, and
Whereas, the Legislature has failed to execute sufficient oversight or provide legislative relief, and
Whereas, the possibility of Judicial relief is remote, and
Whereas, Constitutional Due Process and other freedoms we all hold dear are threatened if Texans do not intervene, and
Whereas, health care is too important to leave to politicians and lawyers who have no training or experience in healthcare,
Be it therefore now Resolved, the people of the Republican Party of Texas direct their elected officials to intervene in specific cases to ensure that physicians and other healthcare providers have their Constitutional Due Process rights protected, and
Be it therefore now Resolved, the people .... direct their elected officials to intervene in specific cases to guarantee that physicians with disabilities are given state and federal protection under the Americans with Disabilities Act, and
Be it therefore now Resolved, the people .... direct their elected officials to demand that the Texas Medical Board shall comply fully with Open Government Laws, and
Be it therefore now Resolved, the people .... direct their elected officials to demand that all healthcare licensing agencies require their licensees to participate in continuing medical education such that every complaint about any licensee is evaluated as to its significance and whether a change of process might have prevented patient harm or improve the health of Texans, and
Be it therefore now Resolved, the people .... direct their elected officials to care less about giving or not giving "legal advice" and care more about stopping the abuses of the Texas Medical Board, and
Be it therefore now Resolved, the people.... condemn the Texas legislature for not conducting proper oversight of the Texas Medical Board, and
Be it therefore now Resolved, the people .... condemn the Texas Executive Branch for not enforcing constitutional due process at the Texas Medical Board, and
Be it therefore now Resolved, the people ... condemn the Texas Attorney General because of his refusal to render constitutional opinions enforcing open government laws at the TMB and other applicable state and federal laws, including the Medical Practice Act, and
Be it therefore now Resolved, the people ... direct the Texas Executive, Legislative, and Judicial Branches to correct such gross abuses of human rights as evidenced by the daily activities of the Texas Medical Board and act with utmost haste to correct these injustices.
Monday, March 1, 2010
Resolution regarding the Texas Medical Board to be presented at the Texas Democratic and Republican primary precinct conventions at 7 PM Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Whereas, the Texas Medical Board (TMB) has come under considerable public scrutiny in Texas and around the country, and
Whereas, the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons has filed a lawsuit against it in federal court because of its abuses and failures to protect the health of Texans, and
Whereas, the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons has recognized the TMB as being 'the worst medical board in the nation' and being rife with constitutional violations of due process, corruption, and unethical conflicts of interest, and
Whereas, the Executive Branch, under which it operates, has failed to take appropriate action, and
Whereas, the Legislature has failed to execute sufficient oversight or provide legislative relief, and
Whereas, the possibility of Judicial relief is remote, and
Whereas, Constitutional Due Process and other freedoms we all hold dear are threatened if Texans do not intervene, and
Whereas, health care is too important to leave to politicians and lawyers who have no training or experience in healthcare,
Be it therefore now Resolved, the people of the Republican Party of Texas direct their elected officials to intervene in specific cases to insure that physicians and other healthcare providers have their Constitutional Due Process rights protected, and
Be it therefore now Resolved, the people .... direct their elected officials to intervene in specific cases to guarantee that physicians with disabilities are given state and federal protection under the Americans with Disabilities Act, and
Be it therefore now Resolved, the people .... direct their elected officials to demand that the Texas Medical Board shall comply fully with Open Government Laws, and
Be it therefore now Resolved, the people .... direct their elected officials to demand that all healthcare licensing agencies require their licensees to participate in continuing medical education such that every complaint about any licensee is evaluated as to its significance and whether a change of process might have prevented patient harm or improve the health of Texans, and
Be it therefore now Resolved, the people .... direct their elected officials to care less about giving or not giving "legal advice" and care more about stopping the abuses of the Texas Medical Board, and
Be it therefore now Resolved, the people.... condemn the Texas legislature for not conducting proper oversight of the Texas Medical Board, and
Be it therefore now Resolved, the people .... condemn the Texas Executive Branch for not enforcing constitutional due process at the Texas Medical Board, and
Be it therefore now Resolved, the people ... condemn the Texas Attorney General because of his refusal to render constitutional opinions enforcing open government laws at the TMB and other applicable state and federal laws, including the Medical Practice Act, and
Be it therefore now Resolved, the people ... direct the Texas Executive, Legislative, and Judicial Branches to correct such gross abuses of human rights as evidenced by the daily activities of the Texas Medical Board and act with utmost haste to correct these injustices.
Whereas, the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons has filed a lawsuit against it in federal court because of its abuses and failures to protect the health of Texans, and
Whereas, the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons has recognized the TMB as being 'the worst medical board in the nation' and being rife with constitutional violations of due process, corruption, and unethical conflicts of interest, and
Whereas, the Executive Branch, under which it operates, has failed to take appropriate action, and
Whereas, the Legislature has failed to execute sufficient oversight or provide legislative relief, and
Whereas, the possibility of Judicial relief is remote, and
Whereas, Constitutional Due Process and other freedoms we all hold dear are threatened if Texans do not intervene, and
Whereas, health care is too important to leave to politicians and lawyers who have no training or experience in healthcare,
Be it therefore now Resolved, the people of the Republican Party of Texas direct their elected officials to intervene in specific cases to insure that physicians and other healthcare providers have their Constitutional Due Process rights protected, and
Be it therefore now Resolved, the people .... direct their elected officials to intervene in specific cases to guarantee that physicians with disabilities are given state and federal protection under the Americans with Disabilities Act, and
Be it therefore now Resolved, the people .... direct their elected officials to demand that the Texas Medical Board shall comply fully with Open Government Laws, and
Be it therefore now Resolved, the people .... direct their elected officials to demand that all healthcare licensing agencies require their licensees to participate in continuing medical education such that every complaint about any licensee is evaluated as to its significance and whether a change of process might have prevented patient harm or improve the health of Texans, and
Be it therefore now Resolved, the people .... direct their elected officials to care less about giving or not giving "legal advice" and care more about stopping the abuses of the Texas Medical Board, and
Be it therefore now Resolved, the people.... condemn the Texas legislature for not conducting proper oversight of the Texas Medical Board, and
Be it therefore now Resolved, the people .... condemn the Texas Executive Branch for not enforcing constitutional due process at the Texas Medical Board, and
Be it therefore now Resolved, the people ... condemn the Texas Attorney General because of his refusal to render constitutional opinions enforcing open government laws at the TMB and other applicable state and federal laws, including the Medical Practice Act, and
Be it therefore now Resolved, the people ... direct the Texas Executive, Legislative, and Judicial Branches to correct such gross abuses of human rights as evidenced by the daily activities of the Texas Medical Board and act with utmost haste to correct these injustices.
Friday, February 26, 2010
How to eliminate sham peer review at the Texas Medical Board
Mr. Webb is a member of the Texas Medical Board. He practices criminal law in Houston.
Dear Mr. Webb,
I am still alive and well and am committed more than ever to reforming the Texas Medical Board.
The board should move toward a different way to evaluate complaints. This is not something which could be done overnight and should, I believe, start with volunteer physicians. Eventually, every physician in the state (licensed or not, under orders or not) as a condition for licensure, should participate unpaid in free CME toward this end. The board should oversee the process.
The board would make the following provisions:
1. There must be a failsafe way to ensure that every complaint, jurisdictional or not, is logged in and assigned a case number. The case numbers must be sequential and unchangeable; the complaints initially should be separated into one of two categories: jurisdictional or non-jurisdictional
2. Whether or not the board has jurisdiction should be determined by one criterion only: Is the physician licensed? If the physician is licensed, the complaint is jurisdictional and should be filed under "Jurisdictional complaints".
3. Non-jurisdictional complaints should also be assigned sequential and unchangeable case numbers and go to volunteer physician reviewers to determine:
a. their "significance" or "relevance"
b. the answer to the question "could the health of Texans be improved if this complaint were addressed effectively?"
c. what group(s), or state or private entities could be approached to address the complaint properly? a House Committee? another state agency? a federal agency? the FBI?
d. the board would oversee the process by making sure that each non-jurisdictional complaint is appropriately addressed depending on its significance.
4. Jurisdictional complaints should be handled similarly: they should be assigned sequential and unalterable case numbers, logged in, and go to volunteer physician reviewers to determine:
a. their "significance" or "relevance"
b. the answer to the question "could the health of Texans be improved if this complaint were addressed?"
c. what group(s), state or private entities, could be approached to address the complaint most effectively?
d. what process(es) should be used to address the complaint?
I reference Amendments IV, VI, and XIV of the United States Constitution.
Amendment VI of the United States Constitution states:
In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense.
Complaints against a physician's license initiate quasi-criminal proceedings, so there is great potential for abuse. The board, in my opinion, in its duty to fulfill its mission, has a duty to protect physicians from abuse, but has utterly failed to do so.
Amendment XIV states, in part:
All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within itsjurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
Amendment IV states:
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
Process changes which the board has the power to make include:
1. Every complaint should be accompanied by a probable cause affidavit and the complainant identified.
2. The complainant should propose a solution such as:
a. talking to the physician face to face alone or with a mediator
b. can the complainant identify a process which if corrected could have prevented the problem?
c. can the respondent physician identify a process which if corrected could have prevented the problem?
3. The physician should propose a solution.
4. The board should move in the direction of acting on the complainant's and physician's proposals.
5. Invite physicians and patients to bring their successes to the whole board for recognition
6. Encourage the media to report on significant successes.
I would like to present an overview of this to the board at its next meeting during the time allotted for public testimony.
The Texas Medical Board is under considerable public scrutiny within Texas and nationally. Taking steps like I have described would set a positive precedent nationwide for reform.
I have taken the liberty of posting this letter on my scribd site and on my blog.
Sincerely,
Shirley Pigott MD
Texas Medical Board Watch
Texas Phoenix 007
scribd Shirley Pigott MD
361-894-6464 home
361-652-9474 cell
Dear Mr. Webb,
I am still alive and well and am committed more than ever to reforming the Texas Medical Board.
The board should move toward a different way to evaluate complaints. This is not something which could be done overnight and should, I believe, start with volunteer physicians. Eventually, every physician in the state (licensed or not, under orders or not) as a condition for licensure, should participate unpaid in free CME toward this end. The board should oversee the process.
The board would make the following provisions:
1. There must be a failsafe way to ensure that every complaint, jurisdictional or not, is logged in and assigned a case number. The case numbers must be sequential and unchangeable; the complaints initially should be separated into one of two categories: jurisdictional or non-jurisdictional
2. Whether or not the board has jurisdiction should be determined by one criterion only: Is the physician licensed? If the physician is licensed, the complaint is jurisdictional and should be filed under "Jurisdictional complaints".
3. Non-jurisdictional complaints should also be assigned sequential and unchangeable case numbers and go to volunteer physician reviewers to determine:
a. their "significance" or "relevance"
b. the answer to the question "could the health of Texans be improved if this complaint were addressed effectively?"
c. what group(s), or state or private entities could be approached to address the complaint properly? a House Committee? another state agency? a federal agency? the FBI?
d. the board would oversee the process by making sure that each non-jurisdictional complaint is appropriately addressed depending on its significance.
4. Jurisdictional complaints should be handled similarly: they should be assigned sequential and unalterable case numbers, logged in, and go to volunteer physician reviewers to determine:
a. their "significance" or "relevance"
b. the answer to the question "could the health of Texans be improved if this complaint were addressed?"
c. what group(s), state or private entities, could be approached to address the complaint most effectively?
d. what process(es) should be used to address the complaint?
I reference Amendments IV, VI, and XIV of the United States Constitution.
Amendment VI of the United States Constitution states:
In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense.
Complaints against a physician's license initiate quasi-criminal proceedings, so there is great potential for abuse. The board, in my opinion, in its duty to fulfill its mission, has a duty to protect physicians from abuse, but has utterly failed to do so.
Amendment XIV states, in part:
All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within itsjurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
Amendment IV states:
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
Process changes which the board has the power to make include:
1. Every complaint should be accompanied by a probable cause affidavit and the complainant identified.
2. The complainant should propose a solution such as:
a. talking to the physician face to face alone or with a mediator
b. can the complainant identify a process which if corrected could have prevented the problem?
c. can the respondent physician identify a process which if corrected could have prevented the problem?
3. The physician should propose a solution.
4. The board should move in the direction of acting on the complainant's and physician's proposals.
5. Invite physicians and patients to bring their successes to the whole board for recognition
6. Encourage the media to report on significant successes.
I would like to present an overview of this to the board at its next meeting during the time allotted for public testimony.
The Texas Medical Board is under considerable public scrutiny within Texas and nationally. Taking steps like I have described would set a positive precedent nationwide for reform.
I have taken the liberty of posting this letter on my scribd site and on my blog.
Sincerely,
Shirley Pigott MD
Texas Medical Board Watch
Texas Phoenix 007
scribd Shirley Pigott MD
361-894-6464 home
361-652-9474 cell
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