Читать книгу Who's Killing the Doctors? - Alex Swift - Страница 14

Dr. Tony Lennox spent most of the whole next day at home, staring without sound at the TV but not really watching anything. His wife Patty had not prepared breakfast, perhaps she was thinking of having a coffee some place else, and she was gone from the house as soon as she was done in the bathroom. Not even a Good Morning, or a Bye, or I’m going to… Nothing.

He also left the house at noon, just to wander by the river edge and perhaps stop for a hot dog. Tony bought the Tuesday paper: He read on the front page a brief statement of his having had ‘a preliminary release from jail’ due to new evidence that shed significant doubt on the initial verdict of guilty of ‘Negligent Homicide.’ The note did not say much as neither the judge nor the D.A. had said much else. It promised to bring to the reader more information when that was made available.

When Tony came home two hours later, he found it empty. His home had been for several months occupied during the day by his infant daughter and a nanny. Now his wife was not there either though she normally worked just mornings in a local clinic as a secretary and one would have expected her to be at home in the afternoon… Their marriage had had some ups and downs early on, but it seemed to have improved after the arrival of their daughter. Now he feared that on top of and after the unbearable ordeal of losing her, Patty might just leave him. He sensed that she could not stand the sight of him close by, not in bed and perhaps not around him at all…

That afternoon the bell rang. A post-woman at the door requested his signature as she gave him the feared, green-banded, certified envelope from the State Health Department stamped in the Capital. It notified him of his license being suspended as of the day of his (initial) ‘guilty verdict’. He had been told by his colleagues that THAT would happen right after the verdict and that THEY at the Capital were following his case very closely. They, at OPC, had their own doctors and lawyers examining his case when they heard of his release, and they would come to their own decision, regardless of his case in the Supreme Court and possibly in spite of it if -even if ‘unlikely,’ they anticipated- he happened later to be cleared completely of wrong doing.

Along with the suspension, the letter told him to surrender to their local state office of OPC his Medical Diploma to practice in the state and his current three year registration card. Though he had renewed his license and prepaid for the 3 year registration just two months earlier, he would never be refunded for the approximately 34 remaining months when he could not practice. Thieves! he would call them later when after he requested a refund, it was denied. ‘We never refund for unused months’ they told him when he asked for it, even though he made it clear to them that other state departments, like the DMV, do make such refunds for instance for the remainder of the registration fee of cars when they are sold. No use.

With the cancelation of his conviction by the State Supreme Court, Dr. Lennox expected to have also his medical license suspension reversed. But this did not happen. He was going to call them but his lawyer insisted:

“Let ME call them. Perhaps I’ll be able to talk them. It seems to me that it is the right thing to do now that you are no longer a convict.”

So he called the state Capital. But they did not budge! They told him:

“We have our own medical experts, lawyers and judges to examine his case. In the next four weeks you will have our decision. It may not necessarily agree with your local Court to clear him 100%. Even if they do not find evidence to uphold the guilty conviction, they may still find some negligence enough to impose on him some sort of sanction and restrictions to his practice. For now he has no license at all.”

Dr. Lennox and his lawyer were shocked by what they were told. There it was, a real tragedy, it seemed, and there was nothing they could do at that point to influence the Medical Board one way or another. He could not bring to their attention Dr. Newman or Dr. Elan, and probably not Dr. Nora Phillips either -herself being investigated by them-. It would be all unilateral… A double whammy! First the sad, horrible loss of my daughter; now the loss of my license, of my livelihood!

Some three weeks after that, he got from The Capital the official written reply of the Medical Board to his request for the return of his license:

“The suspension of your license will remain in effect for a full six (6) months from the day of your conviction even if such has been reversed. The Board has examined all the documents the D.A. had and still finds you careless and negligent for not having taken your daughter to the ER immediately after she fell (even believing, as you claimed, that she just slipped off your hands).

“At the end of the six months, you may write to us to request the return of your license and we will go from there. It is possible that at that point the Board may impose additional restrictions, such as a limited license to practice medicine under some supervision and probation, for a given period of time.

“This decision is final. You may wish to appeal it to the Board if you wish, but understanding that with inherent formalities, paper work and the usual delays, you may not gain that much time, even if the Board agrees then to shorten the stated sanction.”

“Wow!” said his lawyer. “I guess they have you trapped. And it does not seem fair… I could appeal for you such decision to one of the State Court of Appeals. But my services will cost you, and again, you may not save that much time…”

“Let me think about it,” said Dr. Lennox. “Perhaps if we appeal it -accepting the six month sanction without fighting them, courteously- I may be able to eliminate ‘the sequel,’ the probationary license with limitations they may impose after that…”

Following that conversation with his up-to-that-point lawyer, Dr. Lennox called her friend Dr. Barbara Good, told her about his conversation with his lawyer and where he stood with the State Health Department and asked her to have a coffee with him. She was delighted to hear in person from him and quickly accepted. She told him that she would also try to bring along Dr. Nora Phillips if it was OK with him.

“Yes. Thank you very much, he said.” Tomorrow for lunch?

“OK. I’ll be there, with our also beleaguered Nora at least!”

The next day, Dr. Tony Lennox sat alone for a coffee at 11 o’clock, in a quiet booth at a corner in the nearby quiet diner The Dark Chocolate. With the two certified letters from the Medical Board in his pocket, he waited for his friends to join him at some point over the next hour. At 11:40, he was surprised to see not only the two women, but also Judge Kenneth Good who arrived on their heels. His wife Barbara had told him the previous night about the lunch meeting with Tony. The judge, without having to ask, immediately volunteered, assuring his wife that he would join the group without waiting for her to invite him – or to object to his coming. HE wanted to know first hand where things stood with the poor doctor whose deeply sad and undeserved sentence had just been magnified by the State Medical Board.

After the initial greeting and having ordered lunch, judge Good jumped into the topic before anybody else had started with pleasantries.

“So Tony, I guess the guilty verdict is definitely gone and that you are in the clear from the criminal stand point. But let’s talk now about the ramifications I hear through Barbara, with the Health Department.”

“Thanks for asking, judge. It’s a mess! They’ve taken my license even if your court has let me go free & innocent. I was going to be suspended for two full years, but since you cleared me of the guilty verdict, they have reduced it to 6 months; months then to be followed, they say, by a provisional license to practice under supervision under as yet unspecified conditions for as yet an unspecified length of time.”

“Damn!” said the judge. “I expected that much. Those wolves! If my court has not indicted you, what business do they have to ruin your life, your professional career with that nasty ‘suspension’ even if for a short time? It will stay in your file -and on their web site- and ruin your reputation… probably for ever!”

“And now you know, judge,” said Nora Phillips “what I am myself up against if they get their hand on ALL my records as they are demanding, without accepting the opinion of my impartial experts that also clear me; they have no justification for it!… For sure I will also be sacked. If they go nit picking on all my records they are bound to find something that suits their charging me with something!”

“Yes, they will do the same thing to you, Nora if you stay in this State. This is why I suggested that you get out of here as fast as you can before you are due in front of the other judge. And he is not likely to allow you more delays.”

“Why is there no impartiality?” asked Barbara to her husband. “Does it happen that way, OPC bullying ALL cases of professional conduct without impartiality?”

“I am afraid it does. They are all lawyers -or most of them- at OPC in the Capital. And they have managed to concoct all those little state laws that make all their machinations legal, even if secretive, monolithic, despotic, especially prosecutorial laws, against the 14th Amendment, our Right to Due Process. The professional disciplinary process as it exists in so many states, especially here, reminds me of the capricious, murderous ways of the Inquisition, the Tudors, the Puritans, the Nazis, Stalin, and so many others through the centuries. OPC obliterates so many professionals without due process, as total despots, ruining lives, just as wickedly, pure murder!”

“Wow! What a political speech! The British wouldn’t like to hear that of their own rulers! They call the Inquisition -even theirs- ‘the Spanish Inquisition!’ Said Nora.

“Yes! Even if my roots are British!” said chuckling the infuriated judge Good. And he went on: “Those damn state lawyers in the Capital at the Medical Board, at the Education Department and at all other departments including the State Attorney General’s Office have created an unassailable system of professional discipline that is like an unescapable net encircling a school of tuna fish. Once they get you in -often targeted from inside OPC, from a colleague that despises you, a clinic’s nurse, or after an unfair, silly complaint- it is impossible to untangle yourself, alone OR even with high power expensive lawyers… as you go broke!

“Lawyers who specialize in medical misconduct (just to help doctors, they claim) take your money – and then often bill you for much more than what your insurance company allows ‘for misconduct issues.’ But they often ‘play along’ -two cards- with you and with the corrupt, inquisitorial system of OPC. The State Health Department’s ‘Administrative Law Judges’ (nearly a blasphemy) with unilateral and incontestable power. They judge cases internally -a mockery- where the victim’s evidence doesn’t count; it is all one sided and never with impartial jurors. No wonder so many accused doctors refuse to attend their phony ‘Hearings’… and they are sacked no matter what!

“This is why, Nora, I told YOU to leave the State and don’t waste your money and go broke with lawyers trying to keep your license 100% clean. If you stay here, you have no chance. The lawyers at OPC will never let you go scot free without placing at the a dark stain on your reputation for ever; for all to see in their web site!”

“Let’s talk now about Tony, Ken. They have already taken his license. Is there anything at all he can do? Can WE help him?” Asked Barbara.

“I don’t know. Perhaps at this point just go along without protests and without raising too much dust. And don’t go to the media. They’ll only print the Hospital and OPC’s versions…. I can make a couple of phone calls to the Capital, perhaps even to a judge there in the State Court of Appeals, but I doubt the Medical Board will change their mind no matter who tries to twist their arm; even if the judge -that brokered your release and removed your guilty verdict- is myself the one who contacts them; they won’t care. They know I don’t have any authority over them.”

“If you try to intervene on my behalf, could THAT raise eyebrows inside the Capital with all those lawyers, including the State Attorney General, so one-sided for State’s OPC, and affect your own career as a state judge negatively?” Asked Dr. Lennox.

“Probably, but I don’t care. I am so fed up with our whole legal and judicial system… I am so sick to be part of it… With so many monolithic, unassailable state agencies with absolute power, I should retire right now! And I don’t mind if I am stuck without any promotions in my judicial ladder. It won’t bother me… but the whole thing stinks; I am part of the law, the lawyers, I am a lawyer too, one of them, of the system that manufactures more and more of them.”

There was a long silence as they were finishing their food and having their last sips of coffee. Judge Good still had more than half of his hot turkey sandwich on his plate, pretty cold already…

Judge Good did make those calls to the State Capital. He spoke to a lawyer at OPC, not very nice; this guy reminded the judge that even if he was a state judge that he didn’t have anything to do with another State office like the Health Department and had no authority over them or their policies. That they had their own ‘Administrative Law Judges’ administering their perfectly legal rules, real ‘laws.’ The effective, modern, XX and XXI Centuries (American) Inquisition.

“Screw you!” judge Good said actually aloud with the phone still on his hand, so his law clerk heard him, though he had hung up by then. He felt strongly that they (OPC), their ‘judges’ and unassailable laws were the epitome of what is wrong with the American legal system, so corrupt and politicized with so many lawyers everywhere making and passing unfair, often unneeded, so often even cruel new laws!…

His call to the State Medical Board did not go much better though the person he talked to was not talking with an offensive attitude as the first lawyer had. He just said that in view of the State Supreme Court reversal of the Guilty verdict for Dr. Lennox, that they would convene again on that matter at the earliest possible time. The doctor’s lawyer would be notified then after the Board listened to their own in-house experts.

Last, Judge Good called his old colleague at the State Court of Appeals, Judge Scott Albert. He succinctly explained the situation but his friend told him that he could not intervene to reverse the OPC decision in spite of Dr. Lennox having been cleared by Ken’s State Supreme Court:

“You know that well, Ken. His lawyer will have to file a proper appeal to my court, serving a copy of course to the State Attorney General who I am sure will defend vigorously the independence of judgment of another state office, especially of the Health Department, with its exclusive jurisdiction on matters of professional discipline. They will try to block the Appeal, to dismiss it. As you know, by the time our decision is out, it will be just about the six months of his present suspension, all for nothing, and it will have cost the poor doctor an arm and a leg in legal fees.

“And with the issue of ‘executive, or eminent domain’ giving so much untouchable power in the State to those ‘Administrative Law Judges” internally, my colleague judges will insist that I stay out of it… At the most, I may be able to spare your poor doc of the subsequent restrictions to his license after the initial six months…”

“It stinks, Scott. It stinks.” Said judge Good. “If he is innocent, and even the prosecutor, the D.A. says so -even if it is just because of ‘sufficient doubt’ in the evidence against him-, why the hell can’t OPC leave him alone and erase this case from his record and avoid a for ever horrible reputation? What’s the matter with our legal system? Why should YOU have your hands so tied against those nasty wolves?”

“I don’t know, Kenneth. I don’t know. Some times -as in other cases where the judgement of another state office is appealed- I see too that I lack the power sufficient to overrule them; but other times it works the other way around and I feel that I have too much power in my hands, as if I were better than them or knew better; that humbles me and it makes me uncomfortable.”

“Yes, I often feel that way too. I understand, Scott, Thanks for your words,” said judge Good. And he hung up.

Kenneth Good was going to transmit all that information over the phone to the just suspended by OPC Tony Lennox, but then he thought that it would be better said and discussed in another lunch meeting with him plus the other two doctors, one his wife Barbara, the other Nora Phillips. So he called his wife Barbara to her orthopedic office to have her set it up.

Our good judge Good met again all three doctors for lunch in the same quiet diner that Saturday. Purposely, he had not called Dr. Lennox’ lawyer. Barbara had already told Dr. Lennox before hand that his lawyer did not need to be present and that with whatever information her husband had for him that he might choose to call him afterwards, or seek a different lawyer.

The luncheon was again pretty informative for all three doctors, especially for the two besieged by the State. In Dr. Lennox’s case, “the stain on your curriculum vitae,” said the judge, “is already done and probably OPC will never remove it. That’s what they do, happy about it. As for the return of your license sooner than in the 6 months suspension, you can appeal it to the State Court of Appeals or to the 3rd Appellate Division of the State Supreme Court. But any of those two channels to reverse or finish quicker OPC’s unilateral decision will take too 6 months or more…”

“So I will be spending lots of moneys in lawyers with a low chance to have any advantage, to be, in about six months, back in some form of limited practice, supervised, still without freedom,” said Tony Lennox.

“Yes. At the most you may get perhaps less restrictions and limitations to your practice then, but again with the stain on your professional reputation sealed for good. And all after having lost half a year of income.”

“With the stain of the suspension, you may also have trouble then finding a medical group or a hospital that will take you…” added Barbara.

A pause followed…

“My wife Patty,” said then Dr. Lennox, “left me without saying a word the day after I was released from jail now almost a month ago. She has not returned and has not called me back. She probably does not want me to contact her either–because I can’t reach her. She probably has cancelled her line, taken another cell provider and changed her phone number…

“I’ve heard that in cases like this, if there are big pockets, that the non-accused spouse (as my wife) often leaves and sues for half of the moneys and properties held together and for emotional damage after the wrongful death. But she knows in our case we don’t have that much; except for having the house paid off, but it is just in my name. We don’t even have life insurance and have not started to save for retirement… And not practicing, I don’t have any income to split and pay her alimony… She probably won’t even sue me, though perhaps one day, without announcing herself, she will show up ‘to grab her stuff’ and half-empty the house. If she does, the sooner the better!”

“Gee, I am sorry for all this, Tony,” said Barbara. “It couldn’t have happen to a nicer guy…”

Judge Good then said: “Tony. At this point you have some important matters to consider. ONE, whether you want or not to appeal that decision of OPC, not so much to cancel the 6 month suspension, which you won’t be able to do because of time constraints and price, but to just limit the post-suspension ‘probationary restrictions’ they are telling you most likely will follow. If you decide to appeal, you have to decide which lawyer to choose for that and no matter whom you pick, be prepared to spend big bucks unless you do it yourself. And if you go ‘solo’ you are not likely to get very far. If you hire a lawyer you can negotiate a postponement of paying his fee perhaps till after you are back in practice, and in installments…

“TWO: The issue of reparations due to you for the awful damage to your professional reputation, income and family life (plus the destruction of your marriage) done by the hospital not having tapped your daughter at bedside (I heard from Dr. Newman that he called that ‘a subdural tap’), quite easily, right in the ER, which could have saved your daughter’s life in all likelihood with no risks. You would be stating that THEY killed her with their incompetence, not YOU with what was a judgment call. With the right kind of medical and neurosurgical experts – and another, probably very expensive lawyer that perhaps you can hire on ‘contingency’ basis. In time, THAT may bring you a substantial amount of cash…

“THREE: Acting as a devil’e advocate now against my own legal profession, you could even consider, as another possible reparation, the suing of your own lawyer in defending you from murder so incompetently; with his not having a spine or trying his hardest, the lesser but wrong conviction of ‘Involuntary Manslaughter’ might have stood had I not called Dr. Newman, etc. as medical experts. HE should have searched and found them earlier! From the legal side, you are in this bad situation because of his incompetence, because of him! But that would also be a protracted legal matter and you may have trouble finding locally a lawyer willing to sue him on this… You’ll probably have to look for a law firm out-of-town.

“Yet one or both suits for reparations might prove financially a welcome downfall for you down the road, and you may need it when the State has rendered you literally broke with a for-ever-damaged professional and civil reputation…

“FINALLY, and linked to those two possible suits and their outcome, is the possibility that your wife at some point over the next 3-5 years may still sue you -after the death of your child in your care- in civil court ‘for wrongful death.’ If that happens, of course, and if you have one or both of the other two suits going, you and/or your new lawyer then will condition and subordinate her demand to the outcome of the other two, eventually having, in some negotiated measure, to split your winnings with her!”…

“Wow!” said Nora Phillips. “That seems like it is all going to require a lot of thinking and searching and phone calls and standings and reputations to check out through colleagues and even lawyers, the court clerks, word of mouth and the internet. But at least you should be able to undertake those liability suits with no cost up front to you!. We can help you to find the right law firm that will work for you on contingency, if you want.”

“Yes” added Judge Good. “You won’t make ANY money in Medicine for the next 6 months, but you should be able to stay afloat one way or another without any new income perhaps for a good 10 to 12 months with cash left over you may have, even having a garage sale, and monies still trickling down from your past practice. [It would be a big plus if you can sell your tragic story to a good publishing house or national News for some good bucks…] After that, If you have luck getting a salaried position, you’ll be OK, You may even want to consider relocating out of state if you have a license elsewhere, as I recommended Nora. Working here may be uncomfortable for you with the way the Press has treated you. Plus OPC won’t throw your file away, regardless of when they are ‘done’ with your present case.… And if all falls through or if it is too hard to get licensed elsewhere, eventually the monies you may get in reparation may make up for the vacuum, at least for your pocket, if not emotionally.

“And you may want,” said Nora, “to keep your monetary affairs and legal pursuits as quiet as possible. If your wife Patty does not finds out, perhaps she will not be coming after you, especially if you have disappeared from this area and she still thinks that you remain destitute.. In the meantime, you will be seeking the reparations judge Good is talking about ONLY for the wrong done to YOU and to you only, though she may start on her own some type of suit… Don’t you agree, Ken?”

“I agree,” he said. “YOU are the one mis-accused first of Murder, then of Involuntary Manslaughter, when you did neither, not she. You were the only one faulted by the Hospital ER and its doctors and then by your lawyer… Whether your position, the recoveries you get, the return of your license AND your emotional state when it is all over, tell your conscience then or not to share anything with her -if she is around and can be contacted- it will be all up to you.”

“If you survive all this,” said Barbara, “after she left you without saying a word, abandoned you in your worst possible crisis, just out of jail, when you needed all the support you could get, at least a big hug of welcome back home, darling, I say, you owe her nothing and you should give her NOTHING!

“Yet,” the judge went on as he motioned to his wife to calm down, “besides common sense telling us that the wrong suffered by you -professionally, emotionally, financially- was only done to you, not to her, and that sharing eventually any funds with her should be only up to your own conscience, a smart, sleazy lawyer she could hire could still demand as much as 1/2 of what you get if she learns that you got any monies out of all those incompetent folks, even if she thought initially too that you were guilty. The whole ordeal and its repercussions to you -even her walking out of your marriage- was brought on in the first place by the loss of HER child. So even if the loss of your daughter was not your crime or carelessness, she would have a point, legally…”

“Really!?” Barbara exclaimed, surprised.

Dr. Lennox was left with much to think about and plan. The lunch meeting having opened his eyes into the legal ramification of things substantially. As they were heading to their respective cars, Barbara whispered to the really crushed Dr. Lennox:

“Call me whenever you want to, Tony. All three of us will be happy to give you a hand in whatever way we can.”