Showing posts with label fake doctor's note. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fake doctor's note. Show all posts

Sunday, February 20, 2011

Organized Medical Fraud at Wisconsin Protests


Many of the protesters at the Capitol in Wisconsin have been cheating their students by playing hooky, shafting their coworkers by skipping out, and defrauding the taxpayers by malingering. They did this so that they could attempt to overturn last November's elections while evading some of the consequences of abandoning their professional responsibilities.

Foolishly putting their medical licenses at risk, several left-wing physician activists were on site at the Capitol, perpetrating and facilitating fraud by indiscriminately handing out doctor's work excuses by the boxful.

This fraudulent political operation was apparently organized by faculty and medical residents at the University of Wisconsin Department of Family Medicine. All of the perpetrators postitively identified thus far (including the residency program director in Madision!) have been linked directly with UW DFM.

Here is the UW DFM Hall of Shame:

Kathy Oriel, MD



James H Shropshire, MD



Lou Sanner, MD, MSPH



Hannah Keevil, MD



Patrick McKenna, MD



Elizabeth Kvach, MD



Stay tuned for updates as additional statist quacks are identified.


As an important side note, I'll point out that Dr. Hannah Keevil is a radical left-wing PNHP supporter (Physicians for a National Health Program).

I'd like to paraphrase the lefties at PNHP who scolded Congressman Andy Harris for making a smart rhetorical point about federally-funded health care coverage...
Our medical school admissions committees need to set the bar higher. All applicants accepted should meet the standard of possessing common decency. Too bad Oriel, Shropshire, Sanner, Keevil, McKenna and Kvach snuck through.
What these physicians have perpetrated is tantamount to a stain on their profession. It undermines the legitimacy of the confidential patient-doctor relationship. They probably violated a slew of HIPAA laws and regulations.

If I were one of their patients, I'd be wondering just how many ethical boundaries my doctor would be willing to trample. If I were a physician in training at the UW DFM, I'd be wondering if my supervising physician would be willing to trample ethical boundaries in order to make me pay for my unwillingness to toe the liberal line.


Update I: Radical quacks face investigation by Wisconsin Department of Regulation & Licensing

Update II: UW Health says "[t]hese charges are very serious and in response, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health and University of Wisconsin Medical Foundation, the UW Health entities that employ the physicians, have immediately launched an investigation of the reported behavior."

Update III: Organized Medical Fraud and the physicians' hall of shame discussed in theWashington Times (via Dr. Milton Wolf).

Update IV:
Six months after some UW Health doctors wrote questionable sick notes for protesters rallying against Gov. Scott Walker's proposal to limit public sector collective bargaining, UW-Madison hasn't finished disciplining the doctors.

The UW School of Medicine and Public Health has denied the State Journal's April 27 request for records of its investigation into the matter, saying a disciplinary hearing for one of the doctors hasn't occurred.

The medical school reviewed 22 UW Health doctors said to have been involved in giving medical excuses to protesters at the Capitol Feb. 19 for their absences from work or school. The Wisconsin Medical Society criticized the doctors' actions, saying they threatened the public's trust in the medical profession.

The medical school said April 26 that "several" of the doctors reviewed were found not to have participated, but their identities and those of the remaining doctors under investigation have not been disclosed.
Brian Vaughan, a university attorney, said last week that at least a dozen doctors received disciplinary action in late April or early May. He said he wasn't able to provide an exact tally...

In a separate investigation, the state Department of Safety and Professional Services reviewed 11 doctors said to have written sick notes and launched formal investigations into eight of them, the department announced on April 20.

Safety and Professional Services spokesman John Murray said last week that the investigations will be presented to the Medical Examining Board in October. If the board takes disciplinary action, the cases will be made public, Murray said.
(August 28, 2011)

More

Everyone's favorite legal beagle, Instapundit and everyone's favorite Ivy League legal professor, William Jacobson weigh in.


Saturday, February 19, 2011

Hacks and Quacks

Dr. Zero*

Here's a taste of what we can expect from the leftist medical hacks who will shape and control Obama's brave new health care world:


This is wrong on many levels. These physicians are a disgrace to their profession.

MacIver News Service provides this report:
As tens of thousands of public employees skipped work this week to attend protest rallies outside the Wisconsin State Capitol, many wondered if they would face any disciplinary action for unexcused absences.

On Saturday, a group of men and women in lab coats purporting to be doctors were handing out medical excuse notes, without examining the ‘patients.’

“I asked this doctor what he was doing and he told me they were handing out excuses to people who were feeling sick due to emotional, mental or financial distress,” said Christian Hartsock. “They never performed an exam–he asked me how I was feeling today and I said I’m from California and I’m not used to the cold, so he handed me a note.”

Another woman, who wished to remain anonymous, said they were handing out excuses like they were leaflets...

Based on an examination of the signature and medical license number provided, one of the men handing out these notes was purporting to be James H Shropshire MD, a Clinical Associate Professor at the University Wisconsin Madison.

The gap-toothed quack in the video surely looks like this James Shropshire to me:

Office phone: (608) 222-8779
Email: james.shropshire@uwmf.wisc.edu


Here are some off-the-record reactions from physicians who think integrity matters...

"If they are real MD/DOs, they should lose their license. If they are medical students, they should be expelled. If they are impersonating doctors, they should be charged with practicing without a license."

"I hope someone goes after these 'doctors'. Whether you agree with the teachers or not, this is giving all doctors a bad name..."

"I actually think we should show integrity no matter what. I would not condone faking [a note] for any reason. On a personal opinion note.... I say to hell with the stupid pension system. I am a burdened taxpayer."

"I think the Obamamessiah shot himself in the foot coming out so strongly for the unions. It may keep his unions pals happy, but I don't think independents will be very impressed with the [lawlessness] and deceit that the dems have shown in this situation."

"If true, it would not surprise me as [Shropshire] is a university doc. An interesting poll would be the political mindset split between university and private practice and smaller group physicians."


*Addendum:

James Shropshire's bio:

Dr. Shropshire is an Associate Clinical Professor in the UW Department of Family Medicine, and has been practicing at the UW Health-Monona clinic for over 15 years. He grew up in Monona, went to undergrad at Hamline University in St. Paul, MN, Medical School here at the UW, and then returned to St. Paul for Residency with the University of Minnesota. He practices a full range of family medicine, including hospital work, obstetrics, office surgeries and family-centered primary care with special interest in Sports Medicine and prevention. He is fluent in Spanish and coordinates an international health rotation in Belize. Dr. Shropshire also teaches medical students, acting as director of one semester of the Patient Doctor and Society (PDS) Course. He also works closely with medical students as a mentor in the Academic and Careers Advising Program (ACAP) in the Medical School. He loves music, playing guitar and saxophone in a local band, Leeding Zeros, and has a wife and two children that also keep him very busy outside the practice.

[Emphasis added]


Commentary from everyone's favorite conservative legal beagle, Instapundit:
If the doctor involved is actually signing these, he should be brought before the medical licensing board. I would imagine that criminal prosecution is possible, too. And if his name is being forged, then somebody else is a criminal. Either way, if teachers turn in excuses signed by Dr. Shropshire, further inquiry is merited . . .
I think we're looking at a very small "if" in this case.


Update:

Now I hear doctors are writing fake medical excuse notes to give rally protesters protection from employers (such as the government supported with tax dollars) who don't find it acceptable for their employees to go spend valuable company/government time protesting their political views. What a flagrant abuse of power by doctors who hide behind their cloak of doctor-patient confidentiality in the name of political motivation...

To make matters even worse, what we have here is theft of state taxpayers' money. Every protester who doesn't show up for work but brings back a sick note is stealing money from the government. In fact, the 14 Democrats who left state lines on the clock could even be considered felons for stealing their salaries and crossing state lines.

Update II:

Another Wisconsin quack, Patrick McKenna, D.O. (video here, picture here, bio here)

Update II:

Introducing yet another Wisconsin quack, Kathy Oriel, M.D. (video, bio) h/t: the Right Sphere

Update III:

Another inductee into the fake doctor's note hall of shame: Hannah Keevil, M.D. (note, bio). Dr. Hannah Keevil is a radical left-wing PNHP physician (Physicians for a National Health Program).

I'd like to paraphrase the lefties at PNHP who scolded Congressman Andy Harris for making a smart rhetorical point about federally-funded health care coverage...
Our medical school admissions committees need to set the bar higher. All applicants accepted should meet the standard of possessing common decency. Too bad James Shropshire, Patrick McKenna, Kathy Oriel, and Hannah Keevil snuck through.
Rhetorical exit question... Do these dishonest doctors have medical malpractice insurance that covers "street medicine"?

Update IV: