Shirley Pigott MDVictoria,TexasTexas Medical Board WatchThe purpose of this document is to provide knowledge to physicians who have experienced
sham peer review
, also known as
bad faith peer review
and for those who wish to help us.Texas Medical Board Watch believes that all physicians should receive constitutional dueprocess; we focus particularly on whistleblowers, doctors who have complained about badpatient care or corruption in medicine and have been harmed because they stood for what isright.Texas Medical Board Watch supports the private practice of medicine, as opposed to"Obamacare" which doesn't mention the private practice of medicine as being part of thesolution for our healthcare crisis.I am a primary care physician and believe that medical care should be directed by highquality primary care physicians, who insure that it is comprehensive, preventive,economical, and that the patients are educated concerning prevention and the managementof their chronic diseases.American medical care suffers because primary care physicians cannot make a living withwhat we are paid. The average medical student owes upwards of $150,000 - $200,000 upongraduation from medical school.Few new graduates without an independent source of wealth choose primary care as a career, but rather high-earning super-specialties whichenable them to pay off their loans quickly. Studies have shown that people are healthier inareas where there are fewer specialists and more primary care physicians.I believe private physicians are more often targeted by medical boards for abuse.Although I do not practice alternative medicine myself, I recognize that it is innovative.Without innovation, medical progress is obstructed. Hence, alternative care physicians havea legitimate place in American medical care and should not be targeted by medical boardsunless there is evidence that patients are being harmed.It is important to understand that money and politics direct medical research. Money comesfrom pharmaceutical companies, insurance companies, hospital corporations, government(government money is depend on politics, not need), manufacturers of durable medicalproducts, and those who are benefited by these.Generally, these entities top concerns arenot high quality health care."Government medicine" is Medicare, Medicaid, Veterans Administration, Social Security, andthe Indian Health Service. Unless things change, this is the future of American medicine.Based on my contacts with persons who are proponents of medical board reform, I believethere are large groups of people with chronic conditions who are selectively denied medicalcare.The Texas Medical Board targets physicians who treat these conditions by threateningthem and following through on their threats. On the other hand, there are groups of bad orcorrupt physicians who medical boards protect.These are politically connected doctors,doctors with hidden agendas, doctors who are placed in their positions of power byinsurance companies and other entities whose chief interests are not good quality patientcare.Examples of persons who particularly are lost by the current medical system are patientswith chronic Lyme Disease, patients with psychiatric diagnoses, chronic pain patients, and
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