Maryland Board of Physicians: operated and managed by lawyers

Maryland Board of Physicians: operated and managed by lawyers

Recent information has become available which may turn the meaning of the words “Board of Physicians” on its head. Sources suggest that legal entities working and or attached to the Maryland Board of Physicians may be creating charges against physicians without the knowledge and or consent of Board members. Additionally, lawyers attached to the Board may be entering judicial settings without coordinating their presentations with Board members. In more dynamic terms lawyers not physicians are managing day to day Medical Board activities including but not limited to their oversight functions. In the event there is any credence to the latter statements physicians should be put on notice that this rogue administrative authority may be charging them illicitly. The Board of Physicians name is a misnomer because 40% of this entity’s membership is non-physician political appointees. Therefore approximately 13 members have a Medical Degree that would even put them in the literal ballpark to review charges to be laid at the doorstep of a target physician. Worse, with the diverse number of specialties embodied in these 13 members there may not be anyone who is in the field of the charged physician. Maryland has allowed its Board of Physicians to act outside mandates and laws established to protect the public yet simultaneously provide due process for physicians. Physicians have a right to know who their accusers are. Board of Physician members must sign off on civil charges levied at them. In the event they are non-physician members those signatures should be challenged. Maryland Board of Physicians’ Attorneys are of two types: one set works directly for this authority, the other is assigned by the Attorney General’s Office. Any physician who is presently under the intensity of a review by the Board should immediately request who signed off on their charges. You may be very surprised at the “answers.” Evasive techniques are part of the panoply of tools used by the Board to leave those charged in the dark concerning who created the civil charging instrument. Full disclosure is not one of the Maryland Board of Physicians strong points. Procedures, practices and policies should be revamped making this administrative entity proactive not reactive. Perhaps someone in authority may understand that legal assaults on physicians do not improve the practice of medicine, education and cooperation does. The Board should be reconstituted giving authority back to physicians, especially those who do not have a political bent. Finally, stop your autocratic methodologies against doctors. It makes good press but harms the very people the government is trying to protect. Mark Davis MD, President of Healthnets Review Services. Platomd@gmail.com