Maryland Medical Society A Self-Serving Entity

Maryland Medical Society: A Self-Serving Entity

In the course of time the original intent of the Maryland Medical Society has been lost. Predating the Maryland Board of Physicians and its multiple prior incarnations the Society, commonly called MedChi, has become a commercial entity with little regard for those who pay its bills. Claiming to represent all licensed physicians in Maryland its membership rolls are a fraction of the total practitioners statewide. Presently the Society’s website is designed for commercial ventures with sidebars stating how this quasi entity is protecting physicians. The Society is no longer a hedge against an adversarial medical board. Decades ago reviews of physicians’ practices were governed by The Peer Review Handbook generated by a cooperation between MedChi and the Board of Physicians. This is no longer the case as the Society stepped back to take a tertiary role selling insurance and deceptive enticement to bring unsuspecting physicians into the fold. Their targets have been younger physicians inexperienced in practice and the practices of the corrupt Board that licensed them. These doctors will learn quickly when they need this Society their cries for help will fall on deaf ears.

In recent decades the Maryland Medical Society has enabled the Board of Physicians to become the unscrupulous and corrupt Administrative government agency that is in force today. Hundreds of physicians are picked off every year by an effort between the Board and Maryland Attorney General’s Office. With absolute immunity the Board is able to escape retribution by their victims especially when the evidence goes against them. The Society looks the other way claiming it is the proverbial watch dog against this errant Board and legislative efforts against the medical profession. This could not be further from the truth. Both the Medical Board and Medical Society are managed by lawyers. This is not science fiction but a reality that physicians end up confronting when the Board turns its eyes towards them. The cooperative effort between these two entities is elaborated on in the next section.

In the early 1990s the Medical Society published a journal which displayed a cooperative effort with the Maryland Board of Physicians. In this journal the Society would publish raw data concerning physicians who were condemned by the Medical Board. The Journal editors refused to take any response to the data from the physician being victimized by the Board. In the author’s case over a dozen pages of raw data, later found to be false, were published in the Society’s rag. After being told, in the most literal sense to go screw myself by the Society when I complained, the author filed a lawsuit in Baltimore City Circuit Court. Known for its left leaning decisions the author won the case after the Society’s lawyers lied about their connections to the Board. Case number 24C93201023 the Court found the Society had no direct connection to the Medical Board. Therefore it had no right or responsibility to published unedited and or raw data about a physician in their Journal. This author presented this case pro se and remarkably the judge agreed with me. In the aftermath of this decision the Board began publishing quarterly publications of sanctions against physicians written in an abbreviated style.

Maryland Medical Society’s website is far from accurate. Yes, it owns an insurance company which has expanded from malpractice coverage to anything and everything that needs to be insured. Yes, it puts on social events for physicians. Yes, it tries to attract a crowd of newly minted doctors who are unaware how little the Society will give them in return. With that stated the Society has not restrained a medical board whose primary goal is to improve its sanction numbers amongst the states. The foolish notion this entity will help doctors by overseeing legislative efforts concerning medical practice is absurd. The onerous rules on physicians’ backs have increased exponentially under this so-called watch dog. Having an attorney as CEO guarantees there will be little effort to help physicians when the Board turns its eyes on them. In discussions with a multitude of physicians over several years my point of view is widespread. Maryland has a medical society that is self-serving, unwilling and or unable to help physicians through the sanctioning process and does not have physicians’ welfare at the center of its existence. For these reasons and more the Maryland Medical Society only has a sub-segment of Maryland physicians as members displaying how smart my colleagues really are.

Mark Davis MD victimized by this Society once but never again.

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This article will be posted on many sites so the maximum number of physicians will have the ability to read it.

Maryland State Medical Society: physicians beware

Maryland State Medical Society: physicians beware

Maryland State Medical Society, commonly called MedChi, claims to be an advocacy group for physicians. MedChi has its origins in the late 18^th century when Maryland had few physicians and fewer rules of medical practice. 21^st Century medical practice has come under the rule of an autocratic government authority embodied in the Maryland Board of Physicians. This politically appointed Board, whose composition is approximately 40% non-physician, has minimal expertise in the very field they are appointed to monitor. Management of this governmental authority is mostly entrusted to lawyers and administrative staff. It was not surprising that the Maryland Legislature finally woke up to the fact that their medical police force needed some policing of its own. In a scathing audit of medical board management the Legislature noted how reckless it carried out its mandates. The Maryland State Medical Society was silent when this report was issued, its remains so today. MedChi claims to represent the needs of 22,000 Maryland physicians, but sources note their paid membership is significantly less than this representation. MedChi’s peer review function was curtailed by state mandate nearly a decade ago. This organization has been quiet on the fraudulent procedures and practices this rogue medical board has imparted to physicians over the last fifteen years. MedChi’s legislative arm must be asleep at the wheel because laws detrimental to their membership are now on the books with the blessing of this association. MedChi’s has a peculiar stench not to dissimilar to the one from the AARP. MedChi sells its membership a wide range of services but fails at its most important mission assertive representation for its membership.  Physicians can now lose their licenses based on the opinion of one physician. Physicians have lost many of their due process rights when confronted with charges against them. Physicians have been targets of selective prosecutions. Yet MedChi, as always, keeps a low profile. As an advocate for physicians they are an enormous failure. They side with the government on most issues even when it is detrimental to their flock. Though they claim to be a nonprofit from a review of their website it appears their only goal is to fatten their wallets through an entire array of services sold to their membership similar to the AARP’s methodologies. Maryland Physicians can do better by forming a new medical society that actually advocates for them. How can a membership trust its association when they turn their heads away from every important issue? Physicians deserve a much better watch dog than the one they have. Perhaps some of you will get the message and move on. For the rest remember one day you too can have a licensing issue and MedChi will give you the proverbial bird. Mark Davis MD, President of Healthnets Review Services. platomd@gmail.com