Physicians' Rights: not in Maryland

Physicians' rights: not in Maryland

Criminals have more rights than physicians in Maryland. Protective safeguards in place to separate the guilty from the innocent have been dispensed with when the Maryland Board of Physicians hungers to destroy a physician’s career. Numerous physicians who have been under the hammer from this Board have graciously shared their detriments with me, after reading a series of articles I published. With the recent disclosure, through a Maryland Legislature Audit, that this Board was errant in following protocol, mandate and the law in dispensing justice to its flock, the Board must and should be held accountable for its illicit actions. A few of the hundreds of negative citations against the Board are presented for your own interpretation. The Audit notes that the Board failed to follow appropriate guidelines when reviewing medical records and engaging physicians to perform these functions. The Board circumvented and or completely disregarded clearly written legislative mandates and laws concerning the methodology utilized in processing cases against physicians. Worse, they failed to promulgate guidelines for medical record review shifting that responsibility over to a private company. There are hundreds of deficiencies embedded in the Audit’s 161 page structure displaying that Maryland has a rogue medical board that has trampled on physicians’ due process rights. If Maryland physicians and their medical societies had any cajones they would sue the state of Maryland, the Maryland Board of Physicians, the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, the Secretary of Health and the Governor’s office for permitting this fraud to be perpetrated on physicians. Many physicians have come to recognize that some of the Circuit Court judges and most of the Appellate Judge ignore Maryland Law and are legislating from the bench, so the Maryland Board of Physicians will ultimately win in the Courts no matter what the true facts are. In one significant case the Court of Special Appeals suppressed evidence presented by a physician and ruled for the Board though they knew this administrative entity was acting outside Maryland law and mandate. Physicians should sue the Board and its lawyers every time they bring an unwarranted action against a licensee. In a future article we will follow an actual case now unfurling in the Circuit Court which could affect every health provider in the state of Maryland. Mark Davis, MD President of Healthnets Review Services, platomd@gmail.com