Maryland Board of Medicine: abusive peer review 101

Maryland Board of Physicians: abusive peer review 101

Maryland Board of Physicians former executive director publically stated that this administrative entity was not sanctioning enough physicians. Indeed a political statement with a more profound meaning, the Board of Physicians was commanded to generate more cases to make their sanction numbers look better on the national scene. To carry out this directive, fake standards of care were generated to bring more physicians under the legal hammer of the Board. Many borderline physicians found they could make a good living rubberstamping whatever Board of Physician attorneys put to paper in the form of charges against their colleagues. These rogue medical reviewers were given immunity from prosecution to sweeten the pot. With the stage set and the actors in play physicians found themselves being lambasted by a medical board that did not have the best interests of Marylanders in mind. Circumventing established laws, mandates and legal covenants Medical Board lawyers employed by the Maryland Attorney General’s Office levied unsubstantiated charges at the physician populace. Cooperating at the highest levels with Medical Board personnel, Maryland Courts vigorously supported any muck they threw at physicians. This author has extensive examples where facts of a case do not justify the negative opinions Maryland Courts have dispensed in medical licensing cases.   In the event an administrative judge found for a physician, the Medical Board is allowed under the law to reverse that decision, without hearing the case. Physicians have been kept in the dark about Medical Board procedures, because rules of medical chart review are either created on a whim or may not have been promulgate at all. The recent Maryland Legislative Audit of the Board of Physicians emphasizes that this administrative entity has been derelict in its duties to act ethically and responsibly when carrying out its functions, the Board has done neither. One point that glaringly arises on the many reviews that this former doctor has come across, physicians in the ivory towers have been minimally stung by the political entity that licenses them. Several blatant examples of physicians who were sued numerous times and lost, were deliberately overlooked for review until the media became aware of this dichotomy.  Politically connected medical doctors, especially those associated with the two main university hospitals, would have to outright murder a patient before the Board of Physicians opens its eyes and blinks. Physicians most apt to be victimized by this rogue agency and the cretins who represent them are those in private practices who are not political dynamos. Maryland should have an independent agency that has the power to perform a deeper review of the Board of Physicians. They may find that medical board has committed acts that would be criminal under other circumstances. Mark Davis MD, author of Demons of Democracy. President of Healthnets Review Services, Advisor to the media, government, industry and the legal profession on health care issues.