Maryland Justice: Soviet Style

Maryland Justice: Soviet Style

Maryland has institutionalized soviet style justice. The ability of a person with or without an attorney to provide oral arguments before a court has been curtailed by an extremist judiciary. People are no longer seen as individuals bringing their grievances to an arbiter for resolution. Many Maryland judges recognize them as nuisances to be expeditiously shown the door. Maryland Court of Special Appeals has followed a path that autocratic societies generally accept as the norm, but not in those domains where democracy is the foundation. In a case that could have extended ramifications for physicians here in Maryland and beyond our state borders this author brought a legal action against a medical record peer reviewer, who was engaged by the Maryland Board of Physicians. As a plaintiff before the Howard Circuit representing himself, Judge Louis Becker was confrontational with this pro se as he exchanged pleasantries with the defendant’s attorney, in an effort to quickly dismiss this action without hearing its merits. The essence of the case was a physician who was not a specialist in the core material he was hired to “peer” review was allowed to perform in a Maryland court as an expert witness. In his own words the witness admitted to his lacked expertise, yet he was the sole reason the Maryland Board of Physicians revoked a medical license. Physicians in Maryland will now confront hired guns as quasi medical experts to steal their livelihoods. Judge Becker, in a manner befitting a party member, lambasted this author as he pointed to the door leading out of the courtroom. Hoping for an ounce of recourse from a Maryland Judiciary that sold its sole to the highest bidder long ago the case was appealed to the Court of Special Appeals. As in the lower court pro se justice is no justice in these higher domains. Someone in the Court of Appeals determined that they will deny this author the right to present oral arguments before the three judge panel, who will presumably white washed this case in favor of the medical board (Mark Davis v. Ira Kaplan case number 02836 September Term 2010). Oral arguments, as is noted by numerous  Supreme Court justices, is essential to understanding a case brought before a higher judicial body. These arguments allow facts to be solidified and nuances of the case to be drawn out. Maryland Appellate Courts roll out the red carpets for those with highly paid attorneys and cases that make the 5pm news. The rest of us are diminished by a judiciary that legislates from the bench and denies basic rights drawn from a Constitution they are paid to uphold. Maryland has gone down the road of Soviet style justice disregarding fairness for expediency and judicial balance for a convoluted interpretation of Maryland law. Marylanders, your courts are an extension of the same great party that is presently destroying America, wakeup or you will be engulfed by their flagrant disregard for your rights too. Mark Davis MD, author of Demons of Democracy. platomd@gmail.com