Complaint Review: Governor John Kasich Ohio

Governor Kasich is continuing to allow 'confidential' complaints against women physicians at the State Medical Board of Ohio.  Women MDs get complained about for different reasons - there's no doubt and no way to expose the problem, but the complaints are 'personal' for women usually.  Euphemisms rephrasing that you didn't sleep with someone, send them enough referrals, or whatever. . .didn't pay someone enough attention in Medical School, etc.

The men MDs - many at least - seem to get their complaint 'confidential' files - especially if they have friends on the State Medical Board - and the male MDs tell you this and threaten what they can do to you if you as a woman MD don't do what they want.  Confidential complaints tip the balance for the male MDs.  And if you complain as a woman - even beat up - you just aren't handing things well?  And the Membership on the State Medical Board doesn't change very much in Ohio - can't get the Governor to recommend any good candidates - just the political ones.  And the State legislators that hide the problem get appointed to Ohio Board positions - Cosmetology went to Jim Trakas - who knows nothing about Cosmetology. 

The Ohio Medical Board says that they can't find a case without releasing the complaint to the male MD, and the male MD countercomplains about the women MDs that they see as the cause of the bad care problem - but the women don't see what the men write or accuse - so the women MDs pay the legal bills for 2 decades.  Some Ohio law firms have 'ins' with the Board, and these lawyers hire themselves saying that directly - straight out that they can get certain concessions because they know someone on the Board.  It's a state law that is broken daily for friends, only Texas has a similar law, and Governor Kasich has allowed this law breaking to continue for another year - for his friends apparently.  Collecting on the side?

But the point is, especially when the physician complaint was a countercomplaint to get the physicians out of bad care of the woman MD, that you can't solve the problem of medical errors this way - by blaming the 'victim' physician or saying that the problem should not be spoken of when as a physician in 2012 you are supposed to admit the mistakes to the patient.  

As a physician, trained in Rounds & case presentations, you can't present the evidence to resolve the situation, and the complainers never know the facts or have their credibility and conflicts-of-interest exposed.  It would be like running a political election with all the problems of the candidates 'confidential' - try saying that the issues are all 'confidential.' 

Governor Kasich does not see the problem as the cases that can't be resolved to this point are never allowed to be reviewed objectively by an external review person to make recommendations - and it's a big stack and a big problem.  The Speaker's Office in the Ohio State Legislature does not want to co-author a law to stop 'confidential' physician complaints because of the suits that will come after the files are opened - suits for administrative negligence and over-stepping of the boundaries of the State Medical Board into personal lives and health care of physicians. 

The Speaker's Office knows that so many cases have been faked that the suits would paralyze the Attorney General's Office within hours - justified suits for the State Medical Board overdoing it.   So why not open the unresolved cases with non-suit agreements, and see how to fix the problems?  No answer from Columbus 30th Floor. 

It's no one's business at the State Medical Board who a woman MD dated in college, or her medical records if there is no reason that she is impaired - this stuff will be misinterpreted and is when the Board gets ahold of it - like the National Enquirer.  But women MDs do have different heath needs, need different screening blood work, from male MDs.  And the reason that thyroid problems in woman MDs are missed so much is that we get the male blood work when we take a hospital job - as male MDs don't get much thyroid disease. 

Over 90% of thyroid problems occur in women, mostly at the ages of medical school, residency training, and early career - the time when it is needed that women MDs get screening blood work if symptoms develop - not five psychiatric evaluations ordered by the State Medical Board 'fishing' for the psychiatric reason that the woman MD is 'tired' and breaking bones. 

It was a no-brainer that there was something 'else' wrong with that woman MD - which the State Medical Board Members still can't 'see' - and why not help the woman MD instead of destroying her career because it wasn't psychiatric?  Show the rest of the Ohio physicians that Board Members know about thyroid blood work and can make a diagnosis?  Not possible in Ohio. 

Carla O'Day MD, who ran the case, missed all the case conferences on this in Medical School - then grandfathered into Emergency Medicine missing all the teaching conferences of an Emergency Residency Training Program.  Physicians on the State Medical Board of Ohio need to have completed formal residency training programs - and have gone to class in Medical School - not skipped most of it as a 'political' student.  Carla O'Day MD was known as a 'political' student even by the ladies in the library - who knew who took what out of the readings & assignments - there was a record kept at the library of medical students.   

Carla O'Day MD is remembered by students in the class behind her as one of the 'hit the pool on Saturday' playing-at-being-an-MD students - someone who regularly had every excuse in the book (her dog?) for missing a medical student class at a time when there were no videos of classes - you couldn't check out the class you missed - it was forever missed.  That's my forever remembrance of her.   

The only patients that she sent me at Hillcrest Hospital (Mayfield Heights, Ohio), were the nearly dead ones; those patients that no one else would take - including her - as they had no more procedures to be done on them in this world - and the Medical Board never knew this - that I took the dying and nearly dead from her ER as no one else would.  They just die now at Hillcrest apparently, before they get to the ER, or during that last Dr. Nice procedure. 

All of Carla O'Day MD's 'friends' only take patients that have procedures.  And Carla O'Day MD does nothing except for money; any case that she ran at the State Medical Board of Ohio got her contracts, staff appointments, and money - everyone knows & knew this - but no Governor has ordered a review of those cases or her bank records at certain times.  Other Medical Board Members profit similarly - but it's all 'confidential' and the Governor's a fool, lamebrain, simpleton - whatever - he's allowing things 'not good' to continue for his own agenda.      

There is presently a stack of false physician disciplines at the State Medical Board of Ohio growing since 1998-9.  For a brief time, it was offered that the cases would be opened and the physician would agree not to sue - several physicians took this offer only to have it rescinded that the State of Ohio wanted another 'go' at the physician - confidentially of course - nothing is ever aboveboard in Ohio.  And the physicians had nothing to hide non-confidentially, but couldn't defend themselves confidentially.  You can't sign an agreement where the case or problem is confidential - what are you signing? 

Governor Kasich - time to get real and practical - you are wasting physician lives and careers for stupidity and egos.  As the Ohio Court of Appeals recommended in at least one case that was a disagreement about whether out-of-date fracture care should continue - solve these stupid cases in another way.  When a case hasn't been found in 20 years against a woman MD, let it go - no more goes.

Women MDs graduate from Medical School, finish training and go work for periods of time in Community Hospitals in Ohio, where they are truly 'shocked' at some of the care going on in Ohio - the sloppy practices that they were trained to try to correct.  And sometimes these practices get done on the woman physicians - and they have to say something because this time they are the patient who is going to have to pay the price of bad care. 

Physician disciplines at the State Medical Board of Ohio should not be for bringing bad care practices, and the problem of medical mistakes, to someone's attention - but they are a reason for physician discipline in Ohio - where reporting a problem means that the physician has a personality problem - this is not ok Governor Kasich.  What about the patient that has the same problem next - where the same mistakes will be made because nothing was done to improve things?