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Posted on 11/16/2011 2:31:28 PM PST by Sopater
Madison - Seven doctors received a reprimand from a state board Wednesday for how they kept medical records after issuing controversial sick notes to demonstrators during the protests against Gov. Scott Walker's union bargaining law.
"The board action today holds these physicians accountable for their very public actions," said a statement from Sujatha Kailas, a physician and chairman of the Medical Examining Boar
Another two doctors received administrative warnings, a lesser form of discipline, according to the board.
Twelve doctors faced scrutiny from the department about their activities at the Capitol, said John Murray, the No. 3 official at the department. The Medical Examining Board reviewed the information and opened investigations on nine, all licensed physicians.
In February, teachers from several districts called in sick so they could descend on the Capitol during work days to protest Walker's bill that would curtail collective bargaining for most public employees.
Absent teachers were told they would need to provide a form from a medical professional for any absence and if they didn't have such notes, they would face discipline.
During the protests, doctors in white lab coats were seen filling out excuse notes for workers. The doctors were videotaped issuing the excuse notes, which critics blasted as a sick-day dodge.
The Medical Examining Board reached stipulations with seven doctors Wednesday that saw them formally reprimanded and required them to pay costs and take four hours of continuing education courses within 90 days on medical record keeping.
Full records were released Wednesday for four of the doctors, showing they paid $225 to $300. The amount the others paid were not immediately available.
Patricia Epstein, an attorney for two of the reprimanded doctors, noted there was no finding that her clients engaged in fraudulent activity or issued fake notes.
She said her clients - Adam H. Balin and Kathleen A. Oriel - assessed protesters before providing any notes and do not issue them to everyone who sought them. They saw their visits as "community health outreach" and did not anticipate a rash of negative publicity over the matter, she said.
"They want to put this matter behind them at this point," she said. "They're good doctors."
Besides Balin and Oriel, the doctors are:
Mark B. Beamsley
Hannah M. Keevil
James H. Shropshire
Louis A. Sanner
Bernard F. Micke
The two doctors given administrative warnings were Patrick A. McKenna and Ronni L. Hayon. Such warnings put them on notice they could be formally disciplined if they engage in such actions again, according to Kailas.
Separately, the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health has reviewed cases in which its physicians were alleged to have participated in handing out fake sick notes.
The school reviewed 22 cases and found some of the doctors had not participated, said Lisa Brunette, a spokeswoman for the school. For others, their participation varied widely, and they were given punishments that ranged from disciplinary letters to a loss of pay and loss of leadership position, Brunette said.
Brunette declined to say how many were disciplined or release their names because one of the doctors has appealed the matter. Once that appeal is resolved, the names and discipline records can be released, she said.
Do they go sit in a corner for 10 minutes?
They should have had their licenses suspended. This wasn't much different than writing fraudulent prescriptions for controlled substances.
As someone pointed out in the comments after the article: this is probably an under-the-table agreement to bury this and move on. If the board had suspended them, there would have been an appeal, and the sorry saga would have been in the news that much longer. Neither side wanted that.
Lawyers, doctors, and teachers; at one time these were considered among the most respected of professions.
The problem here is everytime that someone wants to get real serious about forcing companies to offer sick-days....then you get all aggravated over doctors like this who exist, and just hand out notes left and right. They aren’t real doctors...just folks who studied enough to pass the tests and they lack any ethical values.
I think the real punishment here should have been a six-week period where none of the seven could sign a single sick note. They’d have to ask associates to do it for them....and it’d make all of them look like idiots in front of their profession.
As for future events? The last place I’d go as a doctor...is another rally where I might hand out notes.
Big flippin’ deal. I’m sure they got paid a lot more by the union thugs to commit this fraud. I sure hope the school board sues them, but I’m not holding my breath.
Should have jerked their licenses for misdiagnosis.
” to commit this fraud. “
Take a step back - these ‘Doctors’ are guilty the larger felony of Conspiracy to Defraud the Government, in that they provided false documentation for the purpose of obtaining undeserved sick-pay by the teachers... (And, given that a substantial portion of school budgets is made up of Federal dollars, this could be a Federal charge....)
If the real culprits (the teachers)are ever indicted, [crickets] the ‘Doctors’ that facilitated them would be right beside them....
and the RATS that used those Mal-Practice notes???
Yep,
And put on double secret probation too!
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