Posted to Newsflash Podiatry ONLINE, 5/9/2000

From: Harold Vogler, DPM
Subj: The North Dakota Board of Podiatric Medicine Action against
Dr. Brian Gale is just wrong

I was the expert who reviewed and provided written opinion on, the
"standard of care" issues raised by the NDBPM against Dr. Brian
Gale. These so called "disciplinary actions" have resulted in
proceedings that place Dr. Gales licensure at great risk.

My review & expert opinion report clearly denoted that I had
reviewed all charts, x-rays and "complaints". As a result, early on it
was apparent that there were numerous conflicting "facts" as
presented by the NDBPM in their case against Dr. Gale.
Considerable information presented by the NDBPM was simply
false, incorrect or lacking.

Retrospection in this licensing action compels several troubling concerns.

1.) Why is a former employer with a well known
adversarial relationship with Dr. Gale (Dr. Olson) allowed to sit in
review & participate in adjudication of a disciplinary case?

2.) How can it be possible that Dr. Olson, who has been the president of the
North Dakota Board for 15 of the last 21 years (including every year
that Dr. Brian Gale has been in the state of North Dakota), be
allowed to continue to hold his position through all of this turmoil?

3.) A clear conflict of interest is apparent in that the president of the
Podiatric Licensing Board (Dr. Olson) is the brother in law of the
Governor's lawyer?

4.) Competing local orthopedists were
responsible for four of the five complaints that Dr. Gale was
disciplined for by the NDBPM.

The expert opinion that I completed on behalf of Dr. Gale provided
extensive analytical detail with factual support for every point lodged
against Dr. Gale by the NDBPM & the competing orthopedists who
filed these complaints. Interestingly, the nature of the "complaints"
are entirely devoid of information that would ordinarily result in a
licensing action. Yes, there were some surgical complications
involved ...none however resulted in problems ordinarily the
substance of licensing actions. On the other hand, I know of no one
who has not experienced such problems in the practice of foot &
ankle surgery? No litigation resulted from the cases filed against
Dr. Gale by the NDBPM. None of the patients cases that the
NDBPM used against Dr. Gale resulted in any disability claims.

Three of the patient cases used against Dr. Gale by the NDBPM,
involved treatment by Dr. Gale for problems generated and directly
resultant from, prior surgical treatment by other surgeons - two of
which were the result of the president of the NDBPM - Dr. Olson.
The NDBPM expert himself even agreed in his report, that one case
used against Dr. Gale was worse off following treatment one of the
orthopedists involved in the case. In the two remaining cases, the
patient was seen before and after Dr. Gale's care by the
complaining orthopedist and he even agreed that Dr. Gale's
treatment corrected the patient's problem which he had been
working on for years.

The pattern in this licensing action smells horribly of an improper
cooperative effort by certain members of the NDBPM and
competing orthopedists to destroy Dr. Gale and his practice. Such
actions are intolerable, wrong and probably illegal. They represent
an abuse of authority by those entrusted to uphold the laws and
standards of the very State Licensing Board they represent. This
scenario could play itself out anywhere in the USA and involve any
one of us in similar situations.

I am uncertain as to additional remedy or recourse available to Dr.
Gale at this point, other than that of the public domain. I for one,
believe the NDBPM action against Dr. Gale to be inappropriate and
unfounded.

Harold W. Vogler, D.P.M., FACFAS
http://zip.mail-list.com/archives/foottalk/msg00339.html