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Posted to Podiatry ONLINE Newsflash 3/12/02 ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ////////////////////////////\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ (610) EDITOR/NEWS/LETTERS March 12, 2002 Podiatry Online NewsFlash THE PODIATRY ONLINE WEB PORTAL ////////////////////////////\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ APMA FAILS TO HELP BRIAN GALE, DPM LETTERS FROM HIS SUPPORTERS KEEP COMING IN During the past 24 hours, I've been deluged.by letters in support of Brian Gale's case in North Dakota. Dr. Gale's supporters, many who are members of the Center for Peer Review Justice, Inc., have apparently asked their members, and there are many, to start writing letters. I also got a faxed copy of the APMA Board of Inquiry (BOI) report today...it appears, and I wonder if I'm missing something, that the BOI did nothing to help this guy. It contains 2 pages of pontification, mostly about how hard their decision was, but the only help that I can see that they offered him is a "recommendation" to the ND Podiatry Board, that they pursue a prompt settlement with Dr. Gale. That's it...they won't intervene any further on his behalf. What if it were us ? If they have no power, no jurisdiction over a state board, why don't they just say that, instead of acting like they had the option of intervening, and chose not to ? I'd like to hear from someone on the APMA BOI, to let us know what their jurisdiction is. Does the APMA have ANY influence in licensing matters in an individual state ? Is their refusal to intervene a statement on the merits of the case, or a statement on their inability to help ? I've made statements in this forum complimenting the APMA on their improved responsiveness to members concerns in recent years. So many podiatrists read Podiatry Online, that we KNOW that they will see this edition. Let's see if they'll respond. I've included a select few of the letters below, as well as a statement by Dr. Gale himself. I've read some of the documents in this case, and tried to follow the events as they unfolded. The docs are voluminous and the case is complicated, and a complete treatment would be a full time job. But what strikes me is the persecutory nature of the effort to take away his license, and the behavior of the ND Podiatry Board, which should embarrass every podiatrist in this country. I feel for Dr. Gale...there but for the grace of g-d, could go any one of us, if the powers that be decide they don't like us, or that we're undesirable competition... Alan Sherman, D.P.M. Editor - Podiatry Online, Inc. Note: I'm not certain whether the BOI report was intended to be made public, so I'm not including it here for you all to see. The findings of the BOI will be reported to the APMA HOD later this month. Let your state representatives to the APMA know how you feel about this issue. A few of the many letters that I received today in support of Brian Gale's effort to keep his license in North Dakota follow.... ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| LETTERS ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| <>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<> ANSWERS/COMMENTS <>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<> From: Brian Gale, DPM, FACFAS Comment: I have the scars of a Sham Peer Review I have been fighting a battle since 1993. Some say they would have given up a long time ago. Others say I'm lucky that I still have my home and my clinic although payments on everything are always late. I've also been told that I'm lucky I've only spent about $500k or so even though it translates into several million down the road. Thanks to Rich Willner and a few other friends and relatives I'm still alive and kicking. There are some extremely important rules about going up against hospitals and boards; the faster someone accepts them as fact, the better chance they have of prevailing. Rich Willner is without a doubt the number one expert in the United States on this subject. I know that's saying a lot but I have spent hundreds of hours speaking to him and we have exchanged somewhere in the range of thousands of emails. He reads every case he can get his hands on and understands how the evil system works. Most of our conversations lately have been about people who are spending hundreds of thousands on lawyers who don't have a clue what they're doing. When a lawyer calls Rich, Rich can give them the legal cases they need to try to make a difference. Rich is worth his weight in gold and then some when it comes to someone who has been abused as some of us have. Just take a look at http://www.briangale.com The web site was Rich's idea. At first my wife and I really hesitated because I was in the process of cashing in my entire retirement (not that it was that big) as well as our kids colleges savings, just to be able to pay some bills. Reluctantly we went along with it and it has been given us a tremendous return on our very small investment. The web site literally neutralized a lot of the "evil doers" as President Bush calls them. There is no time to fight back and get on the offensive because all of the shammed person's time is spent on the defensive side. I spent 8 years and now I have finally managed to have almost all of the members of our state board that shammed me replaced. I did this only with the help of Rich Willner. For those of you who read this and are in a similar predicament; join the Center for Peer Review Justice. It was the ONLY thing I did in the past 8 years that saved me. I'm not out of this mess yet but I'm in better shape now than I have ever been. I understand the system and the players. Now I tell my lawyer what he needs to do and how to handle things after Rich and I have extensive discussions about it. My lawyer is still involved and has the final say about what he will and won't do and everything that is done is legal; whether the lawyer(s) know about it or not. These people (shammers) take very little time to do one thing that creates years of pain, suffering and nightmares for us and our families. Depression is a given for all of us. At times we are paralyzed emotionally and physically so we are too weak to fight back. We try to hold our families together because they are the most precious commodity we have and that takes so much time and energy that there is nothing left. Rich Willner has given me hope. He has been the "equalizer" for me. Why did he get involved? Because he loves a challenge and he couldn't believe that the things I posted publicly on another forum could be true. When he did his own investigation a few years ago, he began opening up the world of sham peer review. As bad as things are and have been I still have many things to be thankful for. I am alive, I have my health. For some reason I still have my wife (many leave for obvious reasons) and little girls too. Many of us who have been shammed are not as lucky as me. If I could take all the pain my wife has endured away and put it inside me because of what I have been put through I would gladly take it from her. In simple terms the answer is networking and fighting back. Think of it as the ultimate challenge of your life. There are no rules except for the one's the shammers make up as they go. You have nothing to lose because your (my) life has been destroyed professionally. Take it on as if it becomes your only mission in life. "Take no prisoners." You have to pull out every bit of passion you can muster and keep pushing on. The first step is to contact Rich AND do what he says; take his advice. We have to begin aggressively helping each other. A huge advantage that Rich gives us is that he can get a number of reviews for anyone at any given time from authoritative leaders in the specialty field of his choice. If anyone needs my help I'm available. This is not a fight that can be won with just the lawyers through the courts. That's what they want us to do is go through the legal process. It doesn't cost them a penny while it breaks us and our families. Call me any time to talk or for advice. Brian Gale, DPM, FACFAS bgale@btigate.com ////////////////////////////\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ From: Michael Dershowitz, DPM Comment: The Brian Gale case I, like the thousands of other podiatrists in practice, have been following the sad, long and torturous case of Brian Gale, DPM. It is extraordinary that in a society that preaches "justice" and "due process" that Dr. Gale has had to endure, for the past 10 years, the type of abuse meted out to him by this Board. Hopefully, with the actions anticipated by the APMA Board of Inquiry, the doctors who acted so inappropriately in North Dakota will be rebuked, to some extent, if that even matters to them. Brian, if there IS any justice, should be allowed to continue his fine work and no longer be assailed by his colleagues. But, this entire incident needs to be a wake up call for podiatrists and our allopathic and osteopathic colleagues nationwide who have been, and will continue to be, subject to sham peer review, precipitated by personal enmity. Morally, the mere fact that an individual MAY have justification to recuse himself and DOES NOT, further lends credence to the personal agendas alleged by the defendant in this action. If cases like this continue to appear around the country and excellent practitioners are harmed, our entire profession should be ashamed of not attempting to eradicate such personal prejudice. After all, these "Boards" are designed to protect the public from unscrupulous practitioners, and not to be a pulpit from which podiatrists can wreck their personal vendettas upon their enemies. Michael Dershowitz, DPM, DABPS, FACFAS Phoenix, AZ ////////////////////////////\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ From: W. David Herbert DPM, JD Comment: You have a property right in your license I am contacting you about the Brian Gale case in North Dakota. As any attorney should be able to tell you, you have a property right in your license. Before it can be taken away, due process meeting minimal requirements of the 5th amendment to the U. S. constitution must be met! I do not understand why no one took the case to federal court on his behalf. Any attorney who says they didn't do this because you cannot litigate the "facts" of the case, in my opinion does not understand the situation. The "facts" regarding non due process, in my opinion would and should be considered by any federal district court. I hope that doctors begin asserting their constitutional rights before the federal system. These judges are appointed for life. The only way the can be removed is by impeachment and we all know how that works! W. David Herbert DPM, JD wdherbert@tritel.net ////////////////////////////\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ From: C. C. Rissell, DO Board Certified Emergency Department Physician Comment: The case of Brian Gale, DPM I recently came across the case of Brian Gale, DPM, and the North Dakota Podiatry Board. I am appalled at the lack of ethics of the Board, as well as the lack of resolution for this problem. I have seen instances of definite Board abuse in other states, but quite frankly, none so obvious. Being on a state board of any kind is an honor that should be awarded only to the most ethical. This type of power, with immunity, is a dangerous combination in the hands of people who are morally & ethically deficient. One only has to stop and think about this type of abuse happening to them, and how career and family ruination could follow. This is NOT what Boards are for. Boards are to protect the public from incompetent individuals. They are not for 'witch hunts', or for those in power to 'ruin' an individual over a past personal or financial matter. The President of this Board certainly should have recused himself on this case. The fact that he did not, and that he solicited letters from patients (some even years after the case) further highlights the fact that this is abuse of power. I wonder how much this has cost the State. I know it has had a high emotional and financial cost to this physician. Using an honorable position, such as a Board president, or member, to ruin another professional who is competent is the worst form of unethical and abusive conduct. I implore the only National organization of Podiatrists, the American Podiatric Medical Association within the framework of its "Board of Inquiry" to sanction the individual members of the North Dakota Board of Podiatric Medicine for this appalling behavior, and to restore all Boards to ethical members who have first & foremost in their agendas the protection of the people. Because of the extreme popularity of www.BrianGale.com, this matter has a very large following among your Physician colleagues. Voting not to censure the individual Members of this Board using any lame excuse and your organized profession develops a reputation of supporting the unethical, and embracing unfairness and injustice. Sincerely, C.C.Rissell, D.O. Board Certified Emergency Department Physician Hawaii ////////////////////////////\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ From: Joseph Pastorek, MD, FACOG, FACS, Law Student Comment: The Brian Gale, DPM case I've followed the discussion about Brian Gale's situation with his podiatry license. He needs to be supported by the members of the Podiatry societies and organizations. He's being peer reviewed to ruin unfairly and improperly. The situation needs to be remedied. For any reader who doesn't already know, "peer review" in the medical sense is that process where doctors police themselves, reviewing the practice of their peers to insure that good medical care is being practiced in their vicinity (usually a hospital setting). What many laymen do NOT know, however, is that peer review is a process which can be subverted to the agenda of unscrupulous physicians (and hospital administrations), and used to attack the competition, or to run doctors out of the hospital or community for other reasons. The problem is, "peer review" is protected by law. Doctors (and administrators) participating in formal peer review have "qualified immunity," which means that if they do their peer review job in "good faith" and without malice, then even if they make a mistake, they can't be sued. After all, they're just trying to keep patients safe and keep medical care at its highest level. But this immunity can be a shield for the dishonest, as they know that unless they're caught red-handed, they cannot be sued for using peer review to run another doctor out of a hospital or even out of a state. The good-OLE-boy club rules! [A real eye-opening account and discussion of the evil uses of peer review has been written by Dr. Ron Virmani, who has experienced it first hand!] However, in Louisiana, one case of bad faith peer review was recently shot down by a jury. In other words, the doctor victim PROVED that the peer reviewers and the hospital operated in bad faith (that is, maliciously), and he won a SIX MILLION DOLLAR JUDGMENT (even though a judge mistakenly through out the jury verdict, forcing an appeal). The report was in the New Orleans Times-Picayune! Finally, peer review attacks on otherwise good doctors can be deadly. A good (and hence successful -- read "competitive") obstetrician was set upon by "colleagues" in the New Orleans area. She was run out of hospitals, turned in to the state medical board for false allegations, her license was suspended by the board and held hostage for 2 years, even though they had no credible "evidence." When she tried to work in Florida, where she had a license already, the Louisiana doctors and lawyers pursued her there, keeping her from getting privileges in various hospitals, so that she "down sized" her living quarters. She was trying to keep going, fighting on multiple fronts, trying to support 6 children and a couple of lawyers, and DIED in a fire in her small temporary apartment in Florida. She was hounded to death by "peer review". We must do everything we can to fight such terrible tragedies, and stories like Brian Gale's. http://www.BrianGale.com Joseph Pastorek, MD, FACOG, FACS Metairie, LA ////////////////////////////\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ From: Marc Wright, DPM Comment:: Brian Gale, DPM As a relatively new practitioner in podiatric medicine, I find it both appalling and disturbing what has happened to Brian Gale, DPM. Clearly, from the evidence presented, Dr. Gale has suffered far too long from this sham peer review and has successfully answered every sham charge laid against him It would appear that the 'board" who oversees these reviews are nothing but the wolves left in charge of the henhouse. Dr. Gale has FULL support from his patients and is one of the most highly trained podiatrists in our country! The charges made against him would likely not hold water even in a 3rd world kangaroo court. To see that such a thing can happen in our great and free country is truly disturbing. I am fully supportive of Dr. Gale and demand that this harassment stop and he be allowed to return to his life and practice. Marc
Wright, DPM ////////////////////////////\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ From: Ralph M. Bard, MD, JD Comment: APMA Board Of Inquiry on individual Board Members of the North Dakota Board of Podiatric Medicine I have been aware of the case of Brian Gale, DPM, and the North Dakota Podiatry Board for some time. The things that are happening with this Board are well known. I am appalled at the lack of ethics of the Board, as well as the lack of resolution for this problem. I have seen instances of definite Board abuse in other states, as well as peer review abuse on medical staffs. I guess the most amazing thing to me is that these individuals think that they have thought of something new. This baseless vendetta is the same thing that has gone on for years in the past. You only need to check cases such as that of Dreyfus in France, or even Christ in front of Pilate. This use of the peer review system is even more insidious. As these individuals are protected by the peer review statutes, there is essentially no check on these people is they have a malicious reason for their actions. Being on a state board of any kind is an honor that should be awarded only to the most ethical. This type of power, with immunity, is a dangerous combination in the hands of people who are morally & ethically deficient. One only has to stop and think about this type of abuse happening to them, and how career and family ruination could follow. This is NOT what Boards are for. Boards are to protect the public from truly incompetent individuals. They are not for 'witch hunts', or for those in power to 'ruin' an individual over a past personal or financial matter. The President of this Board should have recused himself on this case. The fact that he did not, and that he solicited letters from patients (some even years after the case) further highlights the fact that this is abuse of power. This incidentally is exactly what the AMA described in its amicus brief in the case of Gil Mileikowsky in California. The AMA describes pulling stale and probably inaccurate reports without the benefit of cross- examination. Isn't reasonable for doctors to get the same rights as murderers before their lives are ruined? Using an honorable position, such as a Board president, or member, to ruin another professional is the worst form of unethical and abusive conduct. Allowing the same person to be judge, jury and executioner of a medical career is a gross violation of the due process on which this country is based. If this Board continues to act in this way, why don't they just identify themselves as the Taliban Board, as their actions appear to be economic terrorism to me. I implore the only National organization of Podiatrists, the American Podiatric Medical Association within the framework of its "Board of Inquiry" to sanction the individual members of the North Dakota Board of Podiatric Medicine for this appalling behavior, and to restore all Boards to ethical members who have first & foremost in their agendas the protection of the people. I would also ask that the unethical method that was used with this physician is just the tip of the iceberg in unethical peer review and will require continued vigilance. As we all know absolute power corrupts absolutely. Because of the extreme popularity of www.BrianGale.com, this matter has a very large following among your Physician colleagues. Voting not to censure the individual Members of this Board using any lame excuse and your organized profession develops a reputation of supporting the unethical, and embracing unfairness and injustice. Sincerely, Ralph M.
Bard, MD, JD ////////////////////////////\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\////// |