<p>Ah, very good, is there a similar engine for Virginia? And New York?</p>
<p>lts: so frustrating! so much information and hard to assign itâs bit to itâs proper place.</p>
<p>That moment with the general was wonderful. But I do believe in the wheel of karma. The tide comes in and the tide goes out, in rhythm. </p>
<p>And I believe that what your are doing right now is just as heroic and influencing just as many people. I really believe that. This thread is not just about you; you are the general leading the charge. We are standing beside you.</p>
<p>Iâve been sick a lot. Not like you. But I have learned things and learned to treasure of moments of true achievement and humanity, even if they are not defined the way the world at large defines âsuccess.â </p>
<p>All your intelligence, insight, humor, good will, patience and commitment are being used for this fight. You need to be at the top of your game. We donât always get to choose our battles, but lts, you are winning. Stand tall and proud right now.</p>
<p><a href=âhttp://www.dhp.state.va.us/medicine/[/url]â>http://www.dhp.state.va.us/medicine/</a></p>
<p><a href=âBOM Profile- 404â>BOM Profile- 404;
<p><a href=âhttp://w3.health.state.ny.us/opmc/factions.nsf/physiciansearch?openform[/url]â>http://w3.health.state.ny.us/opmc/factions.nsf/physiciansearch?openform</a></p>
<p>RE: CountingDownsâs post #1232</p>
<p>Hereâs some stars ******* Scatter them on your shoulders, hats, lapels, where ever you like. You are the general of your life and your treatment.</p>
<p>Plus, you are a shining star!</p>
<p>LTS, I hope you can get some information soon. Have you looked up the partner? Does your new oncologist have a very common name? Have you called the long-term survivor from his waiting room? If sheâs been a patient for a while, she may have the background on these incidents. (Although it sounds as if all the incidents may have stemmed from a single incident.) I gather he no longer gives chemo in his office, but at the hospital? Have you googled his name? There might be more information on whatever happened.</p>
<p>I also like the suggestion to ask him about it directly.</p>
<p>LTS, at least for where I am, and I do think it is generally similar at all states. Censure and reprimand are reserved for relatively minor infractions. While failing to provide a sterile or licensed person for injection may sound serious, they may be for reasons that are of technicality in nature. I can see an onc doing an injection at a site other than the designated injection room for many reasons, good or bad. Certainly any medical harms that resulted from such infractions would have led to more serious actions, such as suspension injection at his site etc.</p>
<p>WellâŠunfortunately, he did admit to the accusations and he did have unlicensed persons installing IVs, and administering chemotherapy. He also admitted that he did not have a âhoodâ covering the area where chemotherapy was being mixed. That is the extent of his wrongdoing. </p>
<p>In addition, the charges from the other states are based on the original charges: example, Virginia charged him, and he admitted it, and so they reprimanded him, however, New York charged him for failing to tell them about the Virginia charges. He has a license in New York dating back to 1985 but he has never practiced there. So New York somehow learned this, and charged him. </p>
<p>The Pennsylvania charge I cannot figure out how to investigate but based on his own comments online it appears to be related as well. He has never practiced in Pennsylvania either but has a license there - went to school there. </p>
<p>He doesnât have any malpractice claims, etc., and, this IS just a matter of delegating to staff. When I compare this to my Miami oncologistâs staff (the stuff of nightmares) itâs really a very small matter. </p>
<p>What is troubling to me is how would such things come to the attention of the medical board in the first place, unless a patient complained? This had to have happened repeatedly, it wasnât something done once or twice while an employee waiting for their license to arrive in the mail. </p>
<p>What is also troubling is that itâs one thing to break some rules when the endgame is a positive, happy outcome - itâs another thing entirely to cut corners, and, this sounds like cutting corners. What happens if he decides to cut corners again in the future, and my care is on the line?</p>
<p>What if you tell him that you wonder about this, and would like him to assure you that you wonât cut corners in YOUR case. </p>
<p>This is a stupid analogy but itâs all I have: when I taught 35 kids, and I knew which families were watchful, Iâd be sure not to forget a paper in those childrenâs nightly homework folders, checked everything twice, etc. The others who didnât empty their bookbags for months on end, why should I cause everyone to miss the bus in order to double-check those bookbags? Iâm picking an example of how one cuts corners when rushed, and where the workload makes it impossible not to cut some corners. You choose your corners OR choose the people with whom you shortcut, so all can proceed. The people making the rules donât have to execute the daily work in fact.</p>
<p>If you say youâre watching, I think the conversation will stick in his mind as he works on you. I feel venal to write this, but also being practical here. Iâm eager for you to be able to look up at him when work is done and not have this doubt in your mind. Perahps these infractions are very small, indeed. Let him talk to you and reassure you.</p>
<p>LTS- The biggest disadvantage to a large practice is that Doctors very rarely are willing to contradict each other. So in reality there might be 10 doctors, but still one opinion and how annoying to have to keep explaining the same thing over and over to different doctors and nurses to get the same answer!</p>
<p>It sounds like you know in your gut you are with the right Dr.</p>
<p>I have been following your story and am so overwhelmingly impressed with your efforts!</p>
<p>I have no medical background whatsoever, but sometimes people who have a âthink outside the boxâ personality also have some contempt for rules and regulationsâŠit isnât always a bad traitâŠBut I would call and ask him personally about all your concerns; Iâm sure he expects patients to do that.</p>
<p>Posted without seeing the concerns about new onc! Have you spoken with that patient you were introduced to yet, hopefully they can give you some insight into his office and staff.</p>
<p>HmmmâŠyes, I spoke with the other patient last night actually - I was less than impressed and actually if I were her doctor I would not hold her out as a success - she has severe hearing loss, a side effect of the chemotherapy she has been given, and she had whole brain radiation as a result of brain mets, and so she is very forgetful, etcâŠbut - her husband is a retired LTC, and I plan to call him tonight to get his thoughts. </p>
<p>I did call the doctor and got his explanation: first, he had foreign doctors who were in the U.S. who had not yet completed their U.S. internships installing IVs. He said that he did not know that there was a law that said doctors could not install IVs, and, he had them do so because there was a shortage of nurses in Virginia at the time. </p>
<p>New York reprimanded him as well because they found out about it, and, he still had an active license there, dating back 25 years. He said that he did not know that his New York license was still active, he thought it was dead. He has never practiced there and he said that New York could not explain to him how his license was still active.</p>
<p>I asked him how he corrected the matter, and he said that he now has a licensed nurse administer everything etc., however, he still has no knowledge of and cannot find the law that says that doctors cannot administer IVs. </p>
<p>On the one hand, I have a serious problem with someone who does not know the laws that govern how one conducts oneâs profession. On the other hand, I called the colleague of the original physician who referred me to the oncologist who has me already declared dead, and, he says this doctor enjoys an excellent reputation, and that he has referred other patients to him in the past, and that those relationships have gone well and no negative outcomes reported. </p>
<p>Edited to add: I did ask this referring colleague about another name on my list, and he said that particular oncologist is NOT someone he would recommend, so, I do know that I am getting honest answers.</p>
<p>So, I donât know. I would welcome some insight hereâŠare these charges very serious, or (???) can they be disregarded in view of the bigger picture?</p>
<p>My FIL had brain radiation and we were given a laundry list of side effects that were possible. The one that concerned me the most were seizures, so that is the one I remember. Tumors, however can also cause seizures. My FIL did not experience any of the side effects that we were warned about. These side effects seem to be what patients put themselves at risk for, in order to get the possible benefits.</p>
<p>About the licensing in NY. How could he not know that it is still active? That sounds strange. Doctors, I think, would need to pay the licensing board in the state to keep their license active, as well as notify them of any malpractice decisions, criminal convictions, treatment for drug abuse perhaps, etc. I would think that every year or two, heâd have to fill out such a form, send in a check, and answer similar questions to the ones I listed, and perhaps prove continuing education. So, if he needs to do any of this in NY, he would know if his license exists or not. That one sends up a red flag for me, just about honesty.</p>
<p>My gut instinct tells me that in this context the charges are not serious and that they indicate a type of doctor who is not necessarily going to be cautious, conservative or by the books. In the situation in which you find yourself, this could be seen as a positive because it might imply that this doctor is aggressive, a bottom-line thinker and someone who tries above all to get the job done. I have worked for people like this in the past. They are different from me in that I am a very detail-oriented (even small details), thorough worker who can also see the big picture very well⊠but sometimes the details hold me back from taking bold action or a risk in my work because Iâm either too busy (or prefer to focus on) dotting the iâs and crossing the tâs. </p>
<p>At this point you might have to choose between a conscientious, rule-following, routine- and detail-oriented doctor and one who bends/ignores the rules to get the desired outcome. If you as his patient can compensate for such a âweaknessâ by being as diligent as you have shown you can be and by being willing to question everything, then perhaps you two would make the best possible team.</p>
<p>^^^Re the NY thing, at first I thought so too. I asked him point blank how he could not know his license was active. He said that he wondered, and, in his opinion, since NY gets reports on all reprimands from all other states, and since itâs food PR for them to be able to say âlook how we protected the citizens of NYâ, they just went ahead and reprimanded him, even though his license wasnât active. </p>
<p>His story makes sense because there is no evidence that he ever lived or practiced in NY. He got licensed there 25+ years ago to complete residency or something. It would be pretty impossible to practice oncology in Virginia and NY simultaneously.</p>
<p>Momof2inca, I am such a person too; I am a rule breaker. And what I need in this situation is someone who is going to be willing to color outside of the lines. We already know that 95% of those who color within the lines die of this disease within the first year or so.</p>
<p>Having doctors do chemo treatments (rather than nurses due to a shortage) sounds like coloring outside the lines to me⊠what is more important? Getting a treatment done on time or getting it done late by the person who the government says is supposed to do it, perhaps causing undue stress for his patients? In this context, it does not sound particularly egregious. </p>
<p>Can you run a search on his partner and ask for more references from others in the medical community? Have you googled him?</p>
<p>
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<p>Without knowing more about this patientâs story, itâs hard to know how to assess all this. But I think that in this field, as in many others, âsuccessâ may well be a relative term. </p>
<p>If I were a doctor who had a patient who might well have been given up for dead by others, and if after being treated by me she was still walking, still talking, Iâd sure consider such an outcome a âsuccessâ - even if the illness and/or the treatment had taken a significant toll on the patient. Better to be walking around a bit hard of hearing and âvery forgetfulâ than to be below the ground and beyond the realm of such concerns altogether - no? </p>
<p>(Closer to home professionally, ordinarily a criminal defense lawyer in a capital case will consider it a huge âsuccessâ if he is able, one way or another, to keep his client from getting the death penalty - even if the alternative obtained means that the client will spend the rest of his life in prison.)</p>
<p>These sound like technicalities to me too. </p>
<p>I didnât know Docs couldnât do IV lines. Is that only a Virginia law? Not to digress too much, but Va. is noted for some wacky laws. Did you know you canât serve drinks made from wine combined with other spirits? I read that a bartender was just charged under that law. </p>
<p>No sangria for you! ;)</p>