Maryland Board of Physicians: from Bad to Worse
Maryland Board of Physicians has touched many lives, unfortunately not in a positive manner. Coincident with several articles I wrote for the Baltimore Examiner, detailing the unscrupulous nature of this Board, the Maryland Legislature released a derogatory report against this entity in 2011. This report was entitled, Sunset Review: Evaluation of the State Board of Physicians and Related Health Advisory Committees. Embodied in its pages was supposed to be the framework from which the Board would improve its functions and effectuate processes that were honest and consistent with its written regulatory structure. Instead the Board went in another direction. In a series of deceptive reports to the Maryland Legislature over the years following the release of the Sunset Review the Board omitted its failures exemplifying a false front as stated in this article. Managed by lawyers, from the top down, due process has been cast into the fire as this Board cherry picks which laws it will follow.
Medical Boards have come under increasing scrutiny over the last decade. Both the Texas and Arizona Boards have assaulted physicians in merciless manners resulting in loss of licensure for hundreds of physicians who did nothing more than have an MD after their names. State Legislatures woke up and cleansed the slate of characters that managed these administrative entities. Maryland Board’s incessant misuse of standards of care to entrap physicians is a tragedy that needs correction too. In the author’s case the Maryland Board spent hundreds of thousands of dollars and an entire decade to rid the state of this physician over paper compliance issues. Time has come for the Maryland Legislature to investigate this corrupt entity and rid the Board of it’s over dependence on lawyers.
Maryland’s Legislature has taken a step back in its oversight of the Maryland Board of Physicians. Last time I looked physicians were also citizens of the state. Hence they deserved certain due process rights. Appearance of due process is not due process. The Board along with its attack dog the Attorney General’s Office have a routine they follow to keep physicians from their full rights. Through convoluted legalese physicians have had a rough time defending themselves in administrative hearings. The Board’s attorneys have developed strategies to keep physicians from presenting expert witnesses, exculpatory evidence and patient testimony. Case number DHMH SBP-71-07-05227 Mark Davis MD hearing before an administrative court exposes the outright suppression of a physician’s right to defend himself appropriately. The transcript should be read by any physician forced to participate in this Soviet style hearing before a state appointed judge.
With the failure of the Nikita Levy case, the failure to oversee excessive opioid prescribing and the misuse to standards of care to target certain physicians the Maryland Legislature should be compelled to take an independent review of the Board. This should be a review by people who are not friends or associates of the Board as the most recent review by its University connections. In a future article we will review why the Maryland Board of Physicians allowed Nikita Levy case to be hidden from view until it spilled over into the media.
Mark Davis MD
medicalboardusa.com
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