Dear Friends,
I am writing to say thanks to Doctors of Courage for their remarkable job bringing attention to the current scourge of prosecutions hitting the Medical Profession. I have been saying for over five years now that we, the doctors, have become “the new current day witches of Salem”.
This is our duty (at least I always thought of it as my duty) to be the advocate for our patients. Ultimately it is the patients who are getting hurt. This debate should be framed as the US government breaking the social contract with the Medicare and Medicaid recipients by closing down treatment facilities and taking away service in the guise of curbing fraud. What was our fault? We refused to surrender and since 2004 keep fighting back successfully on behalf of our patients.
[Early on, when] the [prosecuting] lawyers wanted to congratulate the team for winning against the Federal Government, I wrote back saying that I find no joy or satisfaction in this hollow victory. In fact, I pointed out that I believe I lost in three different ways. First, I wasted money defending against false and made up charges. Second, the Government wasted my tax dollars prosecuting me and failed. Third, more than 100 patients lost their care for a while, 35 staff members with young families lost their jobs and then two patients lost their life and one killed his father. So, that was my loss and loss of our society. The response of the prosecutorial team was, as always, “We are doing our job”. I remember when Mr. Kent Payne and I went to meet with Joe Kopsa, the head of Medicaid Integrity and asked him why he is targeting me when I do not even bill Medicaid (they justified the investigation by claiming that patients’ prescriptions were paid by Medicaid so they can investigate me). Joe said, “We are hunters and killers and that is our job”.
Judge Brady rightly reminded the Government quoting Justice Thurgood Marshall, that they should exercise their awesome powers with care against citizens. They find it politically inconvenient to stop paying for certain forms of treatment so the solution is to shut down the providers who try to stand in their way.
I also wish to remind my friends that Shame belongs to those who brought the bogus charges against a psychiatrist ( failure to document post operative care of hysterectomy) and felt no remorse. Shame belongs to those who knowingly manufactured false evidence and coerced witnesses. Shame belongs to those who showed no moral pang in putting innocent people knowingly in jail and stood before the media to claim fame and glory after winning cases by deception, lies and coercion.
Zahid Imran, MD
