Thursday, June 21, 2012

Am I Still Allowed To Practice Medicine?

     One of my nursing staff apprised me that "a lot of people out there think you are no longer allowed to practice medicine."
     "What people?"
     "Mainly the old-timers in Hawthorne."
     "Where do you see them?"
     "Mainly at Hitchcock's and CVS in Hawthorne."
     "What do you tell them?"
     "Mainly that it's all a lot of horse garbage  I explain to them that you've always been able to practice medicine and that no insurance, not even Medicare, has kept you from seeing patients.  I tell them I have no idea what the government is doing.  I've never seen you do anything wrong and I've worked for you for 10 years.
     "Do they ask a lot of questions?"
     "Yeah, and basically I tell them it's all just a witch-hunt."
     A sixty-second spot on TV-20 and a short article in the Gainesville Sun noting that the FBI had seized all the records from Colasante Clinic on June 16, 2011 were enough media attention to spread scuttlebutt about my ability to practice medicine.  
     The FBI raided my office.  They took my money.  That was a year ago.  Since then:  nothing has happened.  My medical license is intact.  No one has informed me that I am unable to practice medicine.  The government is allowed to mess up my professional life, start a string of rumors, and then remain silent for seven years. 
     I guess I'll hear from them in 2018.
     Meanwhile I go to work every day as though nothing had happened.  Except that my confidence in the U.S. Government is badly shaken, and my heart hurts.

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