Doctor Weighs in on Wisconsin Doctors' Phony Excuses

I was waiting to hear what other members of the medical profession would have to say about those Wisconsin doctors--and I did not have to wait long.

A physician who blogs under the handle "Unlikely Hospitalist" has a few choice words for the professionalism of his Wisconsin colleagues. What's more, he has identified them.

(NOTE: We had mistaken "Unlikely Hospitalist for "Happy Hospitalist," who has a few choice words of his own.)

"What a week it has been in Madison Wisconsin, of all places. First we have teachers roaming the capital petitioning the government for redress of grievances. Not so bad, until they call in sick, en masse, and bring their students with them as political pawns. Then we have the duly elected State Senators abdicating their sworn obligation to represent the people of Wisconsin in the state senate and literally running away to the Tilted Kilt. Now we have "Doctors" giving out sick notes like they hand out flyers in New York's Times Square.

Being sick of the Wisconsin Governor is not billable code as far as Medicare is concerned and daring an interviewer to get in the middle of a private consultation between a patient and caregiver in the middle of thousands of people is not what is meant by bedside manner. What a joke. All this professionalism is making me sick...

This brings me to Dr. Lou Sanner. (the man in the first video in the previous post). He is a family practitioner whose ego, no doubt, precedes his intellect. I have seen his type before as I meandered through medical school and residency. He is the doc who looks down his nose at you as you struggle for the esoteric answer to some zebra diagnosis, all the while pretending to know the answer himself. Well, I am not a resident anymore and what this fellow has done is professionally obscene. He has abrogated his professional responsibility for political expediency....

Now I don't know the legality of his actions, although I am sure that the Wisconsin Medical Society may have some thoughts on the matter.

Is it really his position that he is conducting medical examinations in the midst of thousands of people while attaining a right to privacy? One of the most important things in a genuine patient/physician interaction is honesty and this dude is dishonest!"

Unlikely Hospitalist goes on to ID three of the other doctors who are doing this. (NOTE: See comment #4 below, referring to Anne Eglash. The commenter says Dr. Eglash was not in the demonstration, nor even in Madison at the time. If that is true, I apologize for relaying incorrect information, and, awaiting confirmation, have removed Dr. Eglash's name from the following quotation).

"He and his colleagues . . . Hannah Keevil, and James Shropshire should know better. Undoubtedly they do know better, but let political emotion trump professional integrity."

As we said in the previous post, you can voice your concern about this (and them) to the Medical Examing Board of the Wisconsin Department of Regulation and Licensing. The email address is:

DRLBoards@wisconsin.gov

Posted by Gibbons J. Cooney