a call to action on behalf of Dr. Rea.

[Guest guest]

This is one of the better doctors - ask any of his patients and

peers. Please repost to your groups.

blessings

Shan

Activist's Corner: Save Doctor Rea's Practice

 

http://thetruthaboutmcs.blogspot.com/2007/09/activists-corner-save-doctor-reas.h\

tml

 

This months Activist's Corner is dedicated to a call to action on behalf of

Dr. Rea. 

 

Dr. Rea writes:

 

September 14, 2007

 

 

Dear Patients:

 

This letter is being sent to you so that we may provide information about a

potential serious threat to your choice of medical care. To put it bluntly,

there is currently an organized nation-wide effort to destroy the specialty of

Environmental Medicine and to eliminate from practice physicians who diagnose

and treat patients suffering from chemical sensitivities.

 

Since October of 2005 the Texas Medical Board has been investigating me on

charges of providing substandard care and " endangering public health " . An

anonymous third party complaint was made to the board against me, citing five

specific patients as being mistreated. You may ask " What is an anonymous third

party

complaint? " This type of complaint is made to the board without the knowledge

or consent of the patient. The complaint against me was almost certainly made

by United Health Care/Oxford. All five patients cited in the complaint had no

knowledge that they or their information was being used in this way. Further,

none of the patients are alleging mistreatment or malpractice against me and

all five are still under my care. Additionally, these patients have all

written to the Texas Medical Board and informed them that they are not part of

this

complaint and they are not making any allegations against me of any kind. Two

of the patients have stated that I saved their lives.

 

The Texas Medical Board has dismissed the protests of these patients and

continued to pursue charges against me. Further, the board refuses to officially

reveal who made the complaint, what I am alleged to have done, or what evidence

was presented against me. They continually maintain that this information is

protected and does not have to be revealed.

 

However, we are almost certain that United Health Care/Oxford is behind the

complaint. All five patients were from Manhattan (New York City), New York and

all had the same insurance company - United Health Care/Oxford.  As you know,

our clinic does not take insurance assignment, so all patients file claims

directly with their respective insurance companies. We therefore do not have any

direct connection with this insurance company. We deny that we have ever

defrauded anyone, including this insurance carrier. Evidence showing these facts

was supplied to the Texas Medical Board, but was apparently disregarded as they

have decided to pursue the charges despite the evidence.

 

The board has conducted a so-called peer review of the five patient's medical

records and the treatment they received, again without the permission of

these patients. A peer review of a physician's action can be undertaken for a

variety of reasons but there is always one common factor in the process. That

common factor is that the reviewer is required to be knowledgeable about and a

practitioner of the specialty that is being reviewed. Thus, the reviewer is a

" peer " of the physician being reviewed.

 

In my case the Texas Medical Board chose a reviewer who does not specialize

in Environmental Medicine, and who is in fact an allergist. This reviewer, who

was anonymous, gave a negative review of the treatment of the five patients,

despite the fact that all have improved, several of them substantially so,

while under my care. I had 17 actual peers, physicians who practice

Environmental

Medicine, review all five of these cases as well. To a person these 17

reviewers found that my treatment of these patients was not only adequate, but

that

it met or exceeded the standard of care for treatment in our specialty.

Further, the reviewers also noted that the state board reviewer was uniformed

about

the specialty of Environmental Medicine, clearly did not understand the complex

nature of the diagnosis and treatment of patients who suffer from chemical

sensitivities, grossly misunderstood many of the facts in the medical records,

was antagonistic and biased against the specialty of Environmental Medicine,

and was clearly unqualified to conduct such a review due to lack of experience,

knowledge, and expressed biases. The board has chosen to dismiss the review

done by 17 actual peers and has chosen to support the conclusion of their one

unqualified reviewer.

 

Based on secret evidence provided by an anonymous accuser and supported by

and anonymous reviewer the board has recommended that my license to practice

medicine be revoked. Currently, the Texas Medical Board is one of the most

difficult for physicians to deal with in the entire country. It is particularly

noted for not treating physicians fairly and denying their basic constitutional

rights. Pleased be assured that I still have my license, that I am fighting the

charges, that the Environmental Health Center is still open, and we are still

seeing patients.

 

Unfortunately, my case is not unique. Recently across the United States there

has been an organized attempt to deprive citizens of their choice in

individual health care by attempting to have the licenses of doctors who are

deemed to

practice " alternative " medicine revoked. This campaign has been going on for

at least 10 years now and is being led primarily by health insurance

companies. These efforts are also being supported by a small group of

individuals (and

other groups) working for or associated with the National Council Against

Health Fraud in Allentown, Pennsylvania. 

 

The typical pattern in these attacks is to single out physicians they do not

like and file anonymous complaints against them with different state medical

boards. For example, over the past 10 years the number of physicians who are

willing to diagnose and treat Lyme Disease has dropped sharply, while cases of

Lyme disease have skyrocketed. This is because several health insurance

companies have systematically targeted the doctors who specialized in treating

that

illness. Many of these physicians have had complaints made against them in

exactly the same manner that they have been made against me. These same types of

complaints have been made against doctors who treat patients for chemical

sensitivities, mold exposure, for Gulf War Syndrome, and now possibly against

physicians who are treating patients who were injured in the 911 tragedy.

 

You may ask why this campaign is taking place. It appears that quite simply

the health insurance companies want to be the sole arbiter of what types of

treatments are available to patients, and thus what they will be required to pay

for. They clearly do not want new diagnoses and treatments established because

they will then have to pay for these. Finally, many of us who have been

turned in to state medical boards do not take insurance assignment. We do this

so

that we can provide treatment to our patients without insurance company

interference. In recent years the health insurance carriers have tried to

automate

their claims processing processes. When claims are denied, they then have to be

handled by a human and this costs money. When physicians do not accept

insurance assignment, the claims submitted by their patients often have a higher

denial rate. This results in higher processing costs for the insurance

companies.

If these carriers can eliminate the independent physicians with higher denial

rates they can potentially save a lot of money. Certain state medical boards

appear to agree with this strategy and cooperate in the process.

 

Of course, these attempts are also being made in order to try and standardize

treatments and make all patients fit into one " box " . Americans need more

choices in health care, not less.  We would hope you, as an informed citizen,

would want to be part of an effort to help preserve freedom of choice in health

care. Insurance carriers and a small group of " Quack busters " should not be

allowed to decide what type of health care is available in this country.

 

It is unconscionable that the Texas Medical Board would want to limit freedom

of choice in health care, and allow insurance carriers to interfere with the

doctor-patient relationship.  Please join our effort for freedom of choice in

health care and write your protest to your members of the Texas Legislature.

You can also copy your protest to members of the Texas Medical Board. If you do

not know who your representatives are, go to the following website to find

out:

http://www.fyi.legis.state.tx.us/

 

If you are out of state, you can contact Texas State Senator Jane Nelson and

Representative Fred Brown, both of whom have taken an interest in recent

activities of the Texas Medical Board. You can also send your letters of protest

to

the Executive Director of the Texas Medical Board, Donald Patrick, M.D.,

J.D., by e-mail, phone, or fax.  Please petition the elected officials to:

 

1.      Support the dismissal of the anonymous complaint made against Dr.

Rea, or at the very least the revelation of who made the complaint and what

evidence was presented against him.

 

2. Prohibit the Texas Medical Board from conducting anonymous peer reviews by

unqualified reviewers, or using reviewers with a bias or conflict of

interest.

 

3. Prohibit the Texas Medical Board from accepting and pursuing complaints in

such a way that they deprive physicians of their constitutional rights and

their ability to defend themselves.

 

4. Strongly oppose the anonymity given to billion dollar insurance companies

when making state board complaints against physicians.

 

5. Urge the Texas Legislature to hold hearings on the Texas Medical Board and

their seeming cooperation with health insurance companies' attempts to

de-license physicians in specialties that they do not like and the board's

denial of

due process to accused physicians in direct contradiction to the due process

that the board claims that it provides.

 

Thank you very much for your help. Together, we can stop the Texas Medical

Board and other state medical boards from unfairly targeting physicians that

outside interests do not like. We can also expose the despicable tactics of the

insurance companies in their efforts to control all aspects of healthcare.

 

Sincerely,

 

 

William J. Rea, M.D.

President

Environmental Health Center-Dallas

 

 

Texas Legislature Representatives:

 

Texas Senator Jane Nelson

Chair of the Senate Health and Human Services Committee

P. O. Box 12068

Austin, TX 78711

512/463-0112

jane.nelson

 

Representative Fred Brown

Room CAP GW.4

P.O. Box 2910

Austin, Texas 78768

(512)463-0698

(512) 463-5109 Fax

 

 

Members of the Texas Medical Board:

 

Correspondence to the Board Members can be sent to: 

Texas Medical Board

P. O. Box 2018

Austin, Texas 78768

 

TEL: (512) 305-7030

FAX: (512) 305-7051

 

 

Donald W. Patrick, M.D., J.D. (Executive Director)

 

Lawrence LaZelle Anderson, M.D. (Dermatology)

Tyler

 

Michael Arambula, M.D. (Psychiatry)

San Antonio

 

Julie Attebury (Public Member)

Amarillo

 

Jose M. Benavides, M.D. (Internal Medicine)

San Antonio

 

Patricia S. Blackwell (Public Member)

Midland

 

Melina S. Fredricks (Public Member)

Conroe

 

Manual G. Guajardo, M.D. (Obstetrics/Gynecology)

Brownsville

 

Roberta M. Kalafut, D.O. (Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation)

Current board President

Abilene

 

Amanullah Khan, M.D. (Oncology)

Dallas

 

Melina McMichael, M.D. (Internal Medicine)

Austin

 

Margaret C. McNeese, M.D. (Pediatrics)

Houston

 

Charles E. Oswalt, III, M.D. (Trauma Surgeon)

Waco

 

Larry Price, D.O.  (Cardiovascular Diseases)

Current Board Vice President

Temple

 

Annette P. Raggette (Public Member)

Austin

 

Paulette B. Southard (Public Member)

Alice

 

Timothy J. Turner (Public Member)

Current Secretary-Treasurer

Houston

 

Timothy Webb (Public Member)

Houston

 

Irvin E. Zeitler, Jr., D.O. (Family Practice)

San Angelo

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

This is just unbelieveable, I am completely aphalled by this. Dr. Rae

has been practing in Dallas for many many years, he helped my son

when he was younger, in fact that's how we began on the road to

healing for my son. We did all the necessary labs through his

office, he helped us design a biomedical program for my son who has

autism. My son is so much better today because of his help.

 

I am truly sorry this is happening to him and I encourage people to

help him by writing their representative. We seem to be losing our

freedom of choice when it comes to health issues, and this is totally

unacceptable!

 

nagla

 

, surpriseshan2

wrote:

>

> This is one of the better doctors - ask any of his

patients and

> peers. Please repost to your groups.

> blessings

> Shan

> Activist's Corner: Save Doctor Rea's Practice

>

> http://thetruthaboutmcs.blogspot.com/2007/09/activists-corner-save-

doctor-reas.html

>

> This months Activist's Corner is dedicated to a call to action on

behalf of

> Dr. Rea. 

>