Rhode Island Recognizes Excessive Fear of Medical Board: Plans Hearing

Rhode Island Recognizes Excessive Fear of Medical Board: Plans Hearing

11-10-17 | News | Christian Wolff | In an article first published on February 25, 2016 in The Kent County Daily News, reporter Jeremiah quotes Rhode Island Rep. Mike Chippendale:

“Generally, there is a natural and healthy element of tension between licensed professionals and the board overseeing them,” Chippendale said. “However, while the details of each of these experiences are unique, the one overriding common thread is an almost irrational fear of interacting with the Board on any level.”

“These are doctors, surgeons, nurse practitioners — professionals who’ve invested a minor fortune
and decades of their lives to become a doctor or other medical professional. It is extremely
concerning to me that the reputation maintained by this Board has fostered an unhealthy medical
community environment,” he continued.

“I’m hopeful that medical professionals who have interacted with the Medical Board of Licensure and Discipline will come and share their experiences with us personally. The conversations that I’ve had over the last several months are concerning and in order for this commission to complete its important work, this type of input from the medical community is critical,” he finished.

See full article here.

HARBR is inspired by the work going on in Rhode Island and hopes that similar progress can take place in Oregon’s Oregon Medical Board (OMB), Oregon Board of Psychologist Examiners (OBPE), and Oregon Board of Licensed Professional Counselors and Therapists among others. HARBR hopes the other states will also follow the good work of Rhode Island’s Representative Mike Chippendale.

Photo attribution: By Bubbasax (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

 

Recognizing Rosenblum, Oregon’s Attorney General

Recognizing Rosenblum, Oregon’s Attorney General

August 26, 2017 – HARBR is a nonpartisan organization. As an organization, HARBR endorses no official categorical opinion regarding Oregon’s Attorney General, Ellen Rosenblum. HARBR does, however, have some specific concerns about her behavior as it affects the lives and professions of licensed healthcare professionals in Oregon. Ms. Rosenblum is the head of Oregon’s Department of Justice (DOJ). In this position, she is the supervisor of the DOJ Assistant Attorney Generals who prosecute Oregon licensed healthcare professionals when there are allegations of misconduct by regulatory boards. She also oversees the DOJ Assistant Attorney Generals who defend healthcare regulatory boards when licensees appeal board final orders to the Oregon Court of Appeals.

In a August 24, 2017 article published by Oregon Public Broadcasting’s Chris Lehman Ms. Rosenbaum shows herself in a manner HARBR believes will be recognizable to those who have been abused by their Oregon healthcare regulatory boards and the DOJ attorneys who represent them. The article relates to the firing and re-hiring of James R. Williams, an investigator for the Oregon DOJ.

Williams sued the Oregon DOJ and the matter was settled in arbitration. Sherwood attorney David Blair presided over the arbitration.

See article: http://www.opb.org/news/article/oregon-fired-doj-investigator-gets-job-back/

Take away quotes include:

Blair: “[The Oregon DOJ] “exacted the harshest penalty possible against a seven-year veteran of the department with a spotless record [.]”

Blair: “[T]his discipline appears to have been both inappropriate, unnecessary and clearly excessive.”

According to the OBP article: Blair writes that the agency could instead have offered additional training to Williams and other employees to help them better understand the agency’s expectations. Blair also ordered the agency to scrub any reference to the matter from Williams’ personnel file.

Rosenblum: “I am disappointed in the arbitrator’s decision and continue to feel strongly that I made the right decision to terminate Mr. Williams’ employment as a criminal investigator at the Oregon Department of Justice.”

According to OPB’s Chris Lehman’s article: Johnson’s attorney, Beth Creighton, said the arbitrator’s ruling “establishes what we knew all along.”

Creighton: “This was not an isolated investigator going rogue, but a concerted effort by DOJ management to target Erious Johnson and cover it up.”

In addition to rehiring Williams, Blair ordered he be given nearly a year’s worth of back pay.

HARBR recommends the reader web-search the matter for more on the backstory. Suggested searches include:

Erious Johnson Oregon DOJ

James R. Williams Oregon DOJ

Williams claims that he had been following orders related to the allegations that he had profiled Erious Johnson. Williams also claims he was a victim of retaliation for whistle-blowing. Erious Johnson is the Director of Civil Rights with the DOJ, one of the few African-American members of Oregon’s DOJ, and the alleged victim of William’s profiling.

According to the OBP article, Rosenblum reports that both Johnson and Williams have further suits pending against the DOJ.

HARBR does not know whether contentions remain between Johnson and Williams. If contentions between these two persons remain, HARBR, at this point, does not have enough information to evaluate merits or to issue opinions.

Creighton: “For the record, Mr. Johnson was never asked if he wanted Williams terminated and in fact did not want to see him terminated.”


Photo Credit: Photo of Ellen Rosenblum provided by Wikimedia Commons

Page URL: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AOregon_Attorney_General_Ellen_Rosenblum_addresses_attendees_at_the_conference_(15478927731).jpg, File URL: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/36/Oregon_Attorney_General_Ellen_Rosenblum_addresses_attendees_at_the_conference_%2815478927731%29.jpg, Attribution: By Oregon Department of Transportation (Ellen Rosenblum) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Oregon Senator alleges “Bureaucratic Malpractice”

Oregon Senator alleges “Bureaucratic Malpractice”

May 12, 2017 – In a statement released today, Oregon Senator Brian Boquist (R – Dallas) condemns the the Oregon Health Authority (OHA) for poor policies regarding mental health treatment for veterans in Oregon. He states, “The Oregon Health Authority is holding hostage our veterans and their families, and OHA’s is requesting ransom payment from providers. OHA’s Certificate of Need process is a form of bureaucratic malpractice.”

The Healthcare Alliance for Regulatory Board Reform (HARBR) applauds Sen. Boquist for his use of the term “bureaucratic malpractice” and for identifying it in Oregon government. HARBR intends to add the term “bureaucratic malpractice” to its glossary as it addresses the problems related to the regulation of professional healthcare practice in Oregon and elsewhere.

See the full press release at: https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/senaterepublicans/Documents/Boquist%20OHA.pdf

Photo: From Press Release

HARBR’s Christian Wolff Wins His Attorney Fees

HARBR’s Christian Wolff Wins His Attorney Fees

August 15, 2017 – On August 9, 2017, Christian Wolff won his attorney fees and costs by declaration of the Oregon Court of Appeals (OCA). Wolff Wins Attorney Fees Against Psychology Board  He won his case against the Oregon Board of Psychologist Examiners (OBPE) by declaration of the OCA on April 19, 2017.

Some of the documents regarding Mr. Wolff’s case can be found on the OBPE website. The reader is cautioned to consider the may encounter OBPE bias here as well as selective publication. http://obpe.alcsoftware.com/files/wolff.christian_1563.pdf

The victory is both large and small. It is large because of the rarity of such awards that the victory is important. HARBR is making plans to address the injustices surrounding the denial of attorney fees to licensees who prevail against healthcare licensing boards. As it is, the appellate courts seem ignorant of that which actually happens when a healthcare licensing board puts licensees through disciplinary processes.

To paraphrase the statutes, courts rarely award attorney fees to licensees who prevail against boards because they do not want boards to be “timorous” in pursuing licensees who may represent a true risk of danger to the public.

Coupled with this, current Oregon statutes and rules allow many healthcare regulatory boards to automatically assess (charge) the cost of all proceedings against a licensee to the licensee regardless of outcome. These dozen or so Oregon healthcare regulatory boards are not even required to petition (ask) the court to be awarded their attorney fees and costs.

In the 2017 Legislative session, the Oregon Board of Psychologist Examiners presented a bill to the legislature which would allow them to join the ranks of the other healthcare regulatory boards in their ability to do this. Thanks to the testimonies of the Oregon Psychological Association (OPA), The Oregon State Bar – Administrative Law Division, and members of HARBR, this bill was roundly defeated and died in committee.

Christian Wolff won his attorney fees in part by arguing that the automatic assessment of fees to the licensees would cause licensees to be “timorous” in challenging wrongful actions taken against them by regulatory boards. Wolff’s argument was not unlike the argument presented to the legislature by Carson Bowler of the Oregon State Bar (OSB). OSB Carson Bowler Testimony HB 2329

Mr. Wolff’s victory is small in that his attorney fees and costs were likely less than 1% of what the OBPE’s attack upon him cost him. Despite the common belief that regulatory boards cannot be sued in civil court for damages HARBR is researching this and finding that this common belief may be false.

One of the losses incurred by Mr. Wolff is an entire year of work due to OBPE’s suspension of his license – suspension which was fully served during the process of appeals in which Mr. Wolff prevailed.

The Seminal Bice Case and the Start of HARBR

The Seminal Bice Case and the Start of HARBR

August 15, 2017 – On October 19, 2016, a member of a group soon to become HARBR, discovered the Opinion of the Oregon Court of Appeals (OCA) in relation to David T. Bice v. the [Oregon] Board of Psychologist Examiners. The Opinion (verdict) had just been released that day. A group of physicians, psychologists, counselors and legally practicing unlicensed healthcare professionals, already associated with one another, assembled to take action.

Some of the relevant documents related to Dr. Bice can be found on the Oregon Board of Psychologist Examiner’s (OBPE). We caution the reader to understand that they may encounter OBPE bias and selective publishing. http://obpe.alcsoftware.com/files/bice.david%20t._57.pdf

What stood out about the OCA Opinion in this matter is that, in our opinion, it so clearly attested to numerous instances of malfeasance on the part of the various parties who had taken disciplinary action against Dr. Bice. The affirmations against healthcare wrong-doings had rarely been this clear or from such an authoritative source. The allegations made against Dr. Bice by the Oregon Board of Psychologist Examiners (OBPE) were reversed and remanded by the OCA. The reversal means Dr. Bice won. The remand, unfortunately a standard procedure in these matters , means the case was sent back to OBPE to redecide the matter, but to do it right this time.

On November 29, 2016, twelve members of the group now known as HARBR wrote and signed a “letter of concern and request for investigation” which was sent out far and wide to government officials and other authorities. The letter was sent to the Oregon U.S. Attorney, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), All Oregon Representatives, All Oregon Senators, the Oregon Governor, the Oregon Secretary of State, the Oregon Attorney General, the Oregon State Bar, and a general press release. Og these, the only one to respond was the Oregon State Bar (OSB).

OSB regarded our letter of concern and request for investigation as a “complaint” and notified the persons named of the complaint along with codified violations they may have violated in the Bice matter. the notice was delivered to the persons of concern on  December 7, 2016, and they were asked to answer to the “allegations.” The named persons included Karen Berry (OBPE investigator), Warren Foote (OBPE legal counsel), Carolyn Alexander (Department of Justice legal representative for OBPE in the appellate hearing), and Department of Justice (DOJ) supervisors, Anna Joyce (Oregon Solicitor General) and Ellen Rosenblum (Oregon Attorney General). On December 15, 2016, the named persons lawyered up and chose a single DOJ Senior Assistant Attorney General to represent them together as a group. They chose SAAG Stephanie Thompson.

During this time, various healthcare professionals in Oregon and in other states, already associated for several years officially formed HARBR. HARBR is the Healthcare Alliance for Regulatory Board Reform.

In forthcoming articles, we will write more about the Bice matter, where it stands today, and what it means for patients, clients, healthcare professionals and healthcare regulatory board reform, and we will write about the status of our complaint with the OSB against the above named persons.