Compassionate Doctors Or Chain Pot Clinics?

[Dr. Bob]

As far as I know, in every state there's a board of registration that grants the license to all medical drs to practice, they have to pass that board in order to practice, this board can also revoke a dr's license. Every dr has that document displayed for all to see. Those dr's names are all on file somewhere, right? If that dr is "damaged," wouldn't there be a mark or note by their name on file with the medical board? Wouldn't the health dept have a way of knowing who's a "damaged dr?" even if they hadn't had their license revoked for it, or if they did but cleaned up their act so they could get it reinstated but that "mark" so to speak, would forever be on that dr's record?

 

Also, I'm wondering if a pt goes to a "damaged dr" and gets certified, then the card gets invalidated, what happens to the dr? The dr keeps on going, it seems. I looked up a couple of drs and saw under "disciplinary actions" or something like that, and under that column it'd say something like, "Reprimanded" or "fined" but there's no details. I clicked on each license number, but to get details on any actions against them, we have to ask for them.

 

If the bad dr signs the rec and there's trouble, WHY does the PATIENT go to jail and NOT the dr????

 

In every profession, there's people who do bad things but never lose their jobs, never get fined, and have a spotless record; there are many drs who will protect their colleagues, like in any profession or group of people, (leo's, etc.). My point is, most people wouldn't know any of this, regardless if it's a dr, a leo, or whatever, yet these bad ones are still in business, often, their dirty deeds are well covered up. It seems wrong to put all the burden of proof on the patient. All we wanna do is be well or at least be able to manage our condition and improve our quality of life. We can't know, much less understand, every law, every action against some dr or whoever. What about the pt who sees some dr in an emergency room who's not their regular one, how could they have checked out the dr beforehand? Oh, and they only saw that dr once- does that make it an invalid relationship?? If it's a bad dr, he/she shouldn't even BE there, right? What if someone isn't able to investigate who's in whatever clinic and look into their backgrounds? It's normal to think, "if that dr is there, he/she must be ok," right? What if they did hear a complaint about a clinic, but forgot? What if there's other business that have a similar name, and the person got the 2 places mixed up? Does that prove that person intentionally used a bad dr? Am I making any sense here? I hope so because it's taken me about an hour to write this. I take my time when I write.

 

Sincerely, Sb

 

here is the link to that state verification site....

 

http://www7.dleg.state.mi.us/free/

 

Put the doctor's name there (try me, Robert L. Townsend, DO) and you can see their record. You are correct in one part, the state does not take discipline of physicians for their judgement lightly. There is also due process and it is rather involved to take action against a doctor, so if there is a history of discipline, it was for a rather significant infarction. They aren't brought up on charges by the board, much less convicted, for poor fashion sense or minor traffic violations.

 

Simply asking the doctor to write their DEA number on the application/receipt you get in a clinic is the best way to confirm they have a DEA because you can't access that web site (if anyone does have a link to that, please share it). The DEA registration (to prescribe controlled substances) is critical to the normal practice of medicine, and having that taken from you is a very serious matter.

 

Dr. Bob

[a2lw]

I'm a really big fan of the Ann Arbor Health Collective if you're ever in the area. They just recently got a doctor on staff and I had a chance to meet the guy the other day when I was in buying meds. He seems like a nice guy who genuinely wants to help people out. Also, they have a deal that if you refer a friend to see their doctor, you get a free gram of meds for yourself. Pretty sweet

 

 

Agreed!

 

The AA Health Collective has an in-house doctor who comes in on Mondays. If you give them a call, they can give you instructions for scheduling an appointment and answer any additional questions you have regarding getting your certification.

[+Silverblue]

hi Doc, I think that's the same site you gave me the link to last week. I went there and checked you out, as well as those 2 drs from that clinic we discussed. Each one has something under one of their licenses, but no details. I'd like to know more. ALL that info should be public knowledge. Hundreds of people have had paperwork signed by them and others like them, that were approved. It seems to me any damaged dr would be on file with an agency like MDCH so they'd see it and reject the app immediately, but since they did approve the paperwork, the pt has no reason to suspect their dr was damaged. I thought I saw for one of them, there was a fine inposed, which was paid. Despite fixing whatever was wrong, that "mark" stays on their record, it seems. The pt goes to those places in good faith, it's not their fault if something goes wrong, yet, from what I seen here, the pt is the one who gets in trouble, and is responsible for bearing the burden of proof of course, while the dr stays in business. If there was a way to bring them down, it'd also bring down the unsuspecting pts that were certified by them. This bona fide relationship thing is very important too, and it should be clearly defined in connection with our law.

 

If we could find an MM friendly dr who'd accept our insurance, we'd gladly go there, otherwise we must be able to make payment arrangements and they'd be allowed to make the recommendations. This would eliminate the need for the hotel clinics.

 

Sb

[bobandtorey]

hi Doc, I think that's the same site you gave me the link to last week. I went there and checked you out, as well as those 2 drs from that clinic we discussed. Each one has something under one of their licenses, but no details. I'd like to know more. ALL that info should be public knowledge. Hundreds of people have had paperwork signed by them and others like them, that were approved. It seems to me any damaged dr would be on file with an agency like MDCH so they'd see it and reject the app immediately, but since they did approve the paperwork, the pt has no reason to suspect their Dr was damaged. I thought I saw for one of them, there was a fine imposed, which was paid. Despite fixing whatever was wrong, that "mark" stays on their record, it seems. The pt goes to those places in good faith, it's not their fault if something goes wrong, yet, from what I seen here, the pt is the one who gets in trouble, and is responsible for bearing the burden of proof of course, while the Dr stays in business. If there was a way to bring them down, it'd also bring down the unsuspecting Pt's that were certified by them. This bona fide relationship thing is very important too, and it should be clearly defined in connection with our law.

 

If we could find an MM friendly Dr who'd accept our insurance, we'd gladly go there, otherwise we must be able to make payment arrangements and they'd be allowed to make the recommendations. This would eliminate the need for the hotel clinics.

 

Sb

 

 

are Doc from the THC-F has never be on any list for 29 years that was one of the thing the PA had ask him lots of time we went their because knew more about MMJ then other Doc's so he was a specialist in MMJ

[Dr. Bob]

hi Doc, I think that's the same site you gave me the link to last week. I went there and checked you out, as well as those 2 drs from that clinic we discussed. Each one has something under one of their licenses, but no details. I'd like to know more. ALL that info should be public knowledge. Hundreds of people have had paperwork signed by them and others like them, that were approved. It seems to me any damaged dr would be on file with an agency like MDCH so they'd see it and reject the app immediately, but since they did approve the paperwork, the pt has no reason to suspect their dr was damaged. I thought I saw for one of them, there was a fine inposed, which was paid. Despite fixing whatever was wrong, that "mark" stays on their record, it seems. The pt goes to those places in good faith, it's not their fault if something goes wrong, yet, from what I seen here, the pt is the one who gets in trouble, and is responsible for bearing the burden of proof of course, while the dr stays in business. If there was a way to bring them down, it'd also bring down the unsuspecting pts that were certified by them. This bona fide relationship thing is very important too, and it should be clearly defined in connection with our law.

 

If we could find an MM friendly dr who'd accept our insurance, we'd gladly go there, otherwise we must be able to make payment arrangements and they'd be allowed to make the recommendations. This would eliminate the need for the hotel clinics.

 

Sb

 

I have nothing under my license and a clean DEA. Looking at your post, that didn't seem all that clear.

 

As for the insurance issue, I know of no insurance company that will pay for an MMJ certification, and most will not pay for any 'evaluation' exam, even a high school sports physical. They wouldn't pay for routine paps and mammograms until they were forced to. This is new, they will fight it, so insurance isn't an option for any time in the near future. Before someone pipes up that they got one on insurance, check your EOB from the insurance company for the visit. I can almost assure you the visit was billed as a routine medical exam for a chronic condition (back pain for example or one of the qualifying conditions) and the paperwork was signed free of charge and not paid by the insurance company.

 

My prices are uniform throughout the state, I don't charge one thing in one town and another elsewhere, and are designed to keep me in practice for the renewals next year. As a side beni the cost seems to keep out the marginal cases, and my rejection rate is lower because most folks willing to pay the cost of the cert already know they qualify and can prove it with records.

 

Dr. Bob

[Dr. Bob]

are Doc from the THC-F has never be on any list for 29 years that was one of the thing the PA had ask him lots of time we went their because knew more about MMJ then other Doc's so he was a specialist in MMJ

 

Why would the PA ask the doc if he had any marks on his record? Or if he lost his DEA registration? To discredit the certification by discrediting the doc! Fortunately yours had a good record, even though it didn't stop the attack. Now what if he had problems, or his DEA was revoked? What would that have done to the case? My point is made, make sure the doc is clean and all elements of the visit are met, including follow up.