Threat to our choice of medical care

[Guest guest]

Dr. Rea: State Board Patient Letter

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 town, 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

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, , 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,

J. Rea, M.D.

President

Environmental Health Center-Dallas

Texas Legislature Representatives:

Texas Senator Jane

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

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

Lawrence LaZelle , M.D. (Dermatology)

Tyler

Arambula, M.D. (Psychiatry)

San

Attebury (Public Member)

Amarillo

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

San

S. Blackwell (Public Member)

Midland

Melina S. Fredricks (Public Member)

Conroe

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

Brownsville

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

Current board President

Abilene

Amanullah Khan, M.D. (Oncology)

Dallas

Melina Mc, M.D. (Internal Medicine)

Austin

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

Houston

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

ette B. Southard (Public Member)

Alice

J. (Public Member)

Current Secretary-Treasurer

Houston

Webb (Public Member)

Houston

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

San Angelo