Opinion by Consumer Advocate Tim Bolen
On May 31st, 2006, in this newsletter, I revealed some details about a project I’ve been working on for a while. In that article, called the “The Cal Streeter Story…” I talked about “one of the most important cases in US healthcare, an assault, and a turning point…”
The “Cal Streeter Story” is ripping health care regulation apart in Indiana – and it needs to be ripped apart. A few months ago, for instance, an Indiana Court ordered the State Medical Board, using VERY STRONG language, to restore Streeter’s license to practice medicine IMMEDIATELY. The Board, clearly defying the Indiana Court, waited a full ninety days (90) to restore the license, then filed an Appeal with the State Appellate Court over the restoration order.
The State Appeals Court rejected the Medical Board’s appeal rather abruptly – refusing, as it were, to even look at the Board’s case, making it clear that, no matter what the Board, itself, thinks, or wants, “the law is the law…”
So, in the end, what this means is that, the Indiana State Medical Board had absolutely no right, what-so-ever, to even question Cal Streeter’s ability to practice medicine over the issues they presented. The Indiana Courts have spoken.
But now, in response, the PEOPLE of Indiana are beginning to speak loudly. And, the questions they are asking are all about “how” this happened to their doctor, and“who” was it that abused the Indiana regulatory system, “what” was it they actually did to manipulate the system, “where,” exactly did this manipulation take place. Most importantly, the question “why” comes to the forefront – as in “who gained” from this anti-Streeter action – and THAT question-line is just beginning.
For it’s time to pay the piper… No longer, in America, can the assault against cutting-edge health practices go without cost to the attacker.
For years the defense of “cutting-edge” ended when the assault was defeated – but that tactic didn’t discourage more assaults. So, more assaults came. In fact, those assaults became, in essence, a “cottage industry” where certain “quackbuster” types traveled around the country “testifying,” demanding, and getting, exorbitant “expert witness” fees from State Licensing Boards to spew their crackpot view of health care throughout the US Administrative Law system.
There’s a “new look” in the defense of “cutting-edge” practitioners emerging in the US – and I whole-heartedly approve. It’s a “Woody Hayes Defense.” As Woody Hayes would say “The best defense is a good offense…” Several cases I’ve been involved in, over the last few years, take this tack – to good advantage. In Massachusetts, for instance, last year, the State Dental Board dismissed ALL charges against a cutting-edge Dentist, after it was pointed out in a strongly worded lawsuit against individual Board members, etc., that the State’s ONLY witness was a “quackbuster” scumbag. Other States have done similar things.
In that original article I also said:
Although few have ever heard of the Streeter case, it, of itself, and of its result, make it a landmark. The case began, roughly, in 1996, as the result of certain pressures put on the government by the nefarious “quackbuster” operation, and it is still going on – but has taken an entirely different, and interesting turn.
The case is interesting to the powerful North American Health Freedom Movement because it was THE CASE, I believe, that was supposed to be the “model case” to be used against all “Alternative Medicine” practitioners nationwide. But since the case pretty much died on the vine, so to speak, the “model” was dropped, and although the tactic was used in a few places – it wasn’t continued.
This is probably the very first case where the credibility of the “quackbuster” operation was questioned at the Federal Prosecutor level – and found wanting. The entire case against Streeter was based upon the premises about health care put forward by the “quackbuster” operation at the Federation of States Medical Boards (FSMB) annual meeting in Chicago in 1996. There, a major program was presented. It was, supposedly, on “Health Fraud,” and how to combat it. But really, it was an attempt to deflect the Federal government’s interest AWAY from then Attorney General Janet Reno’s definition of “Health Fraud,” as “Over billing, false coding, MD kickbacks, etc,” and push it towards a different focus – “Alternative Medicine.”
That plan, put forward at the Chicago FSMB meeting is called the “Plan of ’96” and although it caused some damage, in the end it failed. I’ll tell you about the actual plan, and who operated it, and where it stands today, in a minute. I believe that the Streeter case was the FIRST time the tactic, presented in Chicago, was used. And, there were victims.
One of the first “victims” of the “Plan of ’96” was a large patient group in Northern Indiana, an area that included the suburbs of Chicago, Illinois. About 10,000 patients of Cal Streeter DO were one day suddenly deprived of the cutting-edge services of their physician – and they’ve suffered for it ever since. They are still angry about it – and have decided to do something about it – ten years later.
In short – they want Cal Streeter DO back in practice, and they are getting their way, whether those that want him out of practice like it or not. And, they’ll probably be targeting, by various means, those that caused their loss of Streeter’s services. It’s going to be an interesting battle.
I Hunt “Quackbusters,” for Fun and Profit…
There are as lot of reasons why, in 2006, US healthcare is rated seventy-second (72) in quality, but number one in cost, worldwide – and it’s the number one killer of Americans – ahead of heart disease and cancer. The US healthcare system is broken.
One of those reasons, of course, is the New York ad agency’s “quackbuster” operation, a scam designed to stop any, and all, innovation in health care that competes with the “drugs, drugs, and more drugs” approach to health care – a paradigm favored by HMOs, and organizations offering the health care swill I call “Five Minute Medicine.”
“Five Minute Medicine,” these days, is the reality of conventional health care in the US. It’s where a patient has a health problem, gets an appointment six weeks later, waits an hour-and-a-half in the waiting room, twenty minutes in an examining room to see a Physician’s Assistant for all of FIVE Minutes, the last three minutes of which are taken up writing three new prescriptions, so they can go stand in line for an hour-and-a-half at the pharmacy, to shell out their $300 co-pay.
In other words conventional US medicine has been reduced to a reliance on drugs for everything. And, there is a formal organization working to keep that situation in place, without change, no matter what. It’s that group, and its members, I “hunt,” easily frustrating their projects where I find them – for their operatives, and their methods, are outright laughable.
These days I’ve switched tactics. As a Crisis Management Consultant, with a good track record, I’m in demand. Consequently, I can, myself, demand what I want in fees for the project. These days, if someone needs my services, because they’re being attacked by the “quackbuster” organization, then I have a new demand that must be met – the client must agree to set up the case so that, in the end, the “quackbuster” operatives involved in that case, get charged with, or personally sued over, their actions in the case. There have been several cases, in the past, where the “quackbuster” so-called “expert witnesses” outright criminally perjured themselves – and nothing was done about it. In fact, perjury is the norm. The “quackbuster” walked away, unscathed, with his “expert witness” fees.
I’ve had enough of “quackbuster” perjury – and I know how to get a prosecution. It’s time.
The war in Indiana parallels the same battle being fought nationwide. On one side are those that viciously protect the “drugs, drugs, and more drugs” approach to health care – the health care swill I call “Five Minute Medicine” – The system responsible for the US ranking seventy-second (72) in quality, but number one in cost, worldwide – and it’s the number one killer of Americans – ahead of heart disease and cancer.
On the other side are those fighting for change in the paradigm. The Indiana group is taking a very aggressive approach. I’ll keep you posted.
Cal Streeter was one of the featured Speakers at the Health Freedom Expo Convention in Chicago this last June 9th, 10th and 11th, 2006.
Stay Tuned….
By: Tim Bolen, Health Freedom Advocate