Posted on 11/20/2009 8:56:00 AM PST by NCDragon
RALEIGH -- Dr. Earl Sunderhaus, an Asheville eye doctor, has what might charitably be described as a brusque bedside manner.
That much is not in dispute.
But the N.C. Medical Board may decide Sunderhaus overstepped the bounds of decency when he recently told a patient she was irresponsible for being unemployed, on Medicaid, and relying on taxpayers to cover another pregnancy after giving birth less than a year earlier. What really galled her, the patient complained, is that Sunderhaus poked her thigh and told her she is fat. Quantcast
"When I got home I was very upset about the way I was treated by him," the patient wrote in a private complaint to the board. Efforts to contact the patient were not successful.
Sunderhaus, who describes himself as a plain-spoken old German, escalated the conflict by writing the patient to drive home his points using numbered paragraphs and signing it "sincerely."
Then, Sunderhaus fired off opinionated missives to the board, which called him to Raleigh on Thursday for a closed-door meeting.
(Excerpt) Read more at newsobserver.com ...
Paging Gregory House.
HA! I like this guy already!
I’m on the doctor’s side.
If this had been her ob or her GP and he had lectured her about the very real health effects of obesity as it pertained to her pregnancy or overall health he would have been within the bonds of his profession.
But just as pediatricians overstep their bounds by asking children if there is a gun in the house this guy overstepped by making a comment on a social situation he found (and I agree) unacceptable.
I don’t care if it is a desire to achieve liberal or conservative ends. Social commentary and outright attempts at social engineering do not belong in the doctor’s office.
If the doctor had reason to suspect she was committing fraud or any other criminal act he has every right to report her. Otherwise treat the patient and shut up about non health related matters.
Maybe we can get him to run against Obama in the Dem primary in 2012.
My kind of EyeGuy.
Love,
EyeGuy
This is a good doctor. More power to him!
Militant
This story reminds me of an HR Manager I had worked with in a prior company (and a very sharp woman I might add) who was confronted by one of our employees demanding that he be allowed to add his knocked-up girlfriend to our health plan. After explaining to him that our plan did not cover people outside of the immediate family, he started arguing with her. After a few moments she blurted out the obvious...”well, then, why don’t you just get married?”,
which sent him into a fit of white hot rage.
(oh, yes, and saying that to him apparently made her a Racist too...)
This is what we get when we teach people that health care is a right. When people have to live with the consequences of their actions — or DIE from them — then things will change. We need to end Medicaid ASAP and stop forcing hospitals to treat people who can’t — or won’t — pay.
Good for the doc! Was his patient black? Just curious.
The truth hurts (apparently it’s actionable as well)...
Dr. to patient: I see you also have thin skin.
Well if she was, it’s got to be racist. /s
I wouldn’t think he could actually loose his license over this.
Perhaps it is the guy that keeps getting her pregnant that has eye problems.
We need more physicians like this man. He needs to run for office!
I like this guy! BTW...my mother used to tell us 'don't get your bowles in an uproar' whenever we'd get upset or start yelling. I hadn't heard anyone else use it.
Really?
You think the woman's employment, income, family choices and weight are all the business of her EYE DOCTOR???
I'm not into PC coddling, but I believe in keeping my nose (and mouth) out of other people's personal business too.
If this guy was an MD, and was her doctor, then her weight is fair game, maybe her decision to get pregnant, if it had anything to do with her health.
But the rest was nothing more than social criticism, and would be rude coming from anyone not in her family.
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