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Blunt doctor gets in trouble
Raleigh News & Obstructor ^ | November 20, 2009 | SARAH AVERY

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 ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; US: North Carolina
KEYWORDS: bluntdoctor; sunderhaus
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Looks like "PC-itis" gone overboard. No doubt she'd sue IF she developed diabetes and went blind and he hadn't give her any precautions.
1 posted on 11/20/2009 8:56:02 AM PST by NCDragon
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To: NCDragon

Paging Gregory House.


2 posted on 11/20/2009 8:58:53 AM PST by fullchroma (Obama: GET OUT OF MY DOCTOR'S OFFICE!)
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To: fullchroma

HA! I like this guy already!


3 posted on 11/20/2009 8:59:57 AM PST by rbosque (10 year Freeper!)
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To: NCDragon

I’m on the doctor’s side.


4 posted on 11/20/2009 9:01:30 AM PST by MSSC6644 (Defeat Satan. Pray the Rosary)
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To: NCDragon

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.


5 posted on 11/20/2009 9:01:43 AM PST by lastchance (Hug your babies.)
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To: NCDragon

Maybe we can get him to run against Obama in the Dem primary in 2012.


6 posted on 11/20/2009 9:02:09 AM PST by Retired COB (Still mad about Campaign Finance Reform)
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To: NCDragon

My kind of EyeGuy.

Love,

EyeGuy


7 posted on 11/20/2009 9:02:12 AM PST by EyeGuy
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To: NCDragon

This is a good doctor. More power to him!

Militant


8 posted on 11/20/2009 9:02:50 AM PST by militant2 (I may not agree with everything you say, but......hell, I don't agree with anything you say!)
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To: NCDragon

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...)


9 posted on 11/20/2009 9:02:54 AM PST by Buckeye McFrog
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To: NCDragon

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.


10 posted on 11/20/2009 9:03:42 AM PST by USALiberty
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To: NCDragon

Good for the doc! Was his patient black? Just curious.


11 posted on 11/20/2009 9:04:06 AM PST by RexBeach
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To: NCDragon

The truth hurts (apparently it’s actionable as well)...


12 posted on 11/20/2009 9:05:01 AM PST by rockrr (Everything is different now...)
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To: NCDragon

Dr. to patient: I see you also have thin skin.


13 posted on 11/20/2009 9:05:12 AM PST by TribalPrincess2U (demonicRATS... taxes, pain and slow death. Is this what you want?)
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To: RexBeach

Well if she was, it’s got to be racist. /s


14 posted on 11/20/2009 9:06:06 AM PST by TribalPrincess2U (demonicRATS... taxes, pain and slow death. Is this what you want?)
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To: EyeGuy

I wouldn’t think he could actually loose his license over this.


15 posted on 11/20/2009 9:06:57 AM PST by 1776 Reborn (Test kids and politicians (bigger idiots) on the Constitution!)
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To: NCDragon

Perhaps it is the guy that keeps getting her pregnant that has eye problems.


16 posted on 11/20/2009 9:07:58 AM PST by Random Access
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To: NCDragon
"I really do not see why this is such a problem. Was the doctor lying?"


17 posted on 11/20/2009 9:07:59 AM PST by Bloody Sam Roberts (An armed man is a citizen. An unarmed man is a subject.)
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To: NCDragon

We need more physicians like this man. He needs to run for office!


18 posted on 11/20/2009 9:08:22 AM PST by MBB1984
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To: NCDragon
"People have got to accept criticism without getting their bowels in an uproar."

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.

19 posted on 11/20/2009 9:09:36 AM PST by pgkdan ( I miss Ronald Reagan!)
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To: militant2
This is a good doctor. More power to him!

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.

20 posted on 11/20/2009 9:10:22 AM PST by TChris ("Hello", the politician lied.)
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