Posted on 08/30/2005 5:14:06 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
CONCORD, N.H. (AP) - The state is investigating a doctor accused of telling a patient she was so obese she might only be attractive to black men and advising another to shoot herself following brain surgery.
"Let's face it, if your husband were to die tomorrow, who would want you?" the state Board of Medicine says Dr. Terry Bennett told the overweight patient in June 2004.
"Well, men might want you, but not the types you want to want you. Might even be a black guy," it quoted him as saying, based on the woman's complaint.
The board said it also is taking a second look at a 2001 allegation - deemed unfounded at the time - that Bennett told a woman recovering from brain surgery to buy a pistol and shoot herself to end her suffering.
Bennett made national news last week when the complaint from the obese woman became public without any mention of the racial comment. But Senior Assistant Attorney General Richard Head, who leads the state Consumer Protection and Antitrust Bureau, said Tuesday the woman complained about the racial remark, not about being lectured.
In a telephone interview Tuesday from Rochester, Bennett denied any wrongdoing and defended his message to her, saying he has read polls that say black men prefer overweight women.
Bennett added that he is angry the board is reconsidering the 2001 complaint.
"That patient is currently in a nursing home completely demented, tied to a chair drooling on herself and doesn't recognize anybody," said Bennett, 67. "She was in pretty nearly that condition at the time she filed that complaint."
Bennett's lawyer, Charles Douglas, said his client is being attacked by the board, which, by its own rules, does not discipline doctors for bedside manner.
"If a patient does not like the message, go to another doctor," Douglas said.
Head said the 2001 complaint is being considered as part of a review of Bennett's overall adherence to medical ethics. The state Consumer Protection and Antitrust Bureau investigates complaints against doctors, though the board decides how to act on them.
Head said privacy laws prevent him from disclosing the women's names.
The board can fine, reprimand or suspend doctors. It also can revoke doctors' licenses or require them to attend classes or treatment. A hearing is planned Dec. 7.
Earlier this year, Bennett rejected an effort by the board to resolve the latest complaint. The board wanted him to admit he had made a mistake and to attend a class on medical ethics, which he called "touchy-feely school."
Bennett previously was cited by the board in 1995 when, as part of a settlement to avoid discipline, he admitted lying on his 1992 and 1993 medical license renewal applications about being denied hospital privileges. He was fined $1,000.
Having waged a nearly life-long battle with being obese (currently winning)I'm aware of exactly how fat people feel. I still have no problem with a doctor saying "if you don't lose this weight you're very likely to have heart problems, diabetes, etc. and may die young." I don't think a doctor needs to sugar coat it, because the majority of obese (heck even just overweight people) want to ignore the fact that it's a problem or is likely to cause them problems.
Best post I have read all day.
TT
Ohhhhh heck...I was going to be a smart ass, but then changed my mind....
hehehe
It remains "The Post of the Day"
TT
Baby got back... and front... and side...
see! I ain't so bad afterall(looking at my profile in the mirror...)
ROTFLMAO!
LOL
Who is this . . . Dr. Don Rickles?
After she was told that she was too fat maybe she said that she wanted a second opinion.
(Thanks to KSFO's Officer Vic for remembering that old, old, old joke. ". . . OK. You're ugly too.")
Wish I could shake this doctor's hand.
I have ALWAYS appreciated my medical information to come from straight shooters. Not a time or place for PC types of answers. I believe.
If his state continues to pressure him to behave differently, I hope he takes his talent and services elsewhere. Then the whiners can complain "There are not enough doctors".
A sexist assumption that she (even wants) must have a man to be complete. /snicker
I suspect many wives would take the insurance and enjoy life without the encumberance of hubby. My wife says she wouldn't be all that interested in having another man around....am I doing something wrong??
Keeping on subject, this Doctor is an a-shole.
Shake his hand for being a jackass? There's a different between politically incorrect and being an ass. Why is it some freepers equate racist comments with being cool and unPC? Don't you folks get outside?
You like being treated by swaggering tin-plated dictators with delusions of divinity?
Well, to each their own.
Wish I could shake this doctor's hand. <<
Shake it while he is still practicing. He discussed a patient's case in public. The org that took the complaint tried to minimize it by omitting the black man part of the comment.
He's not a straight shooter. When he was discussing this complaint he ignored the black man part. When he was confronted with that issue, he read it somewhere?
He's a weasel, and he got caught.
DK
LOL nah I don't. He sounds like he's high on his own supply imho.
No question about it, this one will get his license yanked.
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