MEDICAL BOARD LIES, INCOMPETENCE - OR BOTH?

9.23.10

IS IT MEDICAL BOARD LIES, INCOMPETENCE - OR BOTH?

The Oregon Board of Medical Examiner's (OBME) filed an erroneous, misleading and deceptive complaint against Dr. Gambee in May of 2010.  Dr. Gambee asked for a hearing.  His hearing request was ignored for over three months, and then on 9/7/10, he learned that on 9/2/10, the OBME, via a fax, had closed his practice using an Emergency Suspension Order, but the fax did not include the actual order.  The order did not arrive for almost another week.  By using an Emergency Suspension, the OBME suggests that Dr. Gambee is a danger to the public.  On 9/16/10 attorney William Wheatley filed a complaint against the Board members in Federal Court.  On 9/20/10, the OBME ammended its complaint from May, but it did not ammend its action against Dr. Gambee. This ammended complaint contains the specifics of the basis for the Emergency Suspension. After three weeks of being unemployed, without an explanation, Dr. Gambee finally received the specific basis for his Suspension.

This is an abbreviated response from Dr. Gambee to the Board's complaints.

Regarding Thyroid Treatment:

1. The OBME's Complaint stated, “Licensee has failed to comply with the terms of the Interim Stipulted Order (ISO), to include continuing to treat patients with thyroid medication who have TSH levels that do not exceed the levels specified by the ISO.”

Dr. Gambee's Comment: Regarding continuing to treat patients with thyroid who have normal blood tests - It is a basic, fundamental, tenet of medicine that when you treat a condition and reach your objective, whether it is normal blood pressure, the elimination of depression, relief of joint pain, etc., that you then continue to treat the condition.  Treatment is not automatically stopped as the OBME suggests.  The dose of medication may be adjusted, reduced, or perhaps eventually stopped, but often the medication is continued.  One exception to this would be in a case of infection, where antibiotics are used for a limited period of time.  Another is an acute situation where meds are used for brief periods and then discontinued, such as acute asthma or colitis.  The conditions of the ISO are to maintain a TSH between 0.3 and 3.0.  That is what the charts reviewed by the OBME and its staff indicate that he has done.

Re Treating patients with testosterone :

1. The OBME's Complaint stated, "by treating patients with testosterone who do not have abnormal testosterone levels”

Dr. Gambee's Comment: The ISO dictates that Dr. Gambee follow the guidelines
established by an article in the New England Journal of Medicine. The therapeutic goals specified in that article are “high normal levels” of testosterone. Nowhere in the article is it stated that testosterone levels must be abnormal before initiating or continuing treatment. Most of what the article recommends is to base the determination of appropriate levels of testosterone on the history and clinical response of the patient.

2. The OBME's Complaint stated, "and by failing to conduct or document a recent rectal prostate exam.”

Dr. Gambee' Comment:  This statement is egregious.  In both of the charts reviewed by the Board in July of 2010, it was clearly noted that the rectal prostate exam had been done in June of 2010!  The official who reviewed these charts is shamefully incompetent or prejudiced against and vindictive towards me – or both.

The above fictional and mislseading “violations” in the Board order were used to justify an Emergency Suspension of Dr. Gambee's medical practice.  Emergency Suspensions are usually reserved for when there is an immediate threat to the public, such as when a physician is found operating under the influence, cutting off a wrong limb, or molesting patients.

A Hearing on both the “Complaint” and the "Emergency Suspension Order" has now been set for December 13, 2010.  This will be over six months since Dr. Gambee received the complaint in May of 2010 and requested a hearing.  In addition, it will be over three months after his license to practice was suspended.

The Board's actions disregard the intent of the 1995 state legislature, when a bill was passed to allow alternative medical choices.  The amendment to ORS 677.190 reads:

(A) "Alternative medical treatment" means:
(i) A treatment that the treating physician, based on the physician's professional experience, has an objective basis to believe has a reasonable probability for effectiveness in its intended use even if the treatment is outside recognized scientific guidelines, is unproven, is no longer used as a generally recognized or standard treatment or lacks the approval of the United States Food and Drug Administration;
(ii) A treatment that is supported for specific usages or outcomes by at least one other physician licensed by the Oregon Medical Board; and
(iii) A treatment that poses no greater risk to a patient than the generally recognized or standard treatment.
(B) "Alternative medical treatment" does not include use by a physician of controlled substances in the treatment of a person for chemical dependency resulting from the use of controlled substances.