Now MY turn

This tennis ball goes both ways in this COVID discussion...

During COVID, many hospital leaders, administrators swallowed the blue pill very deeply. Felt empowered.. Now they REALLY had those smart ass doctors by the cojones! They had tried to corral and guide all those “simple” doctors into EMR (mostly junk) and force them to use drugs they preferred (pharmacists changed our drug orders) Follow protocols or “pathways” only approved by the hospital, operate when the hospital said you could…. Oh yeh, if you are not one of the chosen ones, who has BLOCK TIME, then you can just wait. Ask your surgeon.. “you have BLOCK TIME?” They will almost fall off their chair. You might want to consider that before you sign on the line for your surgery. I am getting off the path a bit, but if your surgeon doesn’t have a 0730 block start time, he gets to wait till the end of the day. Guess who lays in bed, starving, thirsty… NPO you know! It ain’t the hospital administrator.. or even you surgeon who makes it to the doctors young for free donuts where the docs and administrators schmooze each other trying to gain a foot hold on the stepping stones of leadership. Boy am I making some of my “buddies “ mad or what?

One of my fellow cardiac surgeons was not “Steppin ‘n fetching’” according to the administrators. They launched a “talk bad about the doctor campaign, full of lies.” HE sued them, Jury awarded 14 million dollars- to the slandered surgeon. I won’t go into details, but Think HOUSTON. and look it up.

But that was way before COVID. COVID just empowered the “leadership” cause they implied there was a legal force of power given to them by Fauci, or DHS, or CDC, or the tooth fairy or whoever…. and suddenly they were flexing muscles and requiring all to wear masks in hospital, not just OR. Requiring these funny never before used, experimental shots and threatening to kick off the staff, any doctor who refused, or fire any nurse who refused, and on and on. Eventually, the tyrants ripped families apart as COVID, or whatever this demonic beast was —caused people to get sick enough to come to hospital where they were whisked into ICU rooms, and often put on ventilators where 80% died.. and families were not even allowed to come in and say good bye. Insanity.

Well, now the ball is in MY court in this tennis match. You dipsticks got caught with your britches down. We naysayers were not spreading disinformation, but the truth. YOU non doctor 2 yr wonder administrators and your wimpy MDs that lined up with you are now in big trouble. You got some “splainin to do.”

Sure in California, they are really going after the doctors.. know what, 100s of thousands of Californians of all religions, races, ethnicity and status have moved to Texas. Just 45 minutes from here, Elon Musk is building the rockets to go to the moon and MARS. Just 1 hr from here, his Tesla factory is cranking out electric cars for those who want them. and in South Texas where I played as a blond headed little kid on the Beach at Boca Chica, Elon is building the Ships that will take us to MARS!. Not California, but Texas. Watch for a huge exodus of doctors from California back into states where they will be hired, appreciated and treated with respect.

But back to the tennis ball point. Many of us have retired instead of putting up with the insanity. Funny thing about administrators, medical leaders.. they don’t have a clue about doctors when they “hire” them. As I have moved around I NEVER had any medical staff leader sit me down and ask “while we know you have credentials, etc what things can you bring here we don’t even know about? What connections do you have that will help put us on the map in a positive way.?” They are clueless… and on the opposite end of the scale. When a doctor leaves a hospital, to practice elsewhere, or retire.. does the leadership request he sit down for an “exit interview?” Have you ever done an exit interview? If they won’t listen to you when you are working there, they probably don’t give a flip about what you think could improve their operations anyway. Sorry, I forgot - these Two year MBA wonders ARE the smartest person in the room - right? Well here is the deal.

When a doctor moves on - to another job, or retires, whether he retains his license or not, his friends family and former patients constantly call him/her for advice. Oh wait. maybe I should just say friends because my former patients are my friends too. They ask advice about disease conditions, surgery, planned surgery and RECOMMENDATIONS about where to go to get the surgery. Aha…now the ball is in my court. If my former hospital has disrespected me in anyway, in writing, by spoken word (ask my Houston heart surgery buddy)- I have options. it may not be to make 14 million dollars, but unless there is someone special in that hospital, do you think I am going to refer them back into that fold? Or to my colleagues who may have been competitors before but are solid outstanding doctors, maybe in a different town, etc. but these hospitals have fired their nurses for no shot (think they will come back for a job at that terrible place?) have let doctors off staff for no shot. (think they want to walk those halls again.??) Oh - I am still waiting for a phone call or email - you know like. “Thanks for working here” or “You have any insight into how we could have done things better?”—- CRICKETs CRICKETs

So as you read this piece from Steve Kirsch, realize the doctor is explaining what has happened. I am just pointing out - the ball is in our court now. Justice is coming like Thor’s hammer… you two year wonders… own it. Oh - Kirsch’s post now has >1300 comments… Let’s see if any are from doctors who have long memories and know how to return that tennis ball… with a slam.

Why doctors aren't speaking out