Hall of Shame: Insurance Companies Backing No on 46
Cooperative of American Physicians $10,161,489.04
The Doctors Company $10,000,000.00
NorCal Mutual Insurance Company $10,000,000.00
Kaiser Foundation Health Plan $5,000,000.00
Medical Insurance Exchange of California $5,000,000.00
The Dentists Insurance Company $1,620,000.00
The Mutual Risk Retention Group $1,000,000.00
All Insurers: $42,781,489.04
Total: $58,068,255.82
The Doctors Company $10,000,000.00
NorCal Mutual Insurance Company $10,000,000.00
Kaiser Foundation Health Plan $5,000,000.00
Medical Insurance Exchange of California $5,000,000.00
The Dentists Insurance Company $1,620,000.00
The Mutual Risk Retention Group $1,000,000.00
All Insurers: $42,781,489.04
Total: $58,068,255.82
Insurance companies have spent nearly $43 million dollars
to oppose Prop 46 in order to shield dangerous doctors like Dr.
Goldenberg (See the press release below for the complete story) from punishment, at the expense of patient safety, in order
to protect their already substantial profits. In total, the opposition
to Prop 46 has over $58 million dollars in their warchest, outspending consumer and patient safety advocates who support Prop 46 nearly 8:1.
Learn more about Proposition 46 and the campaign for patient safety at: www.yeson46.org
Press Release;
Doctors That Harm: The Real Stories Insurance Companies Against Prop 46 Don't Want You To Know, Part 8 of Consumer Watchdog Campaign Series Today's series covers Dr. Melvin Gurney - Impaired-At-Work Physician Ingested An Average Of 10,000 Pills Per Year
SANTA ROSA, Calif., Oct. 24, 2014
/PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- In 2008, two of Dr. Gurney's employees
reported that he was ordering large quantities of multiple controlled
substances, on a regular basis, that were not used for patient care.
They also reported that Dr. Gurney was practicing "all the time" while
under the influence. The Medical Board reported that one of his
employees said that Dr. Gurney was prone to "making mistakes in his care
and treatment of patients."
Dr.
Gurney's behavior became increasingly erratic and unfocused, and his
drug deliveries were increased every three weeks for about 800-900 pills
at a time. An employee also reported that Dr. Gurney was regularly
ordering 10-20 syringes of a powerful sedative, even though they did not
use such medicine in their practice.
When
Medical Board investigators finally visited Dr. Gurney, they asked if
he would submit to a drug test and he refused, demanding an attorney.
Then, saying that "something had come up," Dr. Gurney left California
for a month. An employee then told investigators that Dr. Gurney
"seemed to be impaired almost every day and that he seemed to get worse
in the last few months." She also reported that syringes, filled with
Lidocaine, would disappear.
When Dr. Gurney returned to California,
he refused to answer the Medical Board's questions, including why he
kept all the drugs in a locked safe only he had access to, if he had
ever used any controlled drugs in his office, and he refused to tell the
Board what prescriptions he was taking or who had prescribed the drugs
to him.
Dr.
Gurney eventually admitted that he began self-prescribing pain
medications in 2003 or 2004. He said that after about a year, he was
taking two pills every 4 hours and injecting himself with Versed. By
2006, he was using daily, including 8mg per day of Xanax, 3-4 tablets of
Ambien, 16 tablets of opioid analgesics, as well as a sedative. He
admitted that the large amounts of controlled substances he had ordered
were for personal use. Dr. Gurney also admitted that he felt impaired
while practicing medicine.
Over
a three year period, Dr. Gurney had used more than 30,000 pills,
including Xanax, Vicodin, Ambien, Percocet, Fentanyl, and Morphine. In
2012, he finally surrendered his medical license.
Proposition
46, the Troy and Alana Pack Patient Safety Act, will enact the first
law in the nation to require random drug and alcohol tests of physicians
in hospitals, modeled after the Federal Aviation Administration testing
program that has successfully reduced substance abuse by
pilots. Doctors found to be impaired on the job will have their license
suspended. If Prop 46 had been in effect, Goldenberg's substance abuse
may have been detected, possibly preventing threats to patient safety in
the process.
Hall of Shame: Insurance Companies Backing No on 46
Cooperative of American Physicians $10,161,489.04
The Doctors Company $10,000,000.00
NorCal Mutual Insurance Company $10,000,000.00
Kaiser Foundation Health Plan $5,000,000.00
Medical Insurance Exchange of California $5,000,000.00
The Dentists Insurance Company $1,620,000.00
The Mutual Risk Retention Group $1,000,000.00
All Insurers: $42,781,489.04
Total: $58,068,255.82
The Doctors Company $10,000,000.00
NorCal Mutual Insurance Company $10,000,000.00
Kaiser Foundation Health Plan $5,000,000.00
Medical Insurance Exchange of California $5,000,000.00
The Dentists Insurance Company $1,620,000.00
The Mutual Risk Retention Group $1,000,000.00
All Insurers: $42,781,489.04
Total: $58,068,255.82
Insurance companies have spent nearly $43 million dollars
to oppose Prop 46 in order to shield dangerous doctors like Dr.
Goldenberg from punishment, at the expense of patient safety, in order
to protect their already substantial profits. In total, the opposition
to Prop 46 has over $58 million dollars in their warchest, outspending consumer and patient safety advocates who support Prop 46 nearly 8:1.
Learn more about Proposition 46 and the campaign for patient safety at: www.yeson46.org
Paid
for by Yes on Prop. 46, Your Neighbors for Patient Safety, a Coalition
of Consumer Attorneys and Patient Safety Advocates - major funding by
Consumer Attorneys of California Issues and Initiative Defense Political
Action Committees and Kabateck, Brown, Kellner, LLP.
SOURCE Consumer Watchdog Campaign
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