I am posting Dr. Roop's letter below at his request. He specifically stated his name and contact information be included. I applaud his courage. As was the case with the Inquisition, this is system that relies, above all else, on secrecy and silence.
Effective "Impression management" requires both promoting positive information and suppressing negative information.
The "PHP-blueprint" has been effectively propagandized via a back-slapping parade of congratulatory misinformation; a promotional campaign that includes exaggeration of the existence and dangers of the doctors they target as well as their inflated abilities and success in "helping" these doctors and protecting the public. Aimed at the legal, regulatory, and administrative arenas of medicine as well as the the general public, the PHP moral crusade has flourished without any meaningful opposition.
Suppression of negative information is necessary and involves both removal ( comments critical of PHPs are rapidly removed as spam) and prevention. One way of preventing negative information is by silencing critics. Those enrolled in PHP programs who speak out often suffer "swift and certain consequences" and this effectively silences the rest.
In reality If more people like Dr. Roop spoke up this abusive system of coercion, control and corruption could easily be identified, exposed and reformed.
The stories are the same and these patterns must be recognized.
Doctors are vulnerable to medical abuse, just like any other patient. Their knowledge of medicine and the medical system, means that they question, as they should, the validity and appropriateness of any treatment. It has long been proven that patients that question their doctor's decisions and the quality of the care provided to them, fare better and have better outcomes and are less subject to medical error or medical fraud.
The Physicians Health Program is based on a flawed philosophy that Doctors must be beaten down, forced to be submissive and obedient to PHP authority who intimidate and control, deny access to services, impose punishments, and even create criminal records with impunity and immunity.
This not quality care for anyone. It is abuse. The PHP paradigm is just another example of how false constructs come to to be regarded as irrefutable truth.
Once in the clutches of a PHP a doctor is told – obey us, or lose your license, your hospital privileges, your credit rating, your good reputation – obey us no matter what we tell you to do.
If you stand up to them, they take you down, very publicly and humiliate you, and destroy your career and good name. Then no other doctor who saw the retaliation that happened to you is willing to buck the PHP system. It is essentially extortion.
Dr. Janet Parker, a a human rights and disability advocate has personal knowledge of doctors forced into the Washington PHP program Dr. Roop speaks of below.
These doctors told her that they had a plan to kill themselves if a PHP "peer counselor" came anywhere near them – they meant it.
3 doctors in the Washington PHP did commit suicide during the period of time when she was interviewing the WPHP referred doctors. Last year a doctor I went to high school with and have known since childhood hanged himself due to the abuses of the Washington PHP. HIs crime? He was pulled over for speeding five years prior after having a few drinks at a social function. He was given a breathalyzer and blew just over the legal limit–his entry ticket into the system Dr. Roop describes below. As is often the case, he was given a positive alcohol biomarker just as he was about to complete the five-year PHP contract This results in re-assessment at a "PHP-approved" facility, a new contract with the PHP and another five-years of drug and alcohol testing all paid for out of-pocket.
And this is a national problem–three doctors being monitored by the Oklahoma state PHP killed themselves during a one month period (August 2014).
There is no evidential standard used and false accusations and even forged documents are routinely used against the targeted doctor. Physicians are ill prepared for such criminal tactics used against them, by the time they realize it is happening, it is too late to stop the inevitable process that threatens their medical license. This is very emotionally traumatic to doctors who have always excelled in their schooling, worked hard to get where they are, and are facing the loss of not only their professional careers but also financial security, their self esteem and self concept.
Skipper GE, Weinmann W, Thierauf A, et al. Ethyl glucuronide: a biomarker to identify alcohol use by health professionals recovering from substance use disorders. Alcohol and alcoholism. Sep-Oct 2004;39(5):445-449.