As home to some of the countries top ranked hospitals and most prestigious medical schools Massachusetts is an international healthcare hub with world-class teaching, research, and clinical care. Two of the top three psychiatric hospitals in the United States as rated by U.S. News and World Report are found here in Massachusetts with McLean Hospital earning the top prize and Massachusetts General Hospital ranked number three. However, this medical mecca of learning and research is apparently unable to attract anyone with the competence and skill to assess a physician for addiction or substance abuse.
In Massachusetts if the State PHP, PHS,inc. feels a physician is in need of an assessment the evaluation must be done at “a facility experienced in the assessment and treatment of health care professionals.” No exceptions. And apparently these esoteric skills are only found in Georgia, Arkansas, Alabama, Kansas, and a half dozen other far-away places.
With over 20 years experience with the Massachusetts PHP, Physicians Health Services, inc., Harvard Medical Schools Dr.’s John Knight and J. Wesley Boyd wrote an article in the Journal of Addiction Medicine last year concerning ethical issues in state PHPs.
One of the issues they discussed was the conflicts of interest between the state PHPs and the evaluation centers. One comment I was surprised got past editorial review was that the treatment centers may “consciously or otherwise” tailor diagnosis and recommendations to the PHP’s impression of that physician. “consciously” tailoring a diagnosis is fraud. It is political abuse of psychiatry. It is unethical. It is, in fact, a crime.
If you cross-reference the medical directors of the “PHP-preferred facilities” with the list of LMD’s it is a perfect match.
Therefore when the PHP refers a physician for an evaluation and gives them a choice of an assessment facility there is no choice. It is three card monte. A shell game. Heads I win tails you lose.
She likes a rigged game, you know what I mean?”
— R.P. Murphy in Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
Published in the March 17, 2014 newsletter Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Weekly, an article entitled “Physician group urges focus on spiritual and psychosocial” describes a group of doctors who “emphasize that for all addictions, the psychosocial and spiritual interventions, including 12-step interventions must be included in the treatment process and,” according to founding board member Dr. Ken Thompson, M.D., “to not do so falls short of practicing good addiction medicine.”
With a “significant percentage” in 12-step recovery themselves, “they have formed a group called “Like-Minded Docs,which has more than 150 physicians, many of whom are medical directors of top treatment programs and also members of the American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM).” Dr. Thompson is in fact the Medical Director of Caron treatment center in Pennsylvania. The group…
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Disrupted Physician 
[…] The ASAM has monopolized addiction treatment in the United States. It has imposed it on doctors through the FSPHP. The FSPHP political apparatus exerts a monopoly of force. It selects who will be monitored and dictates every aspect of what that entails. It is a, in fact, a rigged game. […]
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[…] Three shells and a pea–ASAM, FSPHP, and LMD. […]
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[…] The ASAM has monopolized addiction treatment in the United States. It has imposed it on doctors through the FSPHP. The FSPHP political apparatus exerts a monopoly of force. It selects who will be monitored and dictates every aspect of what that entails. It is a, in fact, a rigged game. […]
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[…] Step 2 = Send to a “PHP-Approved” assessment and treatment center where like-minded friends will “tailor” the diagnosis […]
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[…] At best we have unqualified zealots. But one major problem I have heard over and over again from physicians forced into these programs is… […]
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[…] Health Programs as a replicable and successful model, you will inevitably find a doctor on this list who is behind it. It is a […]
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[…] At best we have unqualified zealots. But one major problem I have heard over and over again from physicians forced into these programs is… […]
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Manifestations of absolute power and unrestrained managerial authority with no meaningful oversight, regulation, or accountability are found in all types of organizations, increasingly, and without resistance from the many affected. Defiers and conscientious objectors are beaten down, often with the assistance or blessings of their mislead peers. It is indeed a culture of institutional injustice one might call psychopathic or fascist. What will it take for people to notice and react?
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Sorry, my comment was meant for the Physician Suicide article—not here!
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Yet the shoe fits– the institutional injustice of the scaffold erected here is no doubt contributing to physician suicide
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[…] and the entire process is done within the confines of A.A. ideology. It is a, in fact, a rigged game as the medical directors of the PHP approved facilities can all be seen on this list of […]
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[…] As a physician-patient relationship renders drug testing “clinical” rather than “forensic” the consequences become “treatment” rather than “discipline.” And that is the real reason behind all of this. A positive “forensic” test in most employee random drug screening programs today will result in an “assessment” for substance abuse. Most EAPs allow a choice in where that assessment takes place. The model this system is based on, Physician Health Programs. do not allow choice as evaluations are mandated to “PHP-approved” assessment centers; a rigged game. […]
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[…] The ASAM has monopolized addiction treatment in the United States. It has imposed it on doctors through the FSPHP. The FSPHP political apparatus exerts a monopoly of force. It selects who will be monitored and dictates every aspect of what that entails. It is a, in fact, a rigged game. […]
LikeLike
[…] manipulation of personality and cognitive tests to support nonexistent diagnoses at these “PHP-approved” assessment centers. The relationship between the state PHP’s and the “PHP-approved” assessment […]
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[…] The medical directors of almost if not all of them can be seen on this list of “like-minded docs.” The conflicts-of-interest and intertwined relationships among this group is staggering. […]
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[…] At best we have unqualified zealots. But one major problem I have heard over and over again from physicians forced into these programs is… […]
LikeLiked by 1 person
[…] As a physician-patient relationship renders drug testing “clinical” rather than “forensic” the consequences become “treatment” rather than “discipline.” And that is the real reason behind all of this. A positive “forensic” test in most employee random drug screening programs today will result in an “assessment” for substance abuse. Most EAPs allow a choice in where that assessment takes place. The model this system is based on, Physician Health Programs. do not allow choice as evaluations are mandated to “PHP-approved” assessment centers; a rigged game. […]
LikeLike
[…] As a physician-patient relationship renders drug testing “clinical” rather than “forensic” the consequences become “treatment” rather than “discipline.” And that is the real reason behind all of this. A positive “forensic” test in most employee random drug screening programs today will result in an “assessment” for substance abuse. Most EAPs allow a choice in where that assessment takes place. The model this system is based on, Physician Health Programs. does not allow choice as evaluations are mandated to “PHP-approved” assessment centers; a rigged game. […]
LikeLike
[…] As a physician-patient relationship renders drug testing “clinical” rather than “forensic” the consequences become “treatment” rather than “discipline.” And that is the real reason behind all of this. A positive “forensic” test in most employee random drug screening programs today will result in an “assessment” for substance abuse. Most EAPs allow a choice in where that assessment takes place. The model this system is based on, Physician Health Programs. does not allow choice as evaluations are mandated to “PHP-approved” assessment centers; a rigged game. […]
LikeLike
[…] The ASAM has monopolized addiction treatment in the United States. It has imposed it on doctors through the FSPHP. The FSPHP political apparatus exerts a monopoly of force. It selects who will be monitored and dictates every aspect of what that entails. It is a, in fact, a rigged game. […]
LikeLiked by 1 person
[…] Health Programs as successful and replicable models, you will inevitably find a doctor on this list behind it. It is a […]
LikeLiked by 1 person
[…] The ASAM has monopolized addiction treatment in the United States. It has imposed it on doctors through the FSPHP. The FSPHP political apparatus exerts a monopoly of force. It selects who will be monitored and dictates every aspect of what that entails. It is a, in fact, a rigged game. […]
LikeLike
[…] The FSPHP political apparatus exerts a monopoly of force. It selects who will be monitored and dictates every aspect of what that entails. It is a, in fact, a rigged game. […]
LikeLike
[…] The FSPHP political apparatus exerts a monopoly of force. It selects who will be monitored and dictates every aspect of what that entails. It is a, in fact, a rigged game. […]
LikeLike
[…] The FSPHP political apparatus exerts a monopoly of force. It selects who will be monitored and dictates every aspect of what that entails. It is a, in fact, a rigged game. […]
LikeLike
[…] The FSPHP political apparatus exerts a monopoly of force. It selects who will be monitored and dictates every aspect of what that entails. It is a, in fact, a rigged game. […]
LikeLike
[…] The FSPHP political apparatus exerts a monopoly of force. It selects who will be monitored and dictates every aspect of what that entails. It is a, in fact, a rigged game. […]
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[…] Furthermore, the medical directors of every “PHP-approved” facility belong to a group of doctors “in recovery” called “like-minded docs.” They have recently taken down the names on their website but the latest public display of names can be seen here. The medical directors of all of the “PHP-approved” drug and alcohol assessment centers are prominently displayed including Marworth, Hazelden, Talbott, Promises and every other one. Not only are the drug and alcohol assessment centers represented but so too are the “disruptive physician” gulags such as Vanderbilt. Either it is a small small world after all or this is a racket. It is a racket and how it works can be seen on my post “three shells and a pea.” […]
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[…] The FSPHP political apparatus exerts a monopoly of force. It selects who will be monitored and dictates every aspect of what that entails. It is a, in fact, a rigged game. […]
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