Gary Malakoff, M.D.It is both a criminal and a civil offense to prescribe controlled substances fraudulently. Doing so can result in imprisonment and the suspension of a license to practice medicine. Knowledge of a physician's having done so must be reported to both the Medical Board and the D.E.A. in our era of mandatory reporting laws. Malakoff prescribed controlled substances fraudulently, but no one reported him to the appropriate agencies. While chairman of George Washington University Medical Center's General Internal Medicine Division, he prescribed drugs for himself by using the name of a physician under his supervision. Eventually a suspicious pharmacist alerted the physician. The physician reported it to Alan Wasserman, the chairman of George Washington University's Department of Medicine where the reporting stopped. He did not report it to the appropriate agencies. Abusing prescriptions is something Malakoff had been doing for years. The fact that he was the personal physician of Vice-President of the United States, Dick Cheney, should make it more, not less, alarming that it was swept under the carpet. Unfortunately, there is nothing unusual about it. Malakoff had an addiction he could not moderate even after being caught. He lost a few positions, but was allowed to continue practicing medicine. When asked to comment on it, supervisors insisted that they had seen no evidence that Malakoff's problems having impaired his medical judgment. He breaks laws. He lies about it. He gets caught and continues to break laws and lie about it like an out-of-control addict would. But his medical judgment seems fine so he is above the law? He is above being held accountable for breaking laws because his medical judgment seems fine? This is the norm. This is wrong. This contributes to the high rate of physicians intentionally injuring patients as well as other patient safety problems. The stakes are low in medicine. Sin until caught. You might never get caught. You might spend your whole career under the influence or being predacious and get away with it. If you don't get away with it, moderation after being caught will be enough to avoid consequences. So the downside isn't a deterrent because there is almost no downside. And the odds of getting caught are miniscule. Who is going to report it? And who is going to believe the victim? Having an M.D. is a get-out-of-jail-free card. |
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