Texas Medical Board Under Fire
Unfounded Actions Lead to Multiple Patient Suicides
by David Noblett
The clock read close to noontime. My weary eyes had been fixed on the monitor screen of my computer since 6:00 a.m. Going back some 22 months ago, and one-after-the-other I was reading emails I had received from the many patients of Dr. William D. Littlejohn, M.D. of Fort Worth. Likewise, I had been re-reading the many personal letters the patients had mailed me and that were now strewn all over my desk.
Finally, I just couldn't take it anymore as I blurted out loud, "Damn it! I hate and detest you, Texas Medical Board. It is despicable at what you have become. I abhor all the harm you have caused!"
Strange how the words rolled so easily off my born-again Christian tongue with not one repenting bone in my body. I meant every word I said. [Throughout the remainder of this article I will be inserting excerpts from the patients' emails and letters I had been reading which caused me to rend the air with my anger toward the TMB.]
"Dr. Littlejohn had my pain under control. Now, the state medical board (TMB) has made my condition the worst it has been in several years. I have been to the emergency room as my only option for treatment. My marriage is on the rocks due to my pain. I have had thoughts of suicide since my pain has doubled. YES, DEATH IS RELIEF!"
~ a Patient
It all began in November of 2006. That is when the Texas Medical Board "temporarily" suspended the medical license of Dr. William D. Littlejohn, my doctor for the previous 14 years. Doc LJ is a pain physician specializing in treating chronic pain patients (CPPs). CPPs are those who have suffered from a disabling disease or injury. They have been traded off from one doctor to another with every possible and known medical treatment performed on them to cure their affliction or restore their health and eliminate as much pain as possible with little or no success. Finally, having done all they know to do, these doctors give up on them with these parting remarks: "We have done everything we know to do and there is nothing left that we can do. As far as your unbearable and excruciating pain is concerned, learn to live with it."
"I have been having suicidal thoughts because of the pain, depression and no quality of life."
~Doc LJ Patient
As a result of their abandonment by the medical community, typically, these patients regress into invalid and disabled states of existence and are unable to live a somewhat normal and productive life. Men find themselves no longer able to work for a living to support and provide for their families and women can no longer bestow their mothering and wifely skills to their family and home. It is almost impossible for these CPPs to find a pain physician since more of them are getting out of pain medicine than are entering into this medical specialty. They fear the DEA and the TMB stripping them of their medical license and ending their careers or throwing them in prison for prescribing pain medicine to their pain patients. Don't laugh. There are to this very day former pain physicians serving time in prison for the "criminal act" of treating their CPPs!
You have to understand what is in the mindset of the TMB to know why they have such animosity toward pain physicians and their chronic pain patients. They view pain physicians as "pill pushers" or "drug dealers with a license" and their pain patients as "legal drug addicts".
As an agency made up of mostly, and supposedly, medical professionals representing Texas physicians, it is truly amazing the extent of their total ignorance regarding pain medicine, the pain physician and chronic pain patients! What the TMB did to Doc LJ, in "temporarily" suspending his license, is a prime example of their attitude and mindset toward pain physicians and their patients. Doc LJ's license was suspended "temporarily" (22 months ago!) based on "one" lone complaint by "one" lone renegade attorney representing "one" lone former patient in a "3 minute" hearing! Shortly after the suspension, both Doc LJ and I presented to the TMB the absolute and irrefutable proof
that the complaint was a pack of lies. In her own handwriting, the patient in the complaint confesses that the complaint was obtained by perjury and suborning perjury by the criminal renegade attorney who filed the complaint.
Doc LJ and I presented this written confession and new evidence to the TMB. However, to this day, the TMB has chosen to ignore and not even consider this confession as evidence of the falsehood of the complaint and grant the reinstatement of Doc LJ's license. (Because of space restrictions, I can't give a detailed account of the "temporary" suspension of Doc LJ's license in this article. I can only provide a short summary here. For a full account contact me at
sky_pilot@att.net).
"Since the Texas Medical Board took our Dr. Littlejohn from us, my husband does not want to live because of so much pain and because he is unable to support us. I have no choice but now to be sick every day of my life and thinking it's not worth living some days because of the pain that I have. Me and my family are going through hell!"
~Husband and Wife Patients'
About the same time when Doc LJ and I presented the TMB with the irrefutable evidence of the handwritten confession, we also presented them a "Demand Letter", based on the matter of life and death, for the immediate emergency reinstatement of his medical license. In his own words, here is a portion of that demand letter to the
TMB:
"This is to inform you that because of your unwarranted temporary suspension of my medical license and subsequent Forced Medical Abandonment of my chronically ill pain patients have placed them in harm’s way at this very moment. I am fearful for my patients, justified by the documentation that I and Mr. David Noblett have received by way of their own personal letters, in which they candidly reveal their sad physical, emotional and mental states since having their regular ongoing medical care taken from them by way of my suspension by the board. Several of my patients have in no uncertain terms stated to me and Mr. Noblett that they are on the verge of committing suicide if they do not "soon" find relief from their constant pain and suffering. Despite every attempt possible, these patients have been unable to find a pain physician, or any other physician, who is willing to treat them for their chronic pain infirmity. And as a "last option" they are considering the "final solution": suicide. This demands your immediate action. The very lives of some of my patients are at stake! Based on the welfare of my patients I hereby demand the immediate emergency reinstatement of my medical license."
~Demand Letter to TMB
Feb. 25, 2007
Normally, when the lives of a physician's patients are at stake, it is enough to justify the TMB to institute the emergency reinstatement of his license to continue to treat his "at-risk" patients while and until the allegations in the complaint are dealt with. And yet, true to their historical and despicable nature, the TMB completely disregarded, ignored and refused to answer or respond to this Demand Letter. They totally ignored a physician's plea that was a matter of life and death to many of his patients whose very lives were at stake, as well as excerpts from patients' letters considering suicide.
"Somebody better re-instate his license as soon as possible. Get this fixed before someone gets hurt or dies as a result of patient killing family or him self."
~Wife of Patient
"I am tired of suffering from not having Dr. Littlejohn's services. I am contemplating suicide simply from not being able to deal with all the pain."
~Patient
"I had thought of eating a bullet and taking the easy coward way out. Had I not pawned a 44-40 saddle rifle some time before, chances are I might have used it."
~Patient
"In doing this, the TMB has put me in the most suffering state of illness and sickness I have ever been. I WISH I WAS DEAD! I think it's not worth living some days. My family and I are going through hell because of the Medical Board."
~Patient
"I am fighting thoughts of suicide and giving up on life because of the severe pain. …missed 5 weeks of work …unable to walk, work and live a normal life. I am now separated from my wife and lost my 165K home…in financial distress. I do not know how much longer I can make it. To be in my situation, I wish this on no one-- not even the devil himself."
~Patient
So what has been the outcome from the TMB's turning a deaf ear to Dr. Littlejohn's impassioned plea for his "matter of life and death" patients or the patients’ cries to the TMB for a little compassion to receive their life-saving medical care? And, lastly, what about the TMB's stubborn-as-a-mule refusal to grant an emergency reinstatement of Doc LJ's license so he may treat his "at risk" patients? So far, three suicides of Dr. Littlejohn's chronic pain patients! (2 confirmed---1 unconfirmed in Illinois). These are only the cases that we have been made aware of. We have no idea what is the true total amount of suicides from the over 300 chronic pain patients that were under his care.
In a recent conversation with Dr. Littlejohn, we discussed his Demand Letter, his life and death plea for his patients who were in harm’s way and those patients who have taken their lives as the "final solution."
"The TMB proved the predictability of suicides being a consequence of the abrupt temporary suspension of my license. The February 25, 2007 date indicates I warned the board of potential suicides before the two confirmed cases in June 2007 and July 2008. [I'm uncertain of the date and validity of the unconfirmed suicide that may have occurred in Illinois.]
“Dr. Patrick, TMB Executive Director, and the Texas Medical Board cannot claim they were not forewarned of the potential for suicides as both you (David) and I put the TMB and Governor Perry on notice many weeks prior to the first tragic suicide. I agree there may be more suicides among my chronic pain patients that we are not aware of.
“Neither the TMB nor the Governor express an interest in the lives and welfare of chronic and intractable pain patients. The TMB cannot use ignorance as a defense. In particular, Dr. Kalafut, TMB President, the proximate cause of the TMB board action against me, claims to be board certified in Pain Management, so she certainly can't use ignorance as an excuse. But the entire TMB has no concern for chronic pain patients and the prevailing attitude is distain for those who should just 'suck it up and accept it'. And they look at pain doctors with a jaundiced eye."
Finally, I want to tell you about one of Doc LJ's patients in particular. His name is Ben D. Before his disability,
Ben had been a military veteran and seasoned law enforcement officer. He was also an important and passionate member of our DOC LJ-PCAG (Dr. Littlejohn-Patient Class Action Group) [For more details contact
sky_pilot@att.net] made up of Doc LJ patients working together to get his license reinstated. He joined me with Doc LJ as we attended the TMB Town Hall meeting in Fort Worth on July 1, 2008.
Ben stood to address the TMB regarding the atrocities they had committed against Doc LJ's chronic pain patients’ as well as his own personal unbearable and excruciating pain. The TMB turned a deaf ear to his cries. Ben knew the TMB didn't listen to a word he said. It was Ben's emails I had been reading that caused me to shout out, "I hate and detest you, Texas Medical Board!" Let me share with you a few excerpts from some of Ben's emails:
"There are days in this house that we do not eat. After paying utilities, the last doctor I saw, and medicine, there wasn't any money for food. The State offered me $8.00 (eight-dollars) a month in food stamps. [And this, a veteran and former law enforcement officer!] My current doctor told me straight out that, after what has happened to Doc LJ, he is afraid of the DEA and the TMB. He has already cut my meds by 45% and wants to cut that back because he is afraid. After pleading and begging, he agreed not to cut them. Once again, I'm going to be in trouble trying to find meds."
"Normally I go months without any chest pains, but this was like getting hit in the chest with a sledgehammer and someone choking me at the same time. This is the second time this week. I know this is because I don't have my meds and it's putting extra stress on my heart. It's 3am and I'm wide-awake. I never sleep, I pass out from exhaustion. I'll stand with you as long as the good Lord will let me."
"I am really stressed out. Every day it gets harder to go on. I talked to a friend of mine who is an attorney and asked him to help my wife dispose of my valuables if I don't make it through this. I don't want her to get cheated on the price of ' MY GUNS'. All of us have our breaking points and I have reached mine. I pray to God every day to help me continue on, that I can't go on without His help. But I feel like He doesn't hear me. Pray for me. God may hear your prayers…Ben"
"My guns". I couldn't take my eyes off those words. "My guns"…the means and method Ben used a few short days after the TMB Town Hall meeting as the last option and final solution to end his miserably painful life, which cries and pleading the TMB turned a deaf ear towards.
In our conversation, Dr. Littlejohn ended with these words, "I pray there will be no more deaths but have little hope there will not be as time goes by and their chronic suffering goes unrelenting and unrelieved.”
To this I say, “One thing is clear and sure, Doc. Every day that passes as the TMB maintains a deaf ear to the pleas of pain physicians and the cries of their suffering CPPs and continues to hold your license hostage---when it comes to your suffering CPPs and suicides---sadly, we can only expect more.
