By David Lubofsky for Kandit News & Views
Do you want to improve accountable medical care on Guam at a very basic level. If so, it’s time to stand up and tell the Guam Board of Medical Examiners that they need new leadership and we need to be your priority which hasn’t been the case over the last six years or so. There is good reason after three attempts that the Guam 37th legislature was not able to re-confirm Dr. Nathaniel Berg to the Guam Board of Medical Examiners. Yet, with all of the documented reasons and testimony Senators Chris Duenas, Jesse Lujan, Will Parkinson and others still don’t care to understand or even know how the lack of accountability at the Guam Board of Medical Examiners under Dr. Berg, has led to a further demise of Medical care on Guam. This has put medical consumers at risk.
Please help us to protect injured or killed patients due to medical substandard care and/or medical negligence by Guam doctors. Please help to protect victims of sexual misconduct by Guam doctors.
Dr. Berg and the Guam Board of Medical Examiners have failed to fulfill their mission of protecting the public in these areas and have actually worked against consumer rights and medical accountability.
There is no one on Guam that can debate the fact that the Guam Board of Medical Examiners, chaired by Dr. Nathaniel Berg, has been a key factor in the demise of medical care on Guam. These, among other issues, as presented here warrant a removal of Dr. Berg from the Guam Board of Medical Examiners or at the very least new leadership.
Licensing of Sex Scandal-laden Doctors
At least nine women made sexual misconduct allegations against Guam doctors that were licensed by Berg and the Guam Board of Medical Examiners. These doctors had previous histories of this behavior before coming to Guam, but Berg, as chair of the board, licensed them anyway. There are also cases of medically negligent doctors with known histories before coming to Guam licensed by this board, and then they did the same thing again on Guam. The board licenses doctors to work on Guam who have [allegedly] injured patients in other places.
Berg and the Guam Board of Medical Examiners have also, in my opinion, covered up medical negligence investigations by making decisions in a vacuum, not involving the victims and refusing to give victims input, instead releasing the flawed investigation to the media with no input to the victim.
What About the Impartial and Federal Reports of Malpractice?
They have ignored off island impartial reports and have dismissed federal impartial reports as hearsay. Investigations of complaints against doctors are considered confidential, but instead of keeping confidence, Berg and the board released results of an investigation to the Pacific Daily News without telling the victim’s family, forcing them to read the results in the PDN.
Berg is tasked to investigate doctors and clinics that also [allegedly] make referrals to his business or where he has placed his imaging machines. [Presumably, h]e makes big bucks off of these clinics and doesn’t recuse himself from the investigations. This [apparent] major conflict of interest seriously puts consumers at risk. The appearance of a conflict of interest, if not an actual conflict, over shadows any required impartial investigation, keeping doctors protected who have injured Guam medical consumers.
Berg has done everything possible to make sure doctors who commit medical negligence are not held accountable, again putting Guam medical consumers at risk. A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that doctors who are sued once for malpractice are more likely to be sued again.
The study found that one percent of doctors paid 32 percent of all malpractice claims. The researchers also found that the more doctors are sued, the more likely they are to be sued again. It is a vicious cycle that leaves a trail of injured patients in its wake.
System Is Rigged; Not a Single Case Adjudicated In Favor of Patients
Dr. Berg has privately met many times with senators and others pushing to keep laws on the book that protect negligent doctors and that put medical consumers at risk. These are the same laws that attract doctors to Guam who have negligent histories, who then get licensed by this Board. I call it the “circle of medical negligence” that greatly puts the people of Guam at risk. It’s a repeat performance medical sin that Berg and the Guam Board of Medical Examiners want to protect negligent doctors, rather than protecting the consumers.
Our information indicates that in near 65 cases that fell under Berg’s tenure with the board, not one has been decided in favor of a victim complainant against a doctor, including sexual misconduct accusations and a documented death where doctors signed off on a wrongful death lawsuit.
Berg and the Guam Board of Medical Examiners are required to list doctors profiles online by a 12 year old consumer protection law with recent amendments, including negative negligent histories. They had to be taken to court to do this but still found a loophole so that medical negligent settlements are not listed. Berg has stated publicly that he does not want to follow this law and instead states that the consumer protection law must be changed. [I believe t]his was another ploy by Berg to prevent medical accountability and to cover up medical negligence or sexual misconduct histories.
The Guam legislature has held oversight hearings regarding the numerous complaints against this board. In true arrogance, Berg was unable to answer questions that were given to him in advance or refused to answer them. He was even asked how they lost a four month old complaint regarding sexual misconduct against a doctor. He blamed others but he is the chair. When consumer victims spoke at the legislature, Berg, as in the past left the room. As chair of the Guam Board of Medical Examiners, it’s his role to protect the public not walk out on them when they speak.
Judge Arthur Barcinas mandated that Berg and the Guam Board of Medical Examiners must develop policies for investigations of complaints to keep them impartially standardized. Judge Barcinas also mandated that Berg and the board develop the website with doctor’s profiles for consumers. Instead of doing these consumer protection mandates ordered by Judge Barcinas, Berg and the board decided to use tax dollars from the people of Guam to have the attorney general fight to keep the status quo and not follow the judge’s mandates that help to protect consumers.
Giving Us the Middle Finger
In essence, Berg and the board used tax dollars to limit tax payers’ rights and to keep the status quo, the same status quo that has brought on all of the complaints against Berg and the board.
Dr. Berg has repeatedly showed disrespect to our elected leaders who are trying to protect the people of Guam, including in the peoples hall at the legislature. See the videos off of our page. Deaths, injuries and sexual misconduct is what the Guam Board of Medical Examiners is responsible for thru their policies or lack thereof, and lack of an impartial process for investigating physician complaints. Dr. Nathaniel Berg, as the chair, is fighting the loudest to keep consumers from being protected and to keep doctors not accountable.
We have to ask what the hell is wrong with Chris Duenas, Jesse Lujan, Will Parkinson, Tina Muna Barnes etc to support clearly documented failure by Dr. Berg and the Guam Board of Medical Examiners? What are you getting out of it personally as no rational person would agree with you nor would the 65 victims who went to Berg and the Guam Board of Medical Examiners and got the proverbial middle finger.
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David Lubofsky is a resident of Tamuning and an outspoken advocate for medical accountability.
