Doctor Allegedly Told Patient To Shoot Self

**TXCharlie** · 07-07-06, 11:32 AM

Maybe he shouldn't be diciplined, but I think his bedside manor needs some work

http://www.nbc5i.com/news/9481716/detail.html

Judge Orders Disciplinary Proceedings To Stop

POSTED: 6:58 am CDT July 7, 2006

CONCORD, N.H. -- A judge has ordered the state Board of Medicine to stop disciplinary proceedings against a doctor accused of telling a patient she was so obese she might only be attractive to black men and advising another to shoot herself following brain surgery.

Judge Edward Fitzgerald made clear in a ruling released Thursday that he did not condone remarks attributed to Dr. Terry Bennett and found them unnecessary, but ruled Bennett had a right to speak bluntly.

"It is nonetheless important ... to ensure that physicians and patients are free to discuss matters relating to health without fear of government reprisal, even if such discussions may sometimes be harsh, rude or offensive to the listener," he concluded in the ruling Wednesday.

The complaints against Bennett included charges that he told a white patient that she was so obese she might only be attractive to black men.

"Let's face it, if your husband were to die tomorrow, who would want you?" the board has said Bennett told the overweight patient in June 2004. "Well, men might want you, but not the types you want to want you. Might even be a black guy," it quoted him as saying, based on the woman's complaint.

Bennett, 68, has denied making the comment, but has said he's seen polls supporting that position.

"If you look at the polling, nobody likes fat women," he said last year. "Is it right? No. Is it sensible? No. Is it true? Yeah ... Black guys are the only group that don't mind that. Is that racist to say that?"

A 2001 complaint accused Bennett of telling a woman recovering from brain surgery to buy a pistol and shoot herself to end her suffering. The doctor was also accused of speaking harshly to a woman about how her son might have contracted hepatitis, according to the ruling.

Bennett claimed victory.

"If you look at the polling, nobody likes fat women," he said last year. "Is it right? No. Is it sensible? No. Is it true? Yeah ... Black guys are the only group that don't mind that. Is that racist to say that?"
-- Dr. Terry Bennett

"The question now is: Will the board waste more of your and my tax dollars and appeal this, or accept done as done?" he said in a telephone interview.

Fitzgerald also ruled that state and American Medical Association requirements to treat patients with "compassion and respect for human dignity and rights" are so vague they are unconstitutional. Bennett probably would have won his challenges before the board, the judge said.

Bennett said he planned to sue everyone involved for "malicious prosecution."

"I am not inclined to be forgiving about it," he said. "It's been devastating and infuriating."

Assistant Attorney General Elyse Alkalay, who represented the board in the court case, said she was reviewing the ruling and had not decided whether to appeal.

Bennett could have faced penalties ranging from a written reprimand to suspension or revocation of his medical license.

**TheOldRhino** · 07-07-06, 11:51 AM

Once again, you have no right to not be offended. I agree with the judge. Want a second opinion? Okay, you're ugly, too.

**Ducky** · 07-07-06, 12:34 PM

Sounds like this guy was the role model for House.

**Virginian** · 07-07-06, 12:39 PM

Now that man has fine taste in wimmenz.

**TXCharlie** · 07-07-06, 06:22 PM

Love that show!

**moggsp98** · 07-07-06, 07:20 PM

Why is it that when someone speaks the truth these days, everyone wants to cut thier nuts off in retribution?

**Ducky** · 07-07-06, 09:32 PM

Because it's more fun to point out flaws in others than it is to deal with the truth.

**Retdetsgt** · 07-07-06, 10:18 PM

I don't remember the details, but about a year ago here in Oregon a doctor got in a wringer for being "rude" to an obese woman when he told her something like she was a slob.

I agree with them, there is no excuse for the way some people balloon up and then expect the rest of us to pick up their medical bills via taxes or our insurance. I have to buy my own health insurance through the city and it went up 25% this year.

Mostly because of people like this woman!

**Ducky** · 07-07-06, 10:38 PM

What used to piss me off was the people I'd work with who took a 10 minute smoke break every half hour. I don't smoke, so I got a break at lunch. That's it. I got told once "But I HAVE to have a cig!" Now, you freaking don't. Ass.

/rant

**Andrewtx** · 07-07-06, 10:49 PM

Getting back to the doctor, pretty damn unprofessional.

**TheOldRhino** · 07-08-06, 12:28 AM

Originally Posted by Andrewtx

Getting back to the doctor, pretty damn unprofessional.

That's the beauty of our free market economy. Don't like it? Go somewhere else.

**Andrewtx** · 07-08-06, 12:50 AM

Originally Posted by Centurion44

That's the beauty of our free market economy. Don't like it? Go somewhere else.

I sure would.

**Retdetsgt** · 07-08-06, 12:56 AM

Originally Posted by Andrewtx

Getting back to the doctor, pretty damn unprofessional.

I suspect he was getting tired of dealing with this individual and was trying to shock her into doing something about her weight.

**Andrewtx** · 07-08-06, 01:03 AM

Originally Posted by Retdetsgt

I suspect he was getting tired of dealing with this individual and was trying to shock her into doing something about her weight.

Maybe so, although I'm most disturbed by the allegation that he told a woman to shoot herself in the head following brain surgery.

**Ducky** · 07-08-06, 01:12 AM

I somehow suspect that it may have been more along the lines of "if you (insert behavior here) after the surgery, you may as well shoot yourself in the head. It'd have the same effect," and the patient didn't want to hear that.

**General Patten** · 07-12-06, 01:51 AM

Originally Posted by Ducky

I somehow suspect that it may have been more along the lines of "if you (insert behavior here) after the surgery, you may as well shoot yourself in the head. It'd have the same effect," and the patient didn't want to hear that.

quite possible... some people have a bad habit of taking things out of context.

**Trojan 42** · 07-12-06, 03:23 AM

Originally Posted by Virginian

Now that man has fine taste in wimmenz.

Of course he does. He's English.

**Trojan 42** · 07-12-06, 03:39 AM

Once upon a time, in a land far far away, well not far for me, obviously, A certain officer, who looked a bit like me, was out running in the forest, with 16 Body Guard Students and 5 other Instructors. Nearing the end of the run the 22 Police Officers ran out onto a little used farm track that led back to the Training Camp and found a car. The engine was running and a hose ran from the exhaust and in through the window which was taped up. The man inside was surprised find 22 police officers smashing his windows and dragging him out. They took him back to the camp and called out the local police to deal with him. While waiting the man explained that his life was over as his wife had left him for another man and his business in France was failing. Hearing shooting he asked where he was and was told he was in the Metropolitan Police Firearms Training School. The Officer, who looked a bit like me, said that's what he should have done. Not driven all the way to England and tried to gas himself, but stayed in France and shot himself, far quicker. The man was taken away by local police. A couple of months go by and a message is received, from the local police, that the man had been released, gone back to France and shot himself. The message also said it couldn't be a very good Firearms Training School, as the man had missed with the first barrel of his shotgun.

Oops