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Doctor with out a valid American Medical Liscence that outright lies in you medical

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Okcowboy67

Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Oklahoma

I go to the VA as I am a veteran. They have tons of foreign doctors without american schooling or liscences treating patients. One that treated me out right lied in my records. How do you get them the doctors corrected and punished? Why is a Doctor without proper credentials allowed to practice medicine on people and noone get arrested? Another thing is they cant be sued even if its beyond a shadow of dought they screwed up.
 


quincy

Senior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Oklahoma

I go to the VA as I am a veteran. They have tons of foreign doctors without american schooling or liscences treating patients. One that treated me out right lied in my records. How do you get them the doctors corrected and punished? Why is a Doctor without proper credentials allowed to practice medicine on people and noone get arrested? Another thing is they cant be sued even if its beyond a shadow of dought they screwed up.
How do you know the doctors are unlicensed?

Being foreign-educated and trained are not bars to practicing medicine in the U.S.
 

Taxing Matters

Overtaxed Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Oklahoma

I go to the VA as I am a veteran. They have tons of foreign doctors without american schooling or liscences treating patients.
The Veterans Administration (VA) does require its doctors to hold a license to practice medicine in at least one state. But that state does NOT have to be the state in which the VA facility is located at which the doctor works. VA doctors once hired may be assigned anywhere. So if you looked up the doctor in your state to see if he or she is licensed you very likely won’t find the doctor listed as licensed in your state. But the doctor will be licensed in some other state. Not all states require that doctors get ther medical training in the U.S. to get a license, and note that some foreign medical schools are at least as good as some American schools if not better. So do not assume that just because the doctor appears “foreign” or was educated in from some other country that his/her medical training and knowledge are automatically inferior to an American born and trained doctor. Indeed, I've met some foreign trained doctors who are truly outstanding and every bit as a good as the best American trained doctors.

The federal government is not subject to state law, so it may hire doctors, lawyers, and other professionals to work in any of its offices/facilities and not have to follow state licensing rules in the state where the office/facility is located. I worked for a few years for the IRS as an attorney. I did not have my license from the jurisdiction where the office was that I worked. My license was instead from a state nearly 2000 miles away. It didn't matter because the federal government was not subject to DC rules and thus IRS lawyers (and lawyers for every federal government agency, too, for that matter) did not have to be licensed in DC.

It is true that you cannot sue your VA doctor personally if he or she commits malpractice. Instead, you sue the federal government for that. Considering that the federal government has the deepest pockets of any potential defendant, this is not the disadvantage you may think it is. You don't have to worry about insurance limits or what assets the doctor has like you would if you sue a private doctor.
 

quincy

Senior Member
Following is a link to an interesting article by Aaron E. Carroll, professor of pediatrics at the Indiana School of Medicine, published in the New York Times, October 6, 2017. The article, "Why America Needs Foreign Medical Graduates," also provides additional links to recent studies, including one from the Journal of the American Osteopathic Association on "International Medical Graduates in the US Physician Workforce."

https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/10/06/upshot/america-is-surprisingly-reliant-on-foreign-medical-graduates.html
 

FlyingRon

Senior Member
One of my neighbors is a very successful internist that received his initial medical degree in a Caribbean country. He subsequently did his specialty work at Johns Hopkins. As pointed out, that if he is working at the VA, he's going to be licensed in some US state or territory. As Qunicy already said, those practicing medicine in some federal capacity (VA, PHS, whatever) only need to be accredited by some US board, not necessarily where they are assigned.

It's a far tighter requirement than, let's say, admission to a federal bar :)
 

Taxing Matters

Overtaxed Member
It's a far tighter requirement than, let's say, admission to a federal bar :)
With a few very limited exceptions, admission to practice before a federal court requires that the attorney be licensed with at least one state. Employment as an attorney with the federal government requires being licensed as an attorney in one state. Employment as a doctor with the federal government requires licensing as a doctor in at least one state. In short, the base requirement here is all the same. So I’m not seeing the basis for your statement that “admission to a federal bar” is somehow much less stringent.

It is true that a federal agency will look at more than just licensing to decide whom to hire. But that’s comparing apples and oranges — the federal courts when deciding whom to admit for practice are not making a hiring decision.
 

quincy

Senior Member
With a few very limited exceptions, admission to practice before a federal court requires that the attorney be licensed with at least one state. Employment as an attorney with the federal government requires being licensed as an attorney in one state. Employment as a doctor with the federal government requires licensing as a doctor in at least one state. In short, the base requirement here is all the same. So I’m not seeing the basis for your statement that “admission to a federal bar” is somehow much less stringent.

It is true that a federal agency will look at more than just licensing to decide whom to hire. But that’s comparing apples and oranges — the federal courts when deciding whom to admit for practice are not making a hiring decision.
Becoming a licensed doctor is FAR more difficult than becoming a licensed attorney. I think perhaps that is what FlyingRon means. :)
 

Taxing Matters

Overtaxed Member
Becoming a licensed doctor is FAR more difficult than becoming a licensed attorney. I think perhaps that is what FlyingRon means. :)
It might be, but it would have been far easier just to say that than make some more cryptic reference to admission to the “federal bar,” which I take to mean admission to various federal courts as there is no true “federal bar”, and is something that occurs after the lawyer gets his/her license to practice.

Certainly the requirements to become a licensed medical doctor are more rigorous than that required of attorneys. On the up side for doctors, they also are the highest paid profession in the U.S., earning significantly more than attorneys. The Bureau of Labor Statistics show an average (mean) annual salary for general practice doctors of $208,560 as of May 2017. (Dentists are not far behind general practice doctors with an average annual salary of $199,980.) Doctors praticing in certain specialities make significantly more. Topping the list are anethesologists, who earned on average $265,990 per year. Where do lawyers fit in? They earned on average $141,890. That was less than airline pilots, chief executive officers, some nurses, computer and information systems managers, petroleum engineers, architectural and engineering managers, financial managers, and marketing and sales managers. So I’d say doctors clearly benefit quite well financially over their years of practice from the extra rigor required to learn their profession and get licensed to practice. :D
 

quincy

Senior Member
It might be, but it would have been far easier just to say that than make some more cryptic reference to admission to the “federal bar,” which I take to mean admission to various federal courts as there is no true “federal bar”, and is something that occurs after the lawyer gets his/her license to practice.
I just guessed at what FlyingRon meant, by the way. :)

Certainly the requirements to become a licensed medical doctor are more rigorous than that required of attorneys. On the up side for doctors, they also are the highest paid profession in the U.S., earning significantly more than attorneys. The Bureau of Labor Statistics show an average (mean) annual salary for general practice doctors of $208,560 as of May 2017. (Dentists are not far behind general practice doctors with an average annual salary of $199,980.) Doctors praticing in certain specialities make significantly more. Topping the list are anethesologists, who earned on average $265,990 per year. Where do lawyers fit in? They earned on average $141,890. That was less than airline pilots, chief executive officers, some nurses, computer and information systems managers, petroleum engineers, architectural and engineering managers, financial managers, and marketing and sales managers. So I’d say doctors clearly benefit quite well financially over their years of practice from the extra rigor required to learn their profession and get licensed to practice. :D
The downside for doctors is that medical malpractice insurance rates are so high, the higher incomes doctors may have are necessary for doctors to be able to afford to practice medicine. ;)

Patent attorneys, as a note, have incomes right up there with the highest paid doctors.
 

Ohiogal

Queen Bee
One of my neighbors is a very successful internist that received his initial medical degree in a Caribbean country. He subsequently did his specialty work at Johns Hopkins. As pointed out, that if he is working at the VA, he's going to be licensed in some US state or territory. As Qunicy already said, those practicing medicine in some federal capacity (VA, PHS, whatever) only need to be accredited by some US board, not necessarily where they are assigned.

It's a far tighter requirement than, let's say, admission to a federal bar :)
Not necessarily.
 

cbg

I'm a Northern Girl
Are the relative difficulties in the licensing of two unrelated professions strictly relevant to the question at hand?
 

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