Can a doctor legally attempt to kill his patient and not have to hide the crime? Does that assertion seem outrageous to you? It should. But, it happened to someone I know, and it could likely happening to you right now. This story isn't a new one and it isn't unique. It happens every day, across the USA, right under our noses. It includes conspiracy, invisible fraud and attempts to murder those who discover the crimes.

The reality behind the circumstance, in the example offered in this article, happened to have been discovered as the deception was being enacted, and documentation was begun. That was when the victim, in this case, began to feel the effects of political pressure that was being brought to bear, then the threats began, then there were direct and overt attempts to kill the victim, even charges by professional against the victim that they are mentally unstable, and other elaborate mechanics to hide the crimes in plain sight. And yet, it all started out so innocently.

It all began when the victim - an average sort of fellow - quizzed a pharmacist technician about the price of a medication his doctor had prescribed. You see, years ago that 'average fellow' was diagnosed with hypertension. It wasn't from being overweight, or being in a state of poor physical conditioning, or being aged (as the fellow was in his mid-thirties) - it was a simple matter of genetics. It was a condition he inherited from his father's genes, a pre-disposition towards having high blood pressure. His physician prescribed for his condition a mild, low dose blood pressure medicine that was effective, well documented, a medication that had been around for over forty years, and was low cost - literally costing less than the patient's health insurance prescription co-payment. Smart choice. It seemed a simple solution to manage what could be a serious, even deadly, problem, if the problem were not treated. And the physician reminded the patient that he would likely have to take this medication daily the rest of his life. Like I said, it all started off so innocently. A man in need of treatment, a physician offering a simple solution.

Over fifteen years go by, no problems. The medicine works, no complications, hypertension gone - as long as the patient takes his medication. But then, a change. The patient, whose children are now grown and gone, and whose health is intact, finds no cause to visit his doctor, except for an annual exam. Typically, in the course of the past years, he'd accompany his children to the Family Practice facility when they'd have the inevitable bouts of childhood flu, required sports physicals, minor injuries, etc., and upon those visits the patient, in this example, would always renew his own records - at the nurse's suggestion - to document his blood pressure. A smart suggestion that always verified the fellow's ongoing health, as long as he took his medication. But, like I said, things began to change for the patient. He was not typically ill, so visits with his children to the physician's office would see his ongoing prescription for his hypertension medication routinely renewed.

As the years past, though, he became self-employed. The patient attended to a busy schedule, which didn't always allow him the time to stop by his doctor's office - and he was no longer visiting the office with his children. The time came when he hadn't been to that Family Practice office in six months. His wife, who typically attended to collecting her husband's ongoing medications from the pharmacy, arrived at the pharmacy and there was no renewal on the low dose, low cost medication that the 'average fellow' required to maintain health - a medication that his own doctor told him he'd likely have to take the rest of his life on earth. Suddenly, that medication was not available - at the direct order ( or lack thereof) of his physician. Surprised, and assuming it was an oversight, the 'average fellow' contacted his doctor's office to inquire and arrange to repair the oversight. After all, for almost two decades there has been no interruption in access to the required medication - medication required to maintain health! Imagine the patient's surprise when his inquiries were answered by a nurse who explained that the patient is now required to come by the office for a formal appointment with the doctor, and would have to do so every ninety days -- or his prescription would not be renewed. The conspiracy began to express itself.

Explaining to the nurse that he was completely out of his hypertension medicine, at that point the patient requested over the phone a renewal for his hypertension medication, remember - the medication he required to maintain health. His physician agreed and the patient soon found himself holding a bottle that carried thirty tablets of his medication. But on the label, in upper case letters, was written the edict from his physician: "OFFICE VISIT REQUIRED". No refill order. What was happening here? Why all the pressure to visit the office, especially after having nearly two decades of experience with this physician and a long history of health, and a documented history of visits to the doctor's office if there was a change in his health. Now, a demand for office visits every ninety days, when such a demand had never been made in the past. What was happening? The patient called the doctor's office again and requested a visit with the doctor for the following week.

In that next visit the patient's eyes were opened to a big question. And it was the aftermath of that visit and in answering the question that revealed to the patient the conspirators in the crime that was occurring. At his visit with his Family Physician, the patient learned that, "Yes," ninety day visits are required - despite the patient's long history of good health. And, "Yes," the patient will still require his low cost, effective, mild dose medication for the rest of his life. But, "No," the patient's physician will not issue a semi-annual, or twelve month, prescription for the well documented and long used and established medication for the hypertension -- despite the fact that thousands of other physicians do that as a matter of practice with their patients who have good health and ongoing need for the same safe and reliable medication that this patient was taking. Why no long-term maintenance prescription for a mild, safe medication? Because that's the way the doctor runs his office, even though ninety-day visit were not a requirement over the last fifteen years, they are required now. The physician listened to the patient's heart, made a couple notes in the patient's chart, exchanged a couple friendly remarks with the patient, completed the paperwork documenting the visit, then away the doctor went, presumably to see another patient. The whole event took less than three minutes, with no significant exam occurring, and an office visit charge of sixty-five dollars.

Confused by what had occurred in his visit with his physician, the patient began to make some private inquiries about his physician's practice. Seems the physician had taken on new and increasing administrative duties relating to the office's association with a local hospital. Their was a need for more low impact revenue - meaning revenue that could be generated from spending little time with a patient - like a superficial exam for renewing an ongoing, maintenance oriented prescription. With some more research, the patient verified that literally hundreds of thousands of physicians prescribe the very same medication for hypertension, and when it is a part of a maintenance program of ongoing health, the prescriptions are frequently made for six to twelve increments, with the understanding that if any unusual symptoms occur the patient is to visit his physician immediately. The incidence of ninety-day prescriptions for such ongoing medications for that type of low impact, long used medications was in the realm of under five percent - and most of those cases were for short term usage. So, why would the patient's physician require a ninety-day visit requirement?

With that question heavy on his mind, the next month upon renewing his medication (the patient had decided to handle the renewal himself, because of the problems with his doctor relating to the prescription, instead of having his wife handle the refill), the patient was startled by the actions of the second conspirator. The prescription was there at the pharmacy, ready for pick up. But surprise replaced relief when the patient was asked to pay almost thirty dollars for a medication that only two years previous had only cost a few pennies over eight dollars. A medication whose research and development costs had been stretched out and paid back over fifty years of very active prescriptive use by physicians, and whose raw costs were under a nickel per tablet, was now costing the end user almost a dollar per tablet? What happened? How had the cost risen so dramatically and so fast?

Rather than attend to every detail of this scenario, suffice it to say that the impact to the patient in this example comes from healthcare providers whose lust for income have driven them to enact policies and prices that gouge the very people they profess to help, and do so in an environment that is more akin to crime than healthcare service, as our healthcare providers ransom our good health to us like pirates ransom the captive daughters of Governors. These professional healthcare providers don't stay up nights plotting methods of separating us from our hard earned income. They do it in the light of day, with the approval and help of legislature. They tend to feel they deserve and have a right to charge unreasonable rates for their services, after all, they are keeping us healthy, right? They provide us the means to have the health we require to continue to earn from and enjoy life. Historically, such providers have enjoyed a respected place in our society, so it is not wrong to insist that such an elite service provider be compensated accordingly. And it is because of that past manner that our society is having their health literally ransomed by medical and health oriented pirates. They provide us our health -- and they don't care how much it costs us.

Please, if you think these assertions are outrageous or over spoken -- don't take my word for it. Please, I insist you verify the facts of the statements, and do it from several sources, so you can juxtapose the data reliably. Visit government sources, independent healthcare providers, health organizations, the UN's World Health Organization -- they all report the same thing, that our nation's healthcare costs, in all areas, has grown substantially in the last decade, most especially in the area of pharmaceuticals. Healthcare political lobby specialists and those who benefit from the flood of medical oriented profits will cite study after study to reveal why the costs are increased, but the investment is needed. But the simple answer to that argument is that it is a fact that the citizens of the United States pay a hugely higher cost for medical treatment and medications than any other country in the world - yet we have some of the worst ratings for medical outcomes in the world. We must come to grips with the fact that our own medical providers and associated pharmaceutical suppliers are in it for the money, not our health, their cash flow and obscene profits are from a strategy to hold our health hostage till they collect a ransom. Think I'm exaggerating? Let's take a look at our example patient.

When our 'average fellow' finally confronted his doctor about the needless visits, and requested an annual or semi-annual prescription, the physician refused. The physician also refused to issue another prescription when the recent ninety-day prescription ended. The physician took that action knowing that without his medication the patient would suffer hypertension, and that his patient's life would come under a needless, preventable threat of physical death from stroke or other complications brought on by the effects of the hypertension. The physician refused to issue a new prescription until the patient gave in to the requirements of ongoing ninety-day office visits - for the rest of the patient's life. Talk about applying a threat of death. The threat for the patient was very real, give in to the process or die. Can you imagine a medical professional, whose pledge was to "do no harm," refusing medication to a man who is healthy - as long as he gets his medications - withholding required medication just so the patient would become ill enough to have to visit the doctor's office? It's a crazy, insane, scene whose logic is out of touch with reality. We pay the price for their demands. We pay the ransom on our health. How long are we to accept this outrageous and insane behavior from those charged with maintaining our public health?

It's a crime, no less an infraction than the type of "protection" payments that organized crime bosses have been guilty of collecting for so many years. Only worse, because these crimes come with the approval of the FDA and with help from laws passed by our Congress, which allow for the perpetrators to enact their crimes. They do it in the full light of day, then publish reports on their success. And they tell us to help hide their crimes, because if we make a cry for help, or sound an alarm, they remove our health from us. They withhold medical services. They subject us to quiet, personal discrimination, based on our refusal to follow the rules. Or worse, as in the case of our example patient, whose doctor eventually suggested the patient was possibly suffering from a mental condition that was causing him to become agitated and confused, and for that reason the doctor announced that the patient may have to seek medical services elsewhere. So in this society of ours, when you don't give in to the process, there is something wrong with the patient, not the healthcare system.

20 Plus years as a business professional. Experienced in many varied areas of industry. Trained by University in Journalism, Communications and Marketing. Trained by life to be a keen observer and listener. http://BurnThisBlogNow.blogspot.com