12/11/2019    

RESPONSES/COMMENTS (NEWS STORIES) - PART 3A

RE: 15 Docs Fired From IL Health System to Be Replaced With NPs (W. David Herbert DPM, JD)

From: Allen Jacobs, DPM

 

Dr. Herbert, an active plaintiff’s attorney for Foot Law, should know better than to suggest that an NP or RN be held to an MD or DO primary care standard if they “wish to act like a primary care provider.” That is akin to saying that a podiatrist should be held to an orthopedic surgeon standard if they “wish to act like an orthopedic surgeon”, or a neurologist standard if the podiatrist is treating neuropathy, or a rheumatologist standard if the podiatrist evaluates or treats acute gout.

 

A PA will be held to the standards of a PA. An RN the standards of care for an RN. A podiatrist held to the standards of care for a podiatrist. PAs and CRNPs are now acting as hospitalists and now increasingly active in independent, unsupervised healthcare. They diagnose and treat disorders which are commonly treated by podiatrists. That is reality.

 

They are not “pretending” to be primary care physicians, nor "acting as though" they are podiatrists. Like chiropractors, they function within the legally and statutorily defined scope of practice for their degree. You may provide what you believe to be a superior quality of care, but that is irrelevant. The PA or NP or CRNP may provide care based on the standard of care for their degree. Ditto the podiatrist, dentist, optometrist, or any healthcare provider.

 

Allen Jacobs, DPM, St. Louis, MO

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03/22/2021    

RESPONSES/COMMENTS (NEWS STORIES) - PART 3A

RE: TN Podiatrist Discusses Challenges of Being a Woman in a Man's World (Michael J. Schneider, DPM)

From: Amol Saxena, DPM,  Patricia Kirk, DPM

 

Two articles by colleagues on sexual harassment and gender discrimination in our profession, both appeared in last year's Journal of Foot & Ankle Surgery: Article 1, Article 2. I encourage those commenting to read the above, and if they haven't already, the book Caste by Isabelle Wilkerson.

 

Amol Saxena, DPM, Palo Alto, CA

 

Here are a few articles: Article 3, Article 4, Article 5. I am hoping that this is enough to satisfy Dr. Schneider's need for Dr. Mendoza to prove herself. Or would you be more impressed with her re-telling her hellish stories of inequalities to you? Shall I start with the guidance counselor who told me that I should marry a surgeon? How about the surgeon who would rub himself all over any female resident? The orthopedic surgeon who asked me every single day for months how many men I had had sex with? (The nursing staff alerted my director about this situation, because of course I had no "proof", so I took this garbage from this guy every day!). The sexual innuendos in every damn case? Or how many times was I told that I should just marry a doctor? I guarantee you that my quiet strength and the fact that I made it through don't need to be proved; it was there, it was always there! Asking her to substantiate this with all the literature available is exactly why it has gone on for so long.  

 

Patricia Kirk, DPM, Lexington, TN