Goddammit! Sanjay Gupta is one of my chief contenders for Most Famous Indian in the U.S. NEMESIS.

Sent to letter to the editor TIME Mag:

Dear Dr. Gupta,

Firstly congratulations on passing your boards and becoming a diplomate of the American Board of Neurosurgery. That is a lot of time, sweat and money dedicated to that field of medicine to ultimately practice journalism. Secondly, your article “How I passed my boards” (TIME magazine, July 3, 2006, Vol. 168, No. 1) absolutely infuriated me. On June 10th I posted an article entitled “The Problem Facing Emergency Departments” lamenting the whole board certification issue.

A few things you should share with your readership:

1. Board certification does not necessarily make a better doctor. I know of a double-boarded physician who I would not let touch my pet hamster. While there are many GPs who are not BE/BC who are extremely capable and good doctors because of their years of experience (I consider myself one of those in practice). I believe experience is the true barometer of a competent physician.
2. Board certification examinations are limited to those who complete residency training. They shut out those doctors who have practiced and self-learned (via CMEs) from taking the test and becoming BC. It is as if the state required everyone taking their driver’s test to take drivers education. Not fair in my opinion. Downright discriminatory. But I know the reasons that may not be obvious to the lay person. The colleges have a stranglehold on the subjects they are certifying. They want to imprison them in residency training programs for years as a source of cheap labor in our healthcare system in return for permission to take the exam.
3. Furthermore in recent years the American College of Medical Specialties (ACMS) have required repeat examinations to re-certify physicians. They claim the reason is to keep a set standard. My impression is that they are lining their pockets over and over again by bilking the American doctor thousands of dollars to re-take the exams. Every state requires a set number of CMEs to be completed to maintain a medical license. Enforcing these requirements should insure a physician’s ability to keep up with the current standard of care and the cutting edge new technologies in medicine. I take my CMEs very seriously, I go over and above what is required for my licensing and you will never see me cutting class to swing a golf club.
4. The American public, hospital administrators and other involved have been duped by the ACMS into believing that boarded physician’s are better. They have convinced hospitals to change bylaws banning capable non-boarded physicians from practice. They are tightening their chokehold on our healthcare system to no ones benefit. While we have over 800,000 physicians in this country we are in a shortage which will be getting worse.

Respectfully,

JP Saleeby, MD
www.saleeby.net