Friday, December 2, 2011

I'm a Google Search Reject

Tamara D. Lynch, DVM
December 2, 2011


I just discovered that I am the subject of a not so great blog that is floating around out there.  What can a person do about it?  The author doesn't list any type of contact information or name so I have no real good way do defend myself... what to do... what to do...


Well... Create my own blog! Then maybe this will end up in the google search engine instead of my total disgrace.  I have never blogged before, and I really don't expect anyone to actually read this unless necessary, so bear with me.


First subject matter:  My personal defense!  I ended up on the Bad Vet Daily blog because of a public record that the author recieved.  The record itself is very accurate but the author's interpretation was less than glorious.

From the "Bad Vet Daily"

Tuesday, April 15, 2008


http://www.badvetdaily.blogspot.com/

Michigan Vet Tamara Dawn Lynch: Convicted Felon, Drug Diverter

"I don't know where how to classify this, but I am tempted to classify it under the infamous "Vets with Anger Management Issues" category. It might also be classified under the category of "blink and you'd have missed it" enforcement actions by state boards. "

(ok, my turn...  The "blink and you'd have missed it" comment was due to the very minimal and short duration of action that was taken by the state against my license.  The state board was actually made up of human beings that had a good understanding of what I was going through at the time and showed some decent amount of compassion for me.  Yes, I messed up, but there is a whole lot more to the story)
" In October 2006, Michigan Vet Tamara Lynch was "disciplined by the [Veterinary] Board's Disciplinary Subcomittee . . . [for] prescribing medications for herself using her cat's name, and failing to maintain appropriate veterinary records."

(my turn... This occured once.  The drug in question was a levothyroxine (thyroid supplement) that was prescribed by my endocrinologist.  I had been taking this medication for years.  I was under the impression that veterinarians were allowed to fill prescriptions as long as they were prescribed by a human doctor.  A lot of vets do this.  It was a Friday and my clinic was in the last frantic stages of preparing for our AHAA certification under the new standards.  I hadn't had time to fill my script yet and was starting to crash (I'm hypothyroid).  Ok, so I misplaced the written script.  I called the endocrinologist and she was out until Monday.  If the drug was in the clinic I would just fill it myself but I wasn't comfortable taking the "dog" stuff.  It is common practice to fill human prescriptions to have on hand at a clinic for clinic use so I didn't think twice about having the receptionist call it in.  At the practice I was at, we always called in our clinic use prescriptions under the doctor's pet's name to avoid any insurance confusion, because nobody wants to be involved  in an insurance fraud case! 
Seemed rather simple at the time. 

This all happened in 2003.  In 2006, my ex began a campaign to "eliminate" me legally and the prescription was reviewed along with all of the other hundreds of prescriptions that I had called in to pharmacies over the years.  Another story for another time.  Bottom line is, when the investigator questioned it I was quick to explain what happened, what I didn't realize, that what I had done was actually illegal and BAM! $500 dollar fine.  If the prescription had read "Veterinary Associates"  instead of "Bergy Bit" it would never had been questioned.  As it was, I was supposedly "diverting" this four dollars worth of thyroid from my cat to fill my own endocrinologist written prescription.  Pretty crazy - and those two little words "Bergy Bit" cost me a very good job.  Another story for another time.)

Since the time that this happened to me, the Michigan Veterinary Medical Association (MVMA)  published the following statement: ( http://www.michvma.org/displaycommon.cfm?an=1&subarticlenbr=29 )

I’d like to be able to fill human prescriptions for my employees as a benefit to them. Can I do this legally?
After consulting with the Michigan Board of Veterinary Medicine, we received the following recommendation: "Veterinarians should not fill prescriptions for human treatment. It is probably a fairly common practice as the drugs are the same but it is still dispensing to treat humans and that is practicing human medicine without a license."
The law regarding this is so vague that even the legal advisors at the MVMA had to get the Board's direct opinion on this one.

Ok, that's enough blogging for today... it is kind of fun though!