{"id":50648,"date":"2017-11-04T07:53:05","date_gmt":"2017-11-04T07:53:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/?p=50648"},"modified":"2017-11-04T07:53:05","modified_gmt":"2017-11-04T07:53:05","slug":"doctor-fights-to-regain-license-lost-to-lax-computer-skills","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/health\/doctor-fights-to-regain-license-lost-to-lax-computer-skills.html","title":{"rendered":"Doctor fights to regain license lost to lax computer skills"},"content":{"rendered":"

Doctor fights to regain license lost to lax computer skills<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

Doctor fights to regain license lost to lax computer skills:- Holding manila folders filled with pages of her handwritten reports, Dr. Anna Konopka insisted her system for keeping track of her patients\u2019 medical conditions and various prescriptions works fine.<\/span><\/p>\n

But the New Hampshire Board of Medicine disagrees. It is challenging the 84-year-old New London physician\u2019s record keeping, prescribing practices and medical decision making.<\/span><\/p>\n

Part of their concern is her remedial computer skills, which prevent her from accessing and using the state\u2019s mandatory electronic drug monitoring program. The program, which the state signed onto in 2014, requires prescribers of opioids to register in an effort reduce overdoses.<\/span><\/p>\n

Konopka surrendered her license last month and went to court Friday in an effort to regain it.<\/span><\/p>\n

Konopka doesn\u2019t have a computer in her office and doesn\u2019t know how to use one. Two file cabinets in a tiny waiting room inside a 160-year-old clapboard house hold most of her patient records. The only sign of technology in the waiting room is a landline telephone on her desk.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe problem now is that I am not doing certain things on computer,\u201d said Konopka, who emigrated from Poland in 1961 and has decorated her office with family photos and symbols from her homeland. \u201cI have to learn that. It is time consuming. I have no time.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

According to the state, the allegations against Konopka started with a complaint about her treatment of a 7-year-old patient with asthma. She\u2019s been accused of leaving dosing levels of one medication up to the parents and failing to treat the patient with daily inhaled steroids. Konopka, who agreed to a board reprimand in May, said she never harmed the patient and the issue was that the boy\u2019s mother disregarded her instructions.<\/span><\/p>\n

Four more complaints have since been filed against Konopka. The board in September voted to move forward with a disciplinary hearing on those complaints. But before the hearing was held, Konopka agreed in October to give up her license \u2014 something she said she was forced to do.<\/span><\/p>\n

Konopka has built a loyal following in New London, population 4,400, and surrounding towns because she brings a personal touch that is attractive to patients weary of battling big hospitals and inattentive doctors. She often attracts patients who have run out of options, many with complicated conditions, such as chronic pain. She also draws patients who have no insurance and little means to pay. She takes anyone willing to pay her $50 in cash.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m interested in helping people. I didn\u2019t go to medicine for money, and I didn\u2019t make money,\u201d she said, noting she works alone and can\u2019t afford things like and administrative assistant or even a nurse.<\/span><\/p>\n

Her ongoing fight with the state has prompted scores of patients to write letters on her behalf and call her repeatedly to check on her case. Several of Konopka\u2019s patients attended Friday\u2019s hearing, some admitting they had struggled since she stopped seeing them.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt stinks, but you have to find a new doctor, and it\u2019s a rat race,\u201d said Stanley Wright, who saw Konopka the past year for chronic back pain. \u201cThe doctor I had before was over-medicating me, and she gives me a lot of herbal stuff and I was doing a lot better. Now, I\u2019m back to being screwed. I don\u2019t know what to do.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

At the hearing, Konopka told Merrimack Superior Court Judge John Kissinger that her inability to practice is putting her patients at risk because they are having a hard time finding another physician and getting drug prescriptions.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIf I close my office, they will be without medical care,\u201d she told the court. \u201cSome of them need medications. Who will prescribe for them if I don\u2019t have a license? I worry what will happen to them.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Kissinger did not rule Friday on Konopka\u2019s request.<\/span><\/p>\n

Assistant Attorney General Lyn Cusack said Konopka\u2019s request should be denied, arguing the doctor has been given plenty of time to close her practice and help patients find other doctors. She also said Konopka hasn\u2019t provided any evidence she was forced to give up her license. If she wants to get her license back, Cusack said, Konopka could file for reconsideration with the Board of Medicine.<\/span><\/p>\n

Source:-\u00a0https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/business\/technology\/doctor-fights-to-regain-license-lost-to-lax-computer-skills\/2017\/11\/03\/f88d03b6-c101-11e7-9294-705f80164f6e_story.html?utm_term=.7ceb5e5dc8e2<\/span><\/p>\n

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