Save Our Doctors

By Maureen Kennedy Salaman

President, National Health Federation
March 2005

God grant, that not only the Love of Liberty, but a thorough Knowledge of the Rights of Man, may pervade all the Nations of the Earth, so that a Philosopher may set his foot anywhere on its Surface, and say, "This is my Country." ‑‑Benjamin Franklin

This issue of the Health Freedom News celebrates the 50th anniversary of the National Health Federation - the oldest, most dedicated health-freedom organization in the World.  While we have made profound inroads toward the goal of freedom of choice for the consumer and freedom of practice for the practitioner, interference, persecution and blatant rejection of our freedoms still continue.

Physicians who advocate alternative therapies and practice medicine in the best interest of their patients continue to be harassed, hounded, and persecuted by the medical establishment using technicalities and legal arguments that have nothing to do with quality of care.

Physician's Practice Threatened

The most recent of these victims is Murray Susser, MD, past president of the American College for Advancement in Medicine, former director of the International College of Applied Nutrition, officer of the International Academy of Preventive Medicine, past president of the American Association for Health Freedom, and board member of the National Health Federation.

Dr. Susser is a physician whom I respect greatly.  He is not only a superb scientist (leader in developing new treatments for chronic fatigue syndrome) and a doctor trusted by his patients, but I am also familiar with his work and know ‑ without a question of a doubt ‑ that his ethics and standards are ‑ absolutely and definitely ‑ of the highest caliber.

Dr. Susser has served his patients with integrity, knowledge, creativity, and total commitment since 1966, achieving results for the most difficult cases.  Desperate patients have often told him that he was their last resort and he has always and continues to be willing and able to rise to their challenges.

He has earned his stripes professionally by treating people from every walk of life.  From billionaires to super stars to people on assistance, Dr. Susser has had the privilege to serve. Sharon Stone, Brian Wilson, and Dixie Carter are a few who have acknowledged Dr. Susser in the media.   He has had many patients, even doctors, and who saw no improvement in their conditions until they came to Dr. Susser.  Many had been to prestigious medical centers and universities.  Because these patients were never treated beyond drugs and surgery, they never received what their bodies truly needed.

Dr. Susser Persecuted

Now the California Medical Board – which we feel is  very much under the influence of the drug companies, and opposed to alternative treatments ‑ is trying to limit his medical license using the highly questionable argument that he departed from Standard of Care because he used Ketamine to treat his patients' pain.

The two patients involved in the case had been Dr. Susser's clients for eleven years without complaint.  They had severe muscular pain, sometimes called fibromyalgia.  Realizing the devastating side effects of the chronic use of steroids, Dr. Susser substituted the anesthetic drug Ketamine.

His decision was not experimental, ill-conceived, or uninformed.  In 1995, Dr. Jay Goldstein reported that Ketamine could be used intravenously for pain relief.  Ketamine has long been extensively used for burn patients, and Dr. Susser also knew that it was sometimes used intramuscularly as a potent analgesic.  Ketamine is an anesthetic drug with a good safety record, used in pediatric surgery as well as cosmetic and veterinary procedures.  It has been proven over the years to be non-toxic.  It worked well for his patients, giving them genuine, well-tolerated pain relief.  They had nothing but positive words for Dr. Susser's care.

Standard of Care - by Whose Standards?

Standard of Care is defined by conventional medicine as what is "appropriate" treatment. The legal definition is: "The standard of care is the level at which the average, prudent provider in a given community would practice."

Do you want your physician to be average - and when your life or well-being is at stake, will prudent do?  Standard of Care has nothing to do with quality of care, or effectiveness of care, or whether or not a patient has been treated well, or cured.  The medical care in question can be of the highest quality, with the best result and include the highest satisfaction by the patient, but if it demeans from the norm, is creative, experimental, or alternative, it can be considered a "departure from Standard of Care."

This is how conventional medicine hogties physicians and stops them from practicing medicine based on a patient's needs - stopping them from exercising their freedom to practice medicine using their own intellect, knowledge and experience.

You Can Help

You can help overturn this travesty of justice.  You can be instrumental in not only restoring Dr. Susser's practice, but help him influence the very people who vote against him.

The Medical Board of California (MBC), the people who are threatening Dr. Susser with sanctions, are guided by their Enforcement Division (ED).  The ED is an entrenched bureaucratic police force that has time and again demonstrated an unmitigated bias against alternative medicine as they do not seek objective information or provide justice to physicians.  This bias has also existed for decades among the appointed MBC members, who get their information from the Enforcement Division.

This horrendous system of oversight had caused an exodus of good alternative physicians from California.  It has also discouraged many physicians from using alternatives.  The alternatives may be safe medically, but they are a danger to the medical license of any practicing doctor.

Dr. Susser wishes to change this.  As Dr. Susser strives to defend himself against this travesty, he wants to make a difference in the MBC system by becoming a member.

He should be appointed to the MBC in order that they may for once have an experienced and capable practitioner to monitor their judgments and explain with a voice of reason, the values and safety of the alternative medical practice. A doctor with Dr. Susser's knowledge and experience in the field has never been appointed to the MBC.  It is about time one was.

A great man once told me, “If you tell the truth and keep telling it, eventually your word will be the word of the universe.”

Most of conventional medicine started as unconventional.  Innovations with value eventually become accepted and assimilated.  Now there is a giant mass of new medicine to join the fold, and Dr. Susser wishes to serve his profession and humanity by using his 37 years of intense experience to turn the art of alternative medicine into the mainstream.

Please help Dr. Susser help us.  If you are a California resident, use the petition in this issue to declare your support of Dr. Susser and ask Governor Schwarzenegger to appoint him to the MBC. We've fought and won good battles, but the war is not over yet ‑ not until we win our freedom of medical choice - freedom of practice for the practitioner and freedom of choice for the patient.