August 7, 2017
By
Carlos J. Cardenas, MD
President,
Texas Medical Association
Friday,
Sept. 1 is the start of the long Labor Day holiday. But for pregnant Texas
women who want their doctor to help deliver their newborn in the hospital, that
might not be a good day to go into labor.
The
Texas Medical Association (TMA), representing more than 50,000 physicians and
medical students, has launched the “Texas
Health Care Doomsday Calendar Countdown” awareness campaign to let the
public know about the dire and shocking crisis ahead for our state if the
legislature fails to pass a Sunset continuation bill for the Texas Medical
Board.
The
board, which licenses physicians, and the Medical Practice Act, the state law
that establishes the standards for practicing medicine in this state, will both
vanish Sept. 1 without legislative action.
Only
a few weeks are left for the Texas Legislature to pass a Sunset continuation
bill. Without this, we will see chaos, uncertainty, unnecessary pain and
suffering, and possibly avoidable deaths.
Here
is some of the chaos that will happen if we reach Texas Health Care Doomsday:
Without
licenses, doctors won’t be able to prescribe medicine and order all needed
tests, or practice in hospitals or other facilities that require a state
medical license.
With no legal definition of what it takes to be
a physician, anyone could open up shop and call himself or herself a doctor.
The public would be exposed to and unprotected from medical quackery.
Texas, which already has a physician shortage, could
lose some of our doctors to other states.
This
is not a doomsday movie script. It will be a shocking and dangerous health care
reality if the legislature doesn't act to keep the Texas Medical Board alive.
On
behalf of our patients, we thank the governor and legislature for their
diligent work so far in this special legislative session. But we urge them to
hear our passionate plea for our patients’ health and safety: Pass the bill.
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Carlos J. Cardenas,
MD, a board-certified gastroenterologist, practices in Edinburg, Texas. He is
the 2017-18 president of the Texas Medical Association.
TMA is the largest state medical society in the nation, representing
more than 50,000 physician and medical student members. It is located in Austin
and has 110 component county medical societies around the state. TMA’s key
objective since 1853 is to improve the health of all Texans.
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Contact:
Brent Annear (512) 370-1381; cell: (512) 656-7320; email: brent.annear[at]texmed[dot]org
Marcus
Cooper (512) 370-1382; cell: (512) 650-5336; email: marcus.cooper[at]texmed[dot]org
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