Head Rolling Doc

A doctor in Georgia allegedly threatened to “slit” her employees’ throats and has been charged with making terroristic threats. Call me crazy but that’s not part of the LEAN management system or is it?   Marian Antoinette Patterson, a family practice doctor, even told one worker she was going to “cut her head off and roll it down the hallway,” and that she’d call the employee’s children to show them. Ouch. Is that the new Six Sigma or is this?

Sheriff Ashley Paulk called Patterson’s situation “unfortunate,” and blamed issues happening in her life for her actions.

“It’s unfortunate, there’s some factors in her life that brought about some emotional problems I feel like,” Sheriff Ashley Paulk told WALB. “I hope this is something she can put behind her, because she has a lot of patients, a lot of people that trust her as their doctor, and it’s just one of those things that I hope she can work through.”

Well, not good enough.  Patterson’s medical license was temporarily suspended in March as the board received allegations that Patterson had been under the influence at the office several times.  Too bad for her family and her patients that need her. And who cares if those allegations could possibly be false since I am sure they were provided by the same staff that does not get along with Dr. Patterson?  Does a doc just go nuts for no reason or maybe, just maybe, the staff may have provoked her over and over again for whatever reason.  I am playing devil’s advocate here since I don’t know the answer but she is presumed guilty and that’s a shame. And now the board now needs to destroy her reputation.

As my friend Dr. Michael Ciampi sarcastically quipped, “This all could have been avoided if she had gone to the AAFP Physician Wellness Conference and done some yoga…”.

You are correct, Dr. Ciampi, it really is that simple (tongue firmly in cheek)