Unless I'm mistaken, the Commissioner for the New York State Dept. of Health, Dr. Richard Daines, is also the president of St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital where my abuse took place. How's that for a conflict of interest?

I originally wrote to Dr. Daines on November 4, 2005, seven days after the birth of my daughter and Dr. Claudia Holland's abusive behavior. Dr. Daines--the president of St. Luke's-Roosevelt--didn't respond, but I got a letter from Dr. Oded Langer, the Chairman of Obstetrics and Gynecology, shrugging off the whole incident, referring to it as "mutual agitation." (To which I say, a surgeon's lack of self control should not be compared with the agitation of a pregnant woman about to undergo surgery who is being shouted at and then slammed repeatedly on the OR table.)

There were some comments to my original post that have oddly disappeared. I'm not technically savvy, so if anyone knows how to get in touch with the folks at eblogger, please let me know.

The Office of Professional Medical Conduct (New York State) continues its investigation of Claudia Holland, M.D. I have Senator Charles Schumer to thank for writing on my behalf to the Commissioner of the New York State Department of Health, Dr. Richard Daines.

I just watched Michael Moore's film "Sicko." Very grim. Not only is there no political will to improve medical care in this country, but even if there were--which there isn't--it would take decades to get the U.S. out of its current state of health care chaos.

Of course, based on my experience, I am of the mind that the whole "Patient Bill of Rights" is a fraud. My rights were completely trampled. Organizations like the Office of Professional Medical Conduct could help if they could get their act together. My case is now more than a year and a half old (when I was told it would only take six months). Any witnesses in the operating room of Dr. Holland's unprofessional, abusive conduct have long forgotten it.

On a sad note, I received a letter from the executive assistant of the OPMC, in which she gets Dr. Holland's name completely wrong. In the subject line, and in the body of the letter, she writes "Dr. Claudia Cooke." I hope there's not a real Dr. Claudia Cooke! I want to make it clear that I'm not complaining about Dr. Cooke.