mtpolitics.net

Small Town Dr. Death, Cont.

The story about Ennis’ own “Dr. Death” has rattled me more than I thought.

Those of you who live in, or hail from, small towns know that it’s nigh impossible to not know just about everybody. So, it’s no surprise that I’ve known Bischoff for quite a while. (I’m intentionally dropping the honorific.) While he’s never been in my home, he’s been in the home other family members as an honored guest.

The Helena IR is carrying Perry Backus’s (Montana Standard) article about Bischoff’s hearing yesterday. Judging from the narrative, it sounds like he’s come completely unhinged.

Bischoff sat with his arms crossed, sometimes shaking his head, sometimes sneering and sometimes holding his eyes closed.

[...]

Standing at the doorway into the courtroom, Bischoff told law enforcement officials he didn’t know what the hearing was about and that he hadn’t talked to his attorney. He asked to make a phone call. He was led back downstairs. Bischoff later returned to listen to the charges.

[...]

Bischoff asked about the potential for a bail reduction hearing. He also wanted to know that because he’d employed District Judge Loren Tucker years ago as an attorney and paid him ‘‘a little over $10,000” as well as contributing to his election campaign, if that would amount to a conflict of interest.

[...]

At the conclusion of the hearing, Bischoff walked up to Madison County Sheriff Dave Schenk and said ‘‘I’d like to report a homicide.” He was then taken back downstairs to the jail.

The article ends right there. What homicide did he want to report? For some reason, this comment makes me think that he’s gone off his rocker. Also, his mention of a $16 million inheritance that is due to arrive this week seems a little too convenient for my taste.

In an earlier article, the AP reports that Bischoff claims that this is (har!) a “‘witch hunt” against him because he practices natural medicine.’ Strange notion, that. Since when are controlled substances part of a “natural” regime?

At least he turned himself in as promised. Over the weekend, I would have put even money that he’d be a no-show. On the other hand, though, he has shown some real arrogance, saying that “I have one goal and one goal only, and that is to win this case.”

While Bischoff is the first doctor in Ennis to be accused of a “mercy killing,” he isn’t the first to have problems with the dispensation of narcotics. His predecessor was let go for similar reasons; missing dosages, mainly narcotics and so forth.

This, I think, is illustrative of a larger problem; namely how to attract quality doctors to rural areas. Most good doctors are drawn to places where they can make higher wages, and recoup the cost of medical school. Not only that, but there isn’t really anything particularly challenging about being a general practitioner in Podunk, MT.

I know that there are incentives as far as paying off student loans to entice doctors to practice in rural areas, but those pale in comparison to what they can make in the larger cities. Given that, my hunch is that there are more than a few “C to C- or even D” doctors floating around in these smaller towns.

Another question I have in this whole scenario is this: How come this took 4 years to come to light? Why, when the nurse told Bischoff, “If you have the guts to do this then you better have the guts to chart it,” didn’t it get reported?

Then again, maybe it did get reported, and it just took this long to get to this point. By the same token, I was in his office one day (his actual office, not the exam room) after he had called me in, and he was on a rant about one of his patients that included some information that I should have never heard. Of course, I did nothing about it, other than keep my mouth shut.

The last news I heard is that his next hearing is 9/20. I guess we’ll just have to wait until then; unless his inheritance miraculously appears this week.