Doctor Christopher Gay

I have just now heard of this. If, and big if, the nurses were using the title of Registered Nurse, that would be a felony. If they just had a name tag that said "Nurse Jane Doe," that would not be illegal.

Also, Dr. Gay may have called them his medical assistants, a big difference from a Physician's Assistant.

This whole story is really bizarre.

Looking at some old obits, it appears he may have had admitting privileges at Helen Keller. Anyone know for sure?

FV, I didn't think Chiropractors had DEA numbers. What could he be leaving prescriptions for?

Also, I used an MD for a very brief period. This Doctor also 'hired them off the street'. I was bothered by that, but when I heard another patient ask for a Nurse, the 'Nurse' claimed to be one! I told the Dr about it and she blew me off. Oh yeah! I found out the Dr 'fired' me as a pt for not paying my 'bill'. I don't (or didn't then) have Dr bills! Hmmm....Maybe I understand that a little bit.

Body shaving won't work, unless you burn out nose hair and ear hair. They can use those for screening purposes also. I suspect that they could even collect hair samples from clothing, furniture etc. I doubt that they would go to that extreme in a case like this though.

Is drug screening a requirement for MDs? I have not heard of the courts using drug screening as a means of prosecuting a case.

WAFF reported the story yesterday morning.
Several years ago Dr. Gay was my sons's doctor for almost a year. One day we went in for his yearly required physical, Dr.Gay came in for a few minutes, then someone knocked on the exam room door and without a word he walked out and left us sitting there for almost 20 minutes while he stood in the hall and talked to a drug rep.
We changed doctors the next day.

quote:

Originally posted by F350:
Is drug screening a requirement for MDs? I have not heard of the courts using drug screening as a means of prosecuting a case.

Drug screening is not a requirement for all MDs, but Dr. Gay was reported to Alabama Board of Medical Examiners and therefore was required to submit to a drug test for licensing purposes.

Link

Dr. Gay is not a Medical Doctor; he is a Doctor of Osteopathy, or Osteopath. In some areas of the country Osteopaths outnumber MDs, but not in Alabama.

FV, what is an Osteopath?

It sounds like a "bone doctor". Is that wrong?

Osteopath: An osteopathic physician who is a Doctor of Osteopathy (D.O.). Osteopathic physicians complete a course of study equivalent to that of an MD at an osteopathic medical school and are trained in the awareness of the effects of body mechanics on health and disease processes. Osteopaths are licensed to practice medicine and may undergo medical specialty training. They may prescribe medication and perform surgery, and they often use manipulation techniques similar to chiropractics or physical therapy.

From Web MD...

My physician when I lived in Athens was an Osteopath. Many people prefer them to Medical Doctors. If anyone is familiar with the Sam Shepard murder case, he was an Osteopath.

Link

Not only does an osteopathic doctor complete the same required course work as a typical medical doctor, they also complete an extra several hundred hours focusing on the musculoskeletal system.

So jmbo35660, the answer to your question is that an osteopath is, in short, a more specialized than the everyday M.D.

quote:

just another mom

He also left his prescription pads for his nurses to write out refills ect. But, his NURSES were hired off the street. They had NO schooling to even be called nurses.

And then we wonder why there is such a presription drug abuse problem in our area. His office was probably filing insurance and making big bucks off work he was not even doing.

This doctor was on my Medicare list. I almost went to him, but got an appt with someone else sooner. I wonder if it was his wife who turned him in?

Is this the doctor who hooks you up to a computer and tells you what supplements to take?

quote:

Originally posted by HomesickGirl:
Is this the doctor who hooks you up to a computer and tells you what supplements to take?

Not that I know of: Link

I noticed WAFF and the ShoalsInsider had the report almost a week before the TD.

I was one of Dr. Gay's first patients when he came to Sheffield. He came highly reommended and was a good doctor then. He was kind and compassionate and seemed to really care about his patients. Things begin to change about two and a half years ago. There were staff changes constantly. Seems like every time I went in, which was every three months, someone was new. Two of the staff were fired for allegedly stealing prescription pads and drugs. Makes me wonder now. I don't know how much, if any, formal training or license the so called nurses had. They didn't wear a nametag or say they were a nurse, that I remember. However, to the average person, when you go into a doctor's office and a person wearing scrubs takes your blood pressure, temperture, and the like, then gives you a shot, you naturally tend to think that he or she is a nurse. How many of us ask each time we go in "are you a licensed nurse". And they did write prescriptions, even when Dr. Gay wasn't there. And that be came quiet often. I can't tell how many times in the last couple of years that when I went in for my appointment, I was told that he wasn't there, but that they could give me my prescriptions. Sometimes, Dr. Gay would even be there and I was told that he wasn't seeing patients today. But they would write a refill for my prescriptions. On all of these visits I still had to pay my co pay and my insurance company was billed for an office visit, even though I didn't see the doctor. Myself and the insurance company were billed for services never rendered. That's fraud in my book. And then we wonder why our insurance is so high, but that's another story. Yes, his weight has gotten to the point of obesity. I dare guess that he has gained 80 to 100 pounds. Or he has a lot of fluid build up. I changed doctors last year. I couldn't take not knowing what a visit would be like when I would go. When he did see patients, he had become cold and hateful. I had begun to suspect that there was a problem of some sort and I had enough health problems without taking the chance of something going wrong and having even more problems. It is sad, however, to have seen an intelligent young man, with a bright future, spiral into the mess that he is in today. Medicine is a wonderful thing for those who truly need it, but that same medicine becomes a drug with a horrible demon attached to when it is abused.