NORMAN J CLEMENT RPH., DDS, NORMAN L.CLEMENT PHARM-TECH, MALACHI F. MACKANDAL PHARMD, JOSEPH SOLVO ESQ., REV. C.T. VIVIAN, JELANI ZIMBABWE CLEMENT, BS., MBA., WILLIE GUINYARD BS., BRAHM FISHER ESQ.,JOSEPH WEBSTER MD., ESTER HYATT PHD.,BRAHM FISHER ESQ.,MICHELE ALEXANDER, BERES E. MUSCHETT, STRATEGIC ADVISOR
TAMPA IS THE MODERN DAY TULSA
The common man or woman has very little understanding of how so-called drug policies directly affect their daily living, until they become are diagnosed with some chronic illness or have a loved one who may be facing death. Then, the importance of chronic illness and disease states is ever so critical.
Let it further be clear, patients being treated for chronic pain who travel to a Black-owned pharmacy are called “RED FLAGS” by the DEA and these pharmacies are classified as imminent dangers to the “Public Health.” While the same patients traveling to non-black owned pharmacies, with the same prescriptions, using the exact same payment methodology, the fictitious label of “red flags” does not truly exist.
However, the large chain pharmacies and their parent companies clearly violate laws through false billings and even forged prescriptions on their part, while the DEA collects billions of dollars in what amounts to “extortion fines” and the large chains are given a pass. These warnings remain ever so obliterated, and one cannot ignore the functions of how race works in these types of proceedings.
On, May 13, 2020, from The United States Drug Enforcement Administration press-release: Omnicare agrees to pay over $15 Million to resolve allegations it improperly dispensed opioids at long-term care facilities.
Drug Enforcement Administration Seattle, Keith R. Weis, Special Agent in Charge @DEASeattleDiv(link is external) Contact: Jodie Underwood Phone Number: (206) 553-1162 (2)
The double standard clearly on display as there was not a single CVS executive charged criminally, and or sent to prison. Nor, does it appear a NOTICE was hereby given to inform Omnicare or its parent company CVS of the immediate suspension of the Drug Enforcement Administration (“DBA”) Certificate of Registration pursuant to 21 U.S.C.§824(d); because Omnicare’s continued registration constituted “an imminent danger to the public health or safety.”
Nor, does there appear a notice given by the DEA to Omnicare or its parent company an opportunity to show cause before the DEA at the DEA Hearing Facility located at 1550 Crystal Drive. Suite 901. Arlington Virginia. 22202. or a location designated by the Administrative Law Judge.
In recent years, the company has been fined hundreds of millions of dollars for violations of the Controlled Substances Act and other transgressions, many of them involving opioid medication. (3) Since 2000 CVS has had 399 various violations and has paid approximately $1,142,975,146 in penalty totals. (3)
DRUG ENFORCEMENT AGENCY PRESS RELEASE
PORTLAND, Ore.—Omnicare Inc., a subsidiary of CVS Health and a provider of pharmacy services to long-term care facilities, has agreed to pay the United States a $15.3 million civil penalty to resolve allegations that it violated federal law by, among other things, allowing opioids and other controlled substances to be dispensed without a valid prescription.
The Cincinnati-based Omnicare operates “closed door” pharmacies – meaning they were not open to the public – that deliver controlled substances to nursing homes and other long-term care facilities (LTCFs). Omnicare makes daily deliveries of prescription medications to residents of LTCFs, and it also pre-positions limited stockpiles of controlled substances at LTCFs in “emergency kits,” which are to be dispensed to patients on an emergency basis. These emergency kits, which often include opioids and other controlled substances that are commonly abused and diverted, remain part of Omnicare’s inventory and must be tightly controlled and tracked. The controlled substances may be dispensed only pursuant to a valid prescription.
The United States alleged that Omnicare violated the federal Controlled Substances Act in its handling of emergency prescriptions, its controls over the emergency kits, and its processing of written prescriptions that lacked required elements such as the prescriber’s signature or DEA number. The federal investigation found that Omnicare failed to control emergency kits by improperly permitting LTCFs to remove opioids and other controlled substances from emergency kits days before doctors provided a valid prescription. The investigation also revealed that Omnicare had repeated failures in its documentation and reporting of oral emergency prescriptions of Schedule II controlled substances.
As part of the settlement agreement announced today, Omnicare agreed to pay the $15.3 million civil penalties and entered into a Memorandum of Agreement with the Drug Enforcement Administration that will require Omnicare to increase its auditing and monitoring of emergency kits placed at LTCFs.
Violation Tracker Parent Company Summary
Parent Company Name: CVS HealthOwnership Structure: publicly traded (ticker symbol CVS) Headquartered in: Rhode IslandMajor Industry: retailing Specific Industry: retail-pharmacies Penalty total since 2000: $1,142,975,146 Number of records: 399
For any law enforcement organization, enforcing the law can present difficult challenges. Each day of the week and with each raid, the DEA officers make choices as to which laws to enforce.
The DEA enforces two sets of laws: federal laws, and DEA laws. Under federal laws, there are constitutional laws and guidelines. Under the DEA laws, there are tacit laws. Yes, the DEA has its own court system. The DEA court serves the certified federal officers as an administrative court. What is so unique about the DEA courts is that criminal search warrants are signed by the DEA judge. When the items are seized, the hearing is an administrative hearing. What makes this so confusing is that there is no clear distinction between the enforcement of criminal laws and DEA laws.
The DEA created a law called corresponding responsibility under the Controlled Substances Act. This has created a legal and Constitutional dilemma.
DEA
This single-focused act by the DEA and its court system should be feared by every American. The constitution was not intended to be used to identify and attack particular groups of people. The DEA and its court system has created an unrestricted bias wherein this organization has yielded the power to act as they please.
This agency alone has created an unseen problem. When this mater becomes public, officers and administration should be prosecuted. The courts should classify the DEA system as dishonest and deceitful. Criminal attorneys should file complaints under Giglio, and every drug arrestee would be released from prison. The unethical and illegal practices of the DEA will one day come to light.
DO NOT BE AFRAID
THE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENT OPERATIONS, COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY, CONGRESSIONAL BLACK CAUCUS MUST BEGIN INVESTIGATIONS TO PUT AN END TO MEDICAL APARTHEID IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND STOP THE TARGETING OF BLACK PHARMACIST AND DEFUND THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF DRUG ENFORCEMENT (DEA) IMMEDIATELY
NORMAN J. CLEMENT RPH., DDS., MALACHI F. MACKANDAL PHARMD, JOSEPH SOLVO ESQ., NORMAN L.CLEMENT PHARM-TECH, JELANI ZIMBABWE CLEMENT, BS., MBA., REV. C.T. VIVIAN, PATRICIE LAMUMBA, WILLIE GUINYARD BS., BRAHM FISHER ESQ.,JOSEPH WEBSTER MD., ESTHER HYATT PHD., AISHA GARDNER, MICHELE ALEXANDER MD., BERES E. MUSCHETT, STRATEGIC ADVISOR
THIS PRESENTATION IS A VIDEOS NARRATIVE WHICH SUPPORTS THE FOUNDATION OF THIS ARTICLE
THE HARLEM WISDOM TABLE INTERVIEWS
SEPTEMBER 13, 2020
“IT’S IMPORTANT FOR CONGRESS TO UNDERSTAND THE MILLIONS OF DOLLARS OF TAXPAYER MONEY PAID TO DEA EXPERTS’ FALSE TESTIMONY, THE DEA MUST BE DEFUNDED AND DISMANTLED”
Charles Ogletree Esq; Harvard Law Professor
…..from The Presumption of Guilt, the arrest of Henry Louis Gates Jr., …”I examine the race and class dimensions of the Gates arrest by looking at how other successful, prosperous, and noteworthy African American men (who are by no means alone in experiencing problems of racial profiling) have grappled with a wide range of encounters not only with police but with countless everyday citizens and found themselves being judged by the color of their skin rather than the content of their character.“…..
Brother Leroy Baylor of New York Grant House Community Radio Harlem, New York discusses
DEA RACISM AND TARGETING TOWARD BLACK OWNED PHARMACIES
TYRONE HUMBLE
THE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENT OPERATIONS, CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY, THE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY, CONGRESSIONAL BLACK CAUCUS MUST BEGIN INVESTIGATIONS TO PUT AN END TO MEDICAL APARTHEID IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND STOP THE TARGETING OF BLACK PHARMACIST AND DEFUND THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF DRUG ENFORCEMENT (DEA) IMMEDIATELY
BY THE NORTH STAR GROUP OF PHARMACIST
THE CRIMINAL MINDSET FUNCTION WITHIN THE DEA
This matter must stop! The DEA knows they are wrong. Just like a bank robber knows he is wrong. What he’s hoping for is that he won’t get caught. This same mindset process functions within the DEA.
The agents know they are wrong. They are confident in knowing they will not get caught. The acts of the agents fall under the aspects of the differential association theory. In this theory, the officers are influenced by the culture within the organization. This closeness forms groups and role models and informal leadership. This group-think aspect is the DEA’s criminal performance act. It creates a negative and hostile antisocial set of behaviors. This closeness formulated the Blue Wall of silence wherein the DEA agents know it is wrong but they choose to remain silent and not “snitch” on each other because the “price is too high to pay.”
The practice of the DEA and its wall of silence is evident when the agents claim the pharmacists have a corresponding responsibility with the doctor. No pharmacist has the authority, training nor expertise to review x-rays and make a diagnosis. Nor does the pharmacist have the authority, training, or expertise to medically challenge a doctor over a diagnosis. The DEA agents know this. However, the agents choose to remain silent which allows them to participate in creating copy and paste warrants to raid medical facilities. In essence, the DEA as transformed to become gang like by creating lawless scenarios to attack and achieve objectives.
We have documented and proven their lies and deceptions. Yet, nothing happens. This group of law enforcement officers has become lawless and as they gain more confidence more heinous criminality will occur.
HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY COURT HOUSE, TAMPA, FLORIDA
The DEA’s main expert of pharmacy testified that he, Dr. Sullivan, never reviewed the seized prescriptions records. This clearly shows the DEA agents have formulated and developed a wall of silence. In a critical state of evidence, these officers used the information to bring multiple practicing pharmacists to court. At no time has any DEA agent stepped forward to report this misconduct.
As the DEA becomes more empowered, they act far beyond the scope of service and create a constitutional crisis when they lend these tactics to the ATF. Then the ATF will feel empowered to enter homes, gun ranges, and manufacturing facilities and claim they create an imminent danger to the community. Guns will be confiscated if this process is continued to be allowed until the DEA and AFT have gained control.
What is wrong in one governmental agency will occur in another.
NORMAN J. CLEMENT RPH., DDS., MALACHI F. MACKANDAL PHARMD, JOSEPH SOLVO ESQ., NORMAN L.CLEMENT PHARM-TECH, JELANI ZIMBABWE CLEMENT, BS., MBA., REV. C.T. VIVIAN, PATRICIE LAMUMBA, WILLIE GUINYARD BS., BRAHM FISHER ESQ.,JOSEPH WEBSTER MD., ESTHER HYATT PHD., MICHELE ALEXANDER MD., BERES E. MUSCHETT, STRATEGIC ADVISOR
THIS PRESENTATION IS A VIDEOS NARRATIVE WHICH SUPPORTS THE FOUNDATION OF THIS ARTICLE
“IT’S IMPORTANT FOR CONGRESS TO UNDERSTAND THE MILLIONS OF DOLLARS OF TAXPAYER MONEY PAID TO DEA EXPERTS’ FALSE TESTIMONY, THE DEA MUST BE DEFUNDED AND DISMANTLED”
THE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENT OPERATIONS, COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY, CONGRESSIONAL BLACK CAUCUS MUST BEGIN INVESTIGATIONS TO PUT AN END TO MEDICAL APARTHEID IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND STOP THE TARGETING OF BLACK PHARMACIST AND DEFUND THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF DRUG ENFORCEMENT (DEA) IMMEDIATELY
THE HARLEM WISDOM TABLE INTERVIEWS
SEPTEMBER 6, 2020
Charles Ogletree Esq; Harvard Law Professor
…..from The Presumption of Guilt, the arrest of Henry Louis Gates Jr., …”I examine the race and class dimensions of the Gates arrest by looking at how other successful, prosperous, and noteworthy African American men (who are by no means alone in experiencing problems of racial profiling) have grappled with a wide range of encounters not only with police but with countless everyday citizens and found themselves being judged by the color of their skin rather than the content of their character.“…..
Brother Leroy Baylor of New York Grant House Community Radio Harlem, New York discusses
DEA RACISM AND TARGETING TOWARD BLACK MEDICAL PROFESSIONALS.
Jack Folson Wisdom Table Live At Grant 9.6.20 Your host is Brother Leroy Bailer
THE TERM RED FLAG
The DEA has set up a system of de facto discrimination through Cognitive Dissonance which encourages Pharmacists to profiling patients by the Processes of “RED FLAGGING.” The term Red Flag has no statutory meaning in the areas of pharmacy and or within the medical profession. Those pharmacists who merely question these DEA policies risk loss of employment and/or administrative sanctions. (1)
” THE LORD INSTRUCTED PAUL DO NOT BE AFRAID GO ON SPEAKING, DO NOT BE SILENT, FOR I AM WITH YOU, AND NO ONE WILL ATTACK YOU TO HARM YOU, FOR I HAVE MANY IN THIS CITY WHO ARE MY PEOPLE “
The DEA can impose these errant actions because they possess un-checked authority and weapons the ability to intimidate by seizings property and assets. That these DEA policies are applied so arbitrarily makes them discriminatory. (see below video traumatizing those afflicting) (3)
THE CONGRESS MUST INVESTIGATE DEA AND THEIR COURT SYSTEM.
The DEA continues and explicitly express actions that prohibit officers from targeting people based on their religion, national origin, or other characteristics. The DEA agents have substituted the legal standing of reasonable suspicion and probable cause and applied a lesser standard of cause to single out pharmaceutical facilities to obtain their organizational objectives. (see below video I’m not a criminal)
THE CONGRESS MUST INVESTIGATE DEA AND THEIR COURT SYSTEM.
The constitution protects for unwarranted government intrusions. Whereby the government DEA agents express that filled prescriptions without corresponding responsibility is the fundamental actions of a pharmacist. This assumption by the DEA is fundamentally incorrect.
THE DIGNITY OF MAN SANDTON, GAUTENG, SOUTH AFRICA
RED FLAGS OF DIVERSION
BACKGROUND
As far as can be determined as a practicing Pharmacist who is not an attorney the Red Flags of Diversion gained the most traction in the Holiday CVS, L.L.C., d/b/a CVS/Pharmacy Nos. 219 and 5195 cases. However, in that case, the Pharmacies in question were regular chain drug stores but Pronto Pharmacy is a specialty pharmacy that specializes in pain management and compounding. Therefore, they are in different classes. It’s like the difference between a general practitioner and a surgeon. (1), (2)
True, they are both doctors, but their level of training is not the same and the selection of patients is not the same. A general practitioner might be able to stitch you up after a fall but removing your gall bladder would clearly be beyond his scope of practice. With that in mind consider that Dr. Clement has advanced training in therapeutics, pain management, Dentistry, Forensics, and more than 45 years, experience, and the typical CVS Pharmacist has less than 5 years, experience.
The business model for CVS focuses on high-speed production and Pronto Pharmacy is focused on disease state management. And, just like people might travel long distances to seek out a surgeon that has a high level of training and a history of positive outcomes the same would be true of Pronto Pharmacy. You would be hard-pressed to find a CVS Pharmacist that could have the time to investigate chronic pain treatment modalities and how they impact severely compromised patients.
THE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENT OPERATIONS, COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY, CONGRESSIONAL BLACK CAUCUS MUST BEGIN INVESTIGATIONS TO PUT AN END TO MEDICAL APARTHEID IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND STOP THE TARGETING OF BLACK PHARMACIST AND DEFUND THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF DRUG ENFORCEMENT (DEA) IMMEDIATELY
NORMAN J. CLEMENT RPH., DDS., MALACHI F. MACKANDAL PHARMD, JOSEPH SOLVO ESQ., NORMAN L.CLEMENT PHARM-TECH, JELANI ZIMBABWE CLEMENT, BS., MBA., REV. C.T. VIVIAN, PATRICIE LAMUMBA, WILLIE GUINYARD BS., BRAHM FISHER ESQ.,JOSEPH WEBSTER MD., ESTHER HYATT PHD., MICHELE ALEXANDER MD., BERES E. MUSCHETT, STRATEGIC ADVISOR
THIS PRESENTATION IS A VIDEOS NARRATIVE WHICH SUPPORTS THE FOUNDATION OF THIS ARTICLE
Charles Ogletree Esq; Harvard Law Professor
…..from The Presumption of Guilt, the arrest of Henry Louis Gates Jr., …”I examine the race and class dimensions of the Gates arrest by looking at how other successful, prosperous, and noteworthy African American men (who are by no means alone in experiencing problems of racial profiling) have grappled with a wide range of encounters not only with police but with countless everyday citizens and found themselves being judged by the color of their skin rather than the content of their character.“…..
“IT’S IMPORTANT FOR CONGRESS TO UNDERSTAND THE MILLIONS OF DOLLARS OF TAXPAYER MONEY PAID TO DEA EXPERTS FALSE TESTIMONY, THE DEA MUST BE DISMANTLE AND DEFUNDED”
THE HARLEM WISDOM TABLE INTERVIEWS
AUGUST 25, 2020
Brother Leroy Baylor of New York Grant House Community Radio Harlem, New York discusses
DEA RACISM AND TARGETING TOWARD BLACK MEDICAL PROFESSIONALS.
2. Brother Leroy Baylor, Michelle Alexander, MD., Internal Medicine, (FAMU/UF GRADS) Esther Hyatt, Ph.D., Psychology, Aisha Garner, Researcher, IT Consulting, New York Grant House Community Radio Harlem, New York discusses
DEA RACISM AND TARGETING TOWARD BLACK MEDICAL PROFESSIONALS.
The DEA has set up a system of de facto discrimination through Cognitive Dissonance which encourages Pharmacists to profiling patients by the Processes of “RED FLAGGING.” The term Red Flag has no statutory meaning in the areas of pharmacy and or within the medical profession. Those pharmacists who merely question these DEA policies risk loss of employment and/or administrative sanctions.
September 6, 2020
3. Brother Leroy Baylor interviews Jack Folson
THE DEA TARGETING AND RED FLAGS
JACK FOLSON
” THE LORD INSTRUCTED PAUL DO NOT BE AFRAID GO ON SPEAKING, DO NOT BE SILENT, FOR I AM WITH YOU, AND NO ONE WILL ATTACK YOU TO HARM YOU, FOR I HAVE MANY IN THIS CITY WHO ARE MY PEOPLE “
The DEA can impose these errant actions because they possess un-checked authority and weapons the ability to intimidate by seizings property and assets. That these DEA policies are applied so arbitrarily makes them discriminatory. (see below video traumatizing those afflicting)
THE CONGRESS MUST INVESTIGATE DEA AND THEIR COURT SYSTEM.
The DEA continues and explicitly express actions that prohibit officers from targeting people based on their religion, national origin, or other characteristics. The DEA agents have substituted the legal standing of reasonable suspicion and probable cause and applied a lesser standard of cause to single out pharmaceutical facilities to obtain their organizational objectives. (see below video i’m not a criminal)
THE CONGRESS MUST INVESTIGATE DEA AND THEIR COURT SYSTEM.
The constitution protects for unwarranted government intrusions. Whereby the government DEA agents express that filled prescriptions without corresponding responsibility is the fundamental actions of a pharmacist. This assumption by the DEA is fundamentally incorrect.
FROM WINE REGION GROOT CONSTANTIA SOUTHERN SUBURB WESTERN CAPE, SOUTH AFRICA
THE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENT OPERATIONS, COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY, CONGRESSIONAL BLACK CAUCUS MUST BEGIN INVESTIGATIONS TO PUT AN END TO MEDICAL APARTHEID IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND STOP THE TARGETING OF BLACK PHARMACIST AND DEFUND THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF DRUG ENFORCEMENT (DEA) IMMEDIATELY
NORMAN J. CLEMENT RPH., DDS., MALACHI F. MACKANDAL PHARMD, JOSEPH SOLVO ESQ., NORMAN L.CLEMENT PHARM-TECH, JELANI ZIMBABWE CLEMENT, BS., MBA., REV. C.T. VIVIAN, PATRICIE LAMUMBA, WILLIE GUINYARD BS., BRAHM FISHER ESQ.,JOSEPH WEBSTER MD., ESTHER HYATT PHD., MICHELE ALEXANDER MD., BERES E. MUSCHETT, STRATEGIC ADVISOR
THIS PRESENTATION IS A VIDEOS NARRATIVE WHICH SUPPORTS THE FOUNDATION OF THIS ARTICLE
THE CONGRESS MUST INVESTIGATE AND DEFUND THE UNITED STATES DRUG ENFORCEMENT AGENCY (DEA)
Charles Ogletree Esq; Harvard Law Professor
…..from The Presumption of Guilt, the arrest of Henry Louis Gates Jr., …”I examine the race and class dimensions of the Gates arrest by looking at how other successful, prosperous, and noteworthy African American men (who are by no means alone in experiencing problems of racial profiling) have grappled with a wide range of encounters not only with police but with countless everyday citizens and found themselves being judged by the color of their skin rather than the content of their character.“…..
THE PROBITY PART-TWO
DONALD SULLIVAN’S LONG HISTORY OF PROFESSIONAL, ACADEMIC FRAUD AND JUDICIAL PERJURY
Currently, there is a disturbing trend within DEA whereby medical practitioners are being targeted. A campaign of false information has been generated and disseminated to sway the public into believing that these medications are on par with street drugs; dangerous drugs that contribute to abuse and trafficking and the so-called ‘Opioid crisis’ in America.
The United States Drug Enforcement Agency has raided and arrested medical personnel relying upon a cadre of pharmacist such as Donald Sullivan; (1)
Donnie Sullivan is a Professor of Clinical Pharmacy at The Ohio State University College of Pharmacy. He received his bachelor’s, master’s, and doctorate degrees from The Ohio State University College of Pharmacy. He has been at The Ohio State University for 3 years. He also taught at Ohio Northern University for 17 years. He has taught in multiple courses in their module curriculum. His research interests include drug diversion analysis and education, future pharmacy practice initiatives, pharmacoeconomics, educational development of pharmacy students and pharmacists, and medication error prevention. (2)
DONALD SULLIVAN PHD
ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE AND IMMEDIATE SUSPENSION OF REGISTRATION OF PRONTO PHARMACY LLC AUGUST 23, 2020
Dr. Sullivan will testify that he reviewed dispensing and prescription logs and patient information maintained by Respondent and provided to him by DI Albert. He will testify that he also reviewed the Florida PDMP report of Respondent’s dispensing behavior. He will testify that he concluded that Respondent repeatedly filled prescriptions for controlled substances without resolving obvious red flags of abuse and/or diversion and in violation of the pharmacist’s “corresponding responsibility” under federal law. Dr. Sullivan will testify that Respondent violated the minimum standard of care for a Florida pharmacy and operated outside of the usual course of professional practice.
DEA’S expert Dr. Sullivan’s courtroom testimony has been troubling, fraudulent, and appears to rely solely upon the abuse of his white privilege and probity as the foundation for his credibility. Don Sullivan has failed basic standards of care as a Pharmacist.
Dr. Sullivan’s methodologies are wrong, in that it doesn’t capture sufficient information to conclusively establish the illegitimacy of a prescribing practitioner’s reasoning for issuing a specific prescription to a patient for a specific disease state.
He freely admitted in his testimony he had not reviewed any prescriptions. Yet, he opined repeatedly in the Pronto Pharmacy Order To Show Cause; “The DEA’s expert (Dr. Donald Sullivan) reviewed the above-referenced prescriptions and concluded that they presented numerous red flags that were highly indicative of abuse and diversion.”
If Dr. Sullivan, reviewed no prescriptions, then how could he have drawn any conclusion indicative of abuse and diversion?
Dr. Sullivan presents with a long history of fraudulent testimony. Dr. Sullivan false testimony in 2010 DEA vs Harold Eugene Fletcher Columbus, Ohio sent Fletcher to prison for nearly 2 years.
The conclusions above drawn by DEA support our argumentS for Congressional Investigation, defunding, and disbanding the DEA.
Florida, Law 64B16-27.831 states:
(1)Definitions: For purposes of this rule the following definitions shall apply:
(a) Valid Prescription. A prescription is valid when it is based on a practitioner-patient relationship and when it has been issued for a legitimate medical purpose.
(b) Invalid Prescription. A prescription is invalid if the pharmacist knows or has reason to know that the prescription was not issued for a legitimate medical purpose.
(c) Validating a Prescription. Validating a prescription means the process implemented by the pharmacist to determine that the prescription was issued for a legitimate medical purpose.
All prescriptions filled at Pronto Pharmacy were lawful. Pronto Pharmacy had every reason to believe every prescription dispensed was for a medical purpose and all prescriptions were verified by the staff through the PDMP network.
Florida, Law 64B16-27.831Standards of Practice for the Filling of Controlled Substance Prescriptions;
Every patient’s situation is unique and prescriptions for controlled substances shall be reviewed with each patient’s unique situation in mind. Pharmacists shall attempt to work with the patientand the prescriber to assist in determining the validity of the prescription.
(2) General Standards for Validating a Prescription: Each prescription may require a different validation process and no singular process can fit each situation that may be presented to the pharmacist. There are circumstances that may cause a pharmacist to question the validity of a prescription for a controlled substance; however, a concern with the validity of a prescription does not mean the prescription shall not be filled. Rather, when a pharmacist is presented with a prescription for a controlled substance, the pharmacist shall attempt to determine the validity of the prescription and shall attempt to resolve any concerns about the validity of the prescription by exercising his or her independent professional judgment.
(3) Minimum Standards Before Refusing to Fill a Prescription.
(a) Before a pharmacist can refuse to fill a prescription based solely upon a concern with the validity of the prescription, the pharmacist shall attempt to resolve those concerns and shall attempt to validate the prescription by performing the following:
1. Initiate communication with the patient or the patient’s representative to acquire information relevant to the concern with the validity of the prescription,
2. Initiate communication with the prescriber or the prescriber’s agent to acquire information relevant to the pharmacist’s concern with the validity of the prescription.
(b) In lieu of either subparagraph 1. or 2., but not both, the pharmacist may elect to access the Prescription Drug Monitoring Program’s Database to acquire information relevant to the pharmacist’s concern with the validity of the prescription.
(c) In the event that a pharmacist is unable to comply with paragraph (a), due to a refusal to cooperate with the pharmacist, the minimum standards for refusing to fill a prescription shall not be required.
(4) Duty to Report: If a pharmacist has reason to believe that a prescriber is involved in the diversion of controlled substances, the pharmacist shall report such prescriber to the Department of Health.
THE CONCLUSIONS ABOVE DRAWN BY DEA SUPPORT OUR ARGUMENT FOR CONGRESSIONAL INVESTIGATION, DEFUNDING AND DISBANDING THE DEA.
FEDERAL LAW
Federal law does not apportion the responsibility for dispensing unlawful prescriptions between a prescribing practitioner and a pharmacist. Rather, Federal law imposes separate and independent duties on the prescriber and the pharmacist.
More specifically, the prescriber must act within the usual course of professional practice and have a legitimate medical purpose to lawfully issue a controlled-substance prescription. 21 CFR 1306.04(a). As the Supreme Court and numerous Federal courts have made plain, to lawfully prescribe a controlled substance the physician must act “in accordance with a standard of medical practice generally recognized and accepted in the United States.” United States v. Moore, 423 U.S. 122, 138-39 (1975); see also United States v. Smith, 573 F.3d 639, 647-48 (8th Cir. 2009); United States v. Merrill, 513 F.3d 1293, 1306 (11th Cir. 2008)”.(2)
DEA EXPERT DONALD R. SULLIVAN VIOLATES HIS OWN STANDARD OF CARE AND BASIC PHARMACY STANDARDS IF REVIEW
Dr. Donald Sullivan is a pharmacist, licensed in Florida, yet he violated and failed under Florida, Law 64B16-27.831Standards states;
“Pharmacists shall attempt to work with the patientand the prescriber to assist in determining the validity of the prescription.“
4. Had Donald R. Sullivan reviewed these prescriptions “worked with the patientand the prescriber to assist in determining the validity of the prescription, he would have found:
a) that Respondent did not violate the minimum standard of care for a Florida pharmacy and operated within the usual course of professional practice.
b) Sullivan would have found the prescribers often indicated their diagnosis of the patient on the prescription either by code or in writing. As we see below prescription for Oxycodone 30mg indicates “non-acute pain.”
NON ACUTE PAIN, UNINSURED PATIENT
5. Had Donald R. Sullivan reviewed these prescriptions based on Florida Law 64B16-27.831Standards “worked with the patient and the prescriber to assist in determining the validity of the prescription,”
c) Dr. Sullivan would have found the prescription to be valid.
d) Dr. Sullivan would have found the prescribers often indicated their diagnosis of the patient on the prescription either by code or in writing. As we see below prescription for Roxicodone 30mg indicates “non-acute pain” and the Diagnostic code ms126., m48.06.
PRESCRIBER HAS INDICATED DIAGNOSIS, NON-ACUTE PAIN, AND NO REFILLS
6. Had Donald R. Sullivan license pharmacist in the State of Florida was really seeking truth under, “corresponding responsibility” under federal law” he would have interviewed both Mr. Gerald R. Kiley and/or his prescribing physician who was Dr. M. Lemon.
Initiating communication with the patient or the patient’s representative to acquire information relevant to the concern with the validity of the prescription,” is a requirement by State of Florida Law of every drug utilization review, and would have established that the prescriptions were NOT illegitimate and the pharmacy and/or pharmacist were not engaged in criminal activity.
MR. KILEY’S PRESCRIPTION NEXT TO ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE, 9/11/2019
THE PH.D PHYSICIAN WANNA BEBECAUSE HE DAMN SURE DOESN’T WANT TO BE A DENTIST
The year is 2010, the case docket 09-48, Columbus, Ohio The United States Drug Enforcement Agency vs East Main Street Pharmacy (‘‘Respondent’’), of Columbus, Ohio Harold Eugene Fletcher PharmD.
Before this Court, this Professor Dr. Sullivan testified that under both Ohio and Federal law:
‘‘is corresponding responsibility between the physician and the pharmacist.’’
Dr. Sullivan is correct, however, he the (DEA) Drug Enforcement Agency and Judge Mark D. Dowd have willfully ignored the most important aspect key of the Federal Law…” between the physician and the pharmacist.’’ Rather, there is no evidence Donald Sullivan exercised any Federal and/or state-required “corresponding responsibility” as a pharmacist expert. There is further no evidence Dr. Sullivan, “Initiate communication with the patient or the patient’s representative to acquire information relevant to the concern with the validity of the prescription.” as required by Federal and State of Florida.
Dr. Sullivan’s role as a pharmacist expert is to seek out the truth by “working with the patientand the prescriber to assist in determining the validity of the prescription,” and Dr. Sullivan did neither. Dr. Sullivan was contacted by Diversion Investigator Richard James Alpert in September 2018, to review prescriptions records of Pronto Pharmacy and for nearly 16 months made absolutely no attempt to:
7. “Initiate communication with the patient or the patient’s representative to acquire information relevant to the concern with the validity of the prescription.” as required by Federal Law and the State of Florida Law.
8… “to work with the patientand the prescriber to assist in determining the validity of the prescription.“
9. ‘‘is corresponding responsibility between the physician and the pharmacist.’’
Both State of Florida Laws and Federal Laws are clear, and do not permit any pharmacist to freelance, or eviscerate the prescriber and the prescriber relationship and permit the pharmacist solely to determine the legality of a prescription.
It’S important for Congress to understand the millions of dollars OF TAXPAYER MONEY PAID to DEA expertS false testimony, THE DEA MUST BE DISMANTLE AND DEFUNDED
DR. DONALD MEMBER OF THE DEA’S CADRE OF JUNK SCIENCE-TIERS AND SUPER DEFRAUDERS OF THE AMERICAN TAXPAYER’S MONEY
Instead, Dr. Sullivan has engaged and has been engaging in a self-serving crusade of fraud, deceptions, billing the taxpayers of the United States of America for services he did not perform and received payment for his ill-gotten gains.
DONALD SULLIVAN
Dr. Donald Sullivan is a super defrauder of the United States taxpayers’ money. No evidence can be found in Dr. Donald Sullivan’s evaluation, or his court testimony was he had performed the minimum requirements of a licensed Florida registered pharmacist under Florida, Law 64B16-27.831 to:
Initiate communication with the patient or the patient’s representative to acquire information relevant to the concern with the validity of the prescription,
2. Initiate communication with the prescriber or the prescriber’s agent to acquire information relevant to the pharmacist’s concern with the validity of the prescription.
According to GovTribe, a website that tracks payments to federal contractors, like Donal Sullivan who is paid $300 an hour by the DEA. However, oftentimes their testimony relies upon tacit bias as they fail to get consent to order a second opinion examination, review radiographs (X-rays) of the patients, or in so much as interview the prescribing practitioners.
Theses so call experts then base their conclusions on sloppy scientifically flawed evidence methodologies which in many cases are similarly equivalent to the discredited bite mark evidence protocols, once used by forensic dentists in courtroom proceedings.
More importantly, the taxpayers of the United States of American paid for Dr. Sullivan’s travel to Tampa, Florida in January 2020, wherein sworn testimony he perjured himself. Dr. Sullivan has monetarily defrauded the United States Government and the American people.
DONALD SULLIVAN PH.D
Therefore, the RECOMMENDED RULINGS, FINDINGS OF FACT, CONCLUSIONS OF LAW, AND DECISION OF THE ADMINISTRATIVE LAW JUDGE MARK D. DOWD MAY 5, 2020, Docket No. 19-42 in the Matter of Pronto Pharmacy LLC.,is invalidated, because Dr. Sullivan failed to follow required Federal and State of Florida Laws. Most importantly WE DEMAND the immediate return of Pronto Pharmacy LLC., Certificate of Registration No. FP2302076.
“AS THE LORD INSTRUCTED PAUL DO NOT BE AFRAID, GO ON SPEAKING, DO NOT BE SILENT, FOR I AM WITH YOU”
THE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENT OPERATIONS, COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY, CONGRESSIONAL BLACK CAUCUS MUST BEGIN INVESTIGATIONS TO PUT AN END TO MEDICAL APARTHEID IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND STOP THE TARGETING OF BLACK PHARMACIST AND DEFUND THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF DRUG ENFORCEMENT (DEA) IMMEDIATELY
FEDERAL LAW
DEA Judge wrote in her observations in 2010 case#09-48, East Main Street Pharmacy, Columbus, Ohio:
A ‘‘pharmacist is not required to practice medicine.’’ United States v. Hayes, 595 F.2d 258, 261 (5th. Cir 1979). ‘‘What is required of [a pharmacist] is the responsibility not to fill an order that purports to be a prescription but is not a prescription within the meaning of the statute because he knows [or has reason to know] that the issuing practitioner issued it outside the scope of medical practice.’’ (2)
However, Dr. Sullivan’s statements that: (1) A pharmacist is not required to fill any prescription, and (2) it is not an excuse that because a doctor wrote the prescription, it can be legally filled, are consistent with Federal law. According to Dr. Sullivan, as part of the prospective drug utilization review, a pharmacist is required to check a patient’s profile for the following: ‘‘(a) over-utilization or under- utilization[;] (b) therapeutic duplication[;] (c) drug-disease state contraindications[;] (d) drug-drug interactions[;] (e) incorrect drug dose or duration of treatment[;] (f) drug-allergy interaction[;] (g) abuse/ misuse[;] (h) inappropriate duration of treatment[; and] (i) documented good/nutritional supplements- drug interactions.’’ (2)
DONALD SULLIVAN’S DEA RED FLAG OF SELECTIVE PROSECUTION
The DEA’s expert Dr. Donald Sullivan reviewed the above-referenced prescriptions and concluded that they presented numerous red flags that were highly indicative of abuse and diversion. These red flags could not have been resolved by a pharmacist acting in the usual course of professional practice, and, therefore, each prescription was filled outside the standard of care in Florida. Accordingly, these prescriptions were filled in violation of federal and state law. See 21 U.S.C. § 842(a)(1); 21 C.F.R. § 1306.04(a); Fla. Admin. Code r. 64B16- 27.810. (3)
However in Dr. Sullivans testimony was quite different:
” Dr. Sullivan was unaware that Florida had codified “standard of care” for healthcare workers. Tr. 438; § 766.102, Fla. Stat.11 He was unaware of the Florida Patient Bill of Rights. Tr. 462. Dr. Sullivan initially conceded there was no federal or Florida regulation mandating where or how the resolution of red flags must be documented. Tr. 435-37.” (7)
“In particular, Florida Administrative Code r. 64B16- 27.831, Standards of Practice for the Filling of Controlled Substance Prescriptions, is silent as to whether a pharmacist must document the steps a pharmacist takes to validate a prescription. Tr. 449-50, 453-54. But see Tr. 488-89.” (7)
Clearly, Dr Sullivans whitilment, privilege and probity prevailed as we have previously stated:
“One can never prevail in any court system or environment, even when supported with science and facts, against bias and prejudice, or when privilege is permitted to take the stand.” (7)
Once again THE CONCLUSIONS ABOVE DRAWN BY DEA SUPPORT OUR ARGUMENT FOR CONGRESSIONAL INVESTIGATION, CLOSING THE DEA COURT SYSTEM, DEFUNDING AND DISBANDING THE DEA.
DEA DON SULLIVAN ON DISTANCE TRAVELED
Dr. Donald Sullivan’s finding, conclusion, and testimony are fraudulent. There are absolutely no Federal or State laws that set a limit on the distance any patient must travel to seek medical career to have a prescription filled.
1. The conclusion drawn by DEA is this agency widespread targeting of the Black Own Pharmacy business and support our argument for Congressional Investigation, defunding and disbanding the DEA.
2. We further note all Patients identified by DEA expert Donald Sullivan as “RED FLAGS, “are still getting the same medications to fill to this day by mail order and non-black own pharmacy establishments
3. DEA expert Donald R. Sullivan’s significant “RED FLAGS” is only significant when any patients decide to have their prescription filled at a Black-Owned Pharmacy establishment.
DEA’S DON SULLIVANS SIGNIFICANT RED FLAGS AND WARRANT FABRICATION TO PROSECUTE BLACK OWNED PHARMACIES
Dr. Don Sullivan opined that both patients traveling long distances from their residences and patients traveling long distances from the medical practices of the prescribers to have their prescriptions filled are significant red flags that the prescriptions being filled by Pronto Pharmacy were being abused and/or diverted and that a pharmacist who was properly exercising his corresponding responsibility would have recognized this and refused to fill most of these prescriptions. (3)
DONALD SULLIVAN, CLINICAL PROFESSOR
Patients Travelling Long Distances to Fill Prescriptions at Pronto Pharmacy: The DEA’s expert Don Sullivan opined that it can be a red flag of abuse and diversion if a patient travels a significant distance to a specific pharmacy, especially if the patient also travels a significant distance to a particular prescriber. Numerous Pronto Pharmacy customers traveled significant distances to obtain and fill their prescriptions. For example, between September 10, 2018, and May 6, 2019, Pronto Pharmacy filled:
a. 86 prescriptions for patients with addresses in Cape Coral, Florida, which is approximately 140 miles from Pronto Pharmacy;
b. 145 prescriptions for patients with addresses in Fort Myers, Florida, which is approximately 130 miles from Pronto Pharmacy;
c. 41 prescriptions for patients with addresses in Lehigh Acres, Florida, which is approximately 140 miles from Pronto Pharmacy;
d. 15 prescriptions for patients with addresses in Immokalee, Florida, which is approximately 150 miles from Pronto Pharmacy;
e. 15 prescriptions for patients with addresses in Naples, Florida, which is approximately 170 miles from Pronto Pharmacy; and
f. 11 prescriptions for patients with addresses in Opa-Locka, Florida, which is approximately 270 miles from Pronto Pharmacy.
The DEA’s expert Donald Sullivan, further noted that Pronto Pharmacy was also many miles from the medical practices of the top prescribers whose prescriptions were filled at Pronto Pharmacy. For example, between September 10, 2018, and May 6, 2019, over 75percent of the prescriptions for controlled substances filled by Pronto Pharmacy were issued by prescribers whose medical practices were located more than 150 miles away from Pronto Pharmacy.
17. DEA’s expert Donald Sullivan “opined that both patients travelling long distances from their residences and patients travelling long distances from the medical practices of the prescribers to have their prescriptions filled are significant red flags that the prescriptions being filled by Pronto Pharmacy were being abused and/or diverted and that a pharmacist who was properly exercising his corresponding responsibility would have recognized this and refused to fill most of these prescriptions.”
DEA’S DONALD SULLIVAN RED FLAG OF DISTANCE TRAVEL
In the below video (img-9157) Mr. Gerald R Kiley identifies himself and states he has been coming to Pronto Pharmacy for nearly 2 years. Mr. Kiley, further states he has difficulty getting his prescription fill for narcotic analgesic medication because pharmacists would frequently tell him they don’t have the medication and are not getting it in. Mr. Kiley states he travels to Pronto Pharmacy because he is treated with dignity and respect.
In the below video Gerald R. Kiley states was referred to Pronto Pharmacy by a friend who has his prescriptions filled (at Pronto Pharmacy). The friend also had difficulty getting their medications filled at other pharmacies because of availability.
Mr. Kiley is shown the August 23, 2020, Order to Show Cause and we discuss with him cash payments. Mr. Kiley states he has to pay in cash because he has no insurance.
However the DEA’s expert Donald Sullivan opined that “traveling long distances can be a red flag of abuse and diversion if a patient travels a significant distance to a specific pharmacy, especially if the patient also travels significant distance to a particular prescriber”. The facts to support the probable cause cannot be justified by mere suspicion. Walter R. Clement, a law enforcement experts states:
“DEA’s expert Donald Sullivan opined “that it can be a red flag of abuse.”This Cannot support an express intent that a crime is or was afoot. Thus, it cannot establish probable cause. In fact, the DEA statements that ‘long distances using GOOGLE MAPS “can be” a red flag of abuse and diversion,’ is a clear application that fails to supports Responsible Suspicion.
The Red Flag of distance serves as a discussion point in pharmacy. Primarily there are absolutely no State or Federal laws that limit a patient to 30 to 35 miles to fill any prescription by any licensed pharmacy and the DEA, very well knows that fact. We see this in the cross-examination of DEA Diversion Investigator Richard James Alpert, by Dale Sisco in Administrative court hearing held January 28, 2020, in Tampa, Florida;
Mr. Sisco: Based upon your training, education, and experience, is there a federal statute or regulation that geographically limits the area in which a pharmacy can dispense?
DI Albert: Not to my Knowledge.
Mr. Sisco: To your knowledge based on your training, education, and experience, is there a Florida statute that limits the geographic area in which a Florida pharmacy can dispense prescription?
DI Albert: Not to my Knowledge.
Richard Albert’s testimony was a stunningly profound admission of wrongdoing because each and every Black-owned pharmacy business that was raided, had their Federal Control Registration removed and suspended, charged as being a threat to public safety, along with the recommendation for revocation, based on non-existent distance travel laws. (4)
This is further evidence that supports Congressional Investigation by the House Committee on the Judiciary, House Government Operation Committee which will expose DEA’s waste, fraud, and abuse, and most important, The House Government Committee on Homeland Security.
RICHARD JAMES ALBERT DEA DIVERSION INVESTIGATOR
WARRANT FABRICATION
DI Alberts admission further undermines the of the testimony of DEA Pharmacy expert Donald Sullivan who testified to a limit of 35 miles on January 29, 2020 hearing in the matter of Pronto Pharmacy.
The State of Florida is a big player in the practice of Mail Order Pharmacy and as such provides medications (controlled and non-controlled) to patients in other states. This in and of itself should invalidate the red flag of distance since this practice is condoned and supported by the Florida State Legislature and the Florida Board of Pharmacy. To discriminate against Florida Pharmacies treating Florida patients is grotesque.
DEA’S Donald Sullivan EXCESSIVE CASH PAYMENT
The DEA’s expert opined that this is a significant red flag that the prescriptions being filled by Pronto Pharmacy were being abused and/or diverted and that a pharmacist who was properly exercising his corresponding responsibility would have recognized this and refused to fill most of these prescriptions.
MR. KILEY PART 2
DR. SULLIVAN WILL TESTIFY THAT CASH CAN BE RED FLAGS OF ABUSE AND DIVERSION
Dr. Sullivan will testify that patients willing to pay such extremely inflated prices in cash for controlled substances are a potential red flag for abuse or diversion because customers taking prescriptions for legitimate medical needs would not pay such extreme prices for medication that can be purchased elsewhere for a fraction of the amount. Dr. Sullivan will testify that Respondent nevertheless repeatedly dispensed controlled substances to such cash-paying patients without resolving or addressing this red flag.
DON SULLIVAN
THE DEA’S GOES BEYOND THEIR SCOPE TO REGULATE COMMERCE THEN LATTER DROPS THIS CHARGE IN THEIR COMPLAINT AGAINST PRONTO PHARMACY
The DEA’s expert Donal Sullivan opined that cash payments can be a red flag of abuse or diversion because patients typically have to pay very high prices for drugs that are not covered by insurance.
Dr. Sullivan will further testify that prices charged by the Respondent were excessive. Dr. Sullivan will testify that, according to the 2018 National Community Pharmacists Digest Financials, the average pharmacy makes a 22% gross margin (profit) on prescription drugs. According to their dispensing data, Respondent was making a 91% gross margin (profit) on every prescription it compounded and dispensed for hydromorphone 8mg capsules.
The below prescription shows the prescriber has noted this patient has no prescription insurance “[SAVING FOR UNINSURED PATIENTS]”, and is being treated for non-acute Pain. DEA Expert, Clinical Professor Donald Sullivan, in sworn testimony, admitted to not having interviewed any of the patients, nor their prescribing physicians, neither saw nor reviewed any of the patient’s prescriptions. Professor Sullivan opined every prescription to be illegitimate.” (5)(6)
This testimony is an even more stunningly profound admission of wrongdoing on behalf of the DEA and Donald Sullivan and further exposes him as being noncredible. Pronto Pharmacy LLC business that was raided, had their Federal Control Registration removed and suspended, charged as being a threat to public safety, along with the recommendation for revocation, based on a non-existent review by Donald Sullivan and a nonexistent distance travel laws. (4)
Again, this is more evidence that supports Congressional Investigation by the House Committee on the Judiciary, House Government Operation Committee which will expose DEA’s waste, fraud, and abuse, and most important, The House Government Committee on Homeland Security.
Most importantly this type of deception, waste, fraud, and abuse that has gone on for years and supported by the United States Attorneys Office warrant defunding of The United States Drug Enforcement Agency.
PRESCRIPTIONS FROM PHYSICIAN OFFICE PATIENT IS UNINSURED
Pronto Pharmacy LLC Tampa, Florida, ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE AND IMMEDIATE SUSPENSION OF REGISTRATION, August 23, 2019:
In order to understand this Government narrative, we must review the Orders to Show Cause based on accepting cash payments against 3 presented to 4 black-owned pharmacies we will also dissect the DEA’s false narrative.
18. The DEA’s expert Donald Sullivan opined that cash payments can be a red flag of abuse or diversion because patients typically have to pay very high prices for drugs that are not covered by insurance. The DEA’s expert noted that, on average, approximately 11 percent of all prescriptions filled by independently owned pharmacies in 2018 were paid for in cash nationally.
The DEA’s Donald Sullivan, the expert noted that over 90 percent of the prescriptions for oxycodone 30 mg and hydromorphone 8 mg filled by Pronto Pharmacy were paid for with cash. The DEA’s expert opined that this is a significant red flag that the prescriptions being filled by Pronto Pharmacy were being abused and/or diverted and that a pharmacist who was properly exercising his corresponding responsibility would have recognized this and refused to fill most of these prescriptions.
DONALD SULLIVAN PH.D
19. The DEA’s expert Donald Sullivan reviewed the above-referenced prescriptions and concluded that they presented numerous red flags that were highly indicative of abuse and diversion. These red flags could not have been resolved by a pharmacist acting in the usual course of professional practice, and, therefore, each prescription was filled outside the standard of care in Florida. Accordingly, these prescriptions were filled in violation of federal and state law. See 21 U.S.C. § 842(a)(1); 21 C.F.R. § 1306.04(a); Fla. Admin. Code r. 64B16- 27.810.
East Main Street Pharmacy Columbus, Ohio, ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE AND IMMEDIATE SUSPENSION OF REGISTRATION, May 5, 2010: DON SULLIVAN TESTIFIED
In 2010 DEA Expert Donald Sullivan, In addition, Dr. Sullivan noted that forty of the fifty-five patients (73%) had paid cash for their prescriptions’’ and that ‘‘the national average of cash paying customers for prescriptions [was] 11.4% in 2005 and 10% in 2006.’’ 33 Id. Explaining that ‘‘profit margins on cash prescriptions are 30% higher than insurance prescriptions for brand- name[] drugs and 100% to 500% higher than insurance prescriptions for generics,’’ he concluded that this ‘‘is an obvious example of a pharmacy profiting from drugs that are most likely being abused or diverted for sale on the street’’ and that ‘‘[a]ny reasonable pharmacist knows that a patient that wants to pay cash for a large quantity of controlled substances is immediately suspect.’’ Id.
Gulf Med Pharmacy, Inc. Cape Coral, Florida 33904, ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE AND IMMEDIATE SUSPENSION OF REGISTRATION, November 18, 2019: (this is not a Donald Sullivan Review)
Cash Payment and Price Gouging/Black Market Pricing
12. Another common red flag of abuse or diversion that pharmacies must monitor is the use of cash payment for control substances instead of insurance payments. 21 C.F.R. § 1306.04(a); Fla. Admin. Code r. 64B16- 27.810. According to the DEA’s expert, when a prescription for a controlled substance is electronically processed through insurance, the insurance company will frequently reject suspicious controlled substance prescription for the same patient filled at multiple pharmacies. Consequently, cash payments for controlled prescriptions are a red flag of abuse or diversion because some suspect patients may choose to pay cash in order to avoid an insurance rejection that might alert the pharmacist to potential drug abuse or diversion. Such cash payments are especially suspicious when the patient bills insurance for other prescriptions but pays cash for controlled insurance prescriptions.
THE UNITED STATES DOLLAR VS. DONALD SULLIVAN, AND DEA
Jack Folson pharmacist expert writes:
The USD or United States Dollar, which is the fiat currency of THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA has a statement on every denomination. It says, “THIS NOTE IS LEGAL TENDER FOR ALL DEBTS PUBLIC AND PRIVATE.” (14)
According to 31 U.S. Code § 5103, United States coins and currency (including Federal reserve notes and circulating notes of Federal reserve banks and national banks) are legal tenders for all debts, public charges, taxes, and dues. Foreign gold or silver coins are not legal tender for debts. The prevailing sentiment on this is that all United States money as identified above are a valid and legal offer of payment for debts when tendered to a creditor. (14)
There is, however, no Federal statute mandating that a private business, a person, or an organization is prohibited from accepting currency or coins as for payment for goods and/or services. (4)
RED FLAGS OF EXCESSIVE CASH AND DIVERSION
In the below video Mr. Kiley states “I take my medication and I take them as prescribed.” Mr. Kiley also states, ” I’m 61 years old and I’m falling apart.”
The American Medical Association writes June 16, 2020:
The AMA continues to support physicians’ use of effective PDMPs and offers new caution based on physicians’ and patients’ experience since the publication of the CDC Guideline in 2016. We continue to urge the CDC to recognize that PDMP data is only one type of information to help guide a physician’s clinical decisions. Moreover, it is only one piece of data available to pharmacists and any other authorized user of a state PDMP. Yet, PDMPs have been used to inappropriately tag physicians as “inappropriate prescribers” by pharmacy chains and patients as “doctor shoppers” by some pharmacists. The AMA does not support illegal activity, but a PDMP report, by itself, is almost always insufficient to identify illegal behavior. (13)
While PDMPs can help identify patients receiving multiple prescriptions from multiple prescribers or dispensers, and this behavior is a risk factor for unintentional overdose, we believe the steps to be taken after identifying such individuals are much more complex and require further research and attention. While it is an important variable to quantify, we are concerned that PDMP reports have been used to deny care to patients—by physicians and pharmacies. Physicians are understandably afraid that a PDMP report identifying them as a “top prescriber” will result in investigations by law enforcement or a medical licensing board without taking into account the physician’s patient population. In turn, a patient who has multiple prescriptions from multiple prescribers and/or pharmacies is one who needs treatment, not law enforcement intervention. The AMA urges CDC to support this public health focus. (13)
GERALD KILEY VS DONALD SULLIVAN “I’M BEING PROFILE”
DRUG MEDICATION PROTOCOLS
Dr. Sullivan will testify that it is a well-known red flag that the dispensing of a disproportionate number of prescriptions for the highest strength available for a particular controlled substance is a sign of illicit activity.
DR.DONALD SULLIVAN
Dr. Sullivan has testified that there are “red flags” which pharmacists need to recognize and consider before they dispense a prescription. ” As examples, he testified that pharmacists are “required to do drug utilization review on every prescription * * * before it is dispensed in the pharmacy” to determine whether “doses * * * are too high, duplicate therapy, potential use or misabuse [sic], [and prescriptions are] being filled too soon.” Additional red flags include “[m]aximum doses being seen for every single patient, lack of individuation of therapy, certain patterns from physicians of potential abuse of seeing the same types of controlled substances over, and over, and over, again.”
VIDEO 4
19. The DEA’s expert Donald Sullivan reviewed the above-referenced prescriptions and concluded that they presented numerous red flags that were highly indicative of abuse and diversion. These red flags could not have been resolved by a pharmacist acting in the usual course of professional practice, and, therefore, each prescription was filled outside the standard of care in Florida. Accordingly, these prescriptions were filled in violation of federal and state law. See 21 U.S.C. § 842(a)(1); 21 C.F.R. § 1306.04(a); Fla. Admin. Code r. 64B16- 27.810.
In addition, the DEA’s expert noted that between January 11, 2018, and July 17, 2018, 100 percent of the oxycodone tablet prescriptions and 87 percent of the hydromorphone tablet prescriptions (approximately 44 prescriptions total) issued by a particular prescriber were for the highest strength available for those controlled substances. The DEA’s expert opined that a pharmacist who was properly exercising his corresponding responsibility would have recognized this and refused to fill most of these prescriptions.
THE CONSEQUENCES DEA’S DR. DONALD SULLIVAN’S FRAUDULENT DRUG UTILIZATION REVIEW AND TACIT BIAS OF GERALD R KILEY’S MEDICAL CONDITION
DONALD SULLIVAN RPH., PHD., AND THE FOLSON AMICUS BRIEF
Jack Folson pharmacist expert:
There are a plethora of double-blind studies that conclude that the combination of several combinations of oxycodone, hydrocodone, gabapentin, cyclobenzaprine, ibuprofen, ketoprofen, alprazolam, temazepam, oxazepam, baclofen, and others have increased efficacy in terms of pain management and the management of comorbidities commonly associated with pain, inflammation, and paralysis. There are competing step care protocols in use in hospitals, home infusion, and community Pharmacy and therefore to criminalize the ones being used in these cases without the benefit of the patient interview or prescriber input would raise serious doubts about this red flag. The current information that the DEA uses to evaluate the use of opioids in the treatment of chronic pain is geared towards primary care practitioners and not specialists. (14)
ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE AND IMMEDIATE SUSPENSION OF REGISTRATION OF PRONTO PHARMACY LLC AUGUST 23, 2020
ExcessiveDispensing of High Strength Controlled Substances: The DEA’sexpert Donald Sullivan opined that it is a well-known red flag that the dispensing of a disproportionate number of prescriptions for the highest strength available for a particular controlled substance is a sign of illicit activity. TheDEA’s expert noted that virtually all of the prescriptions for oxycodone and hydromorphone that Pronto Pharmacy “compounded” during that time frame were for oxycodone 30 mg immediate-release and hydromorphone 8 mg immediate-release (the highest strengths for these controlled substances).
Dr. Sullivan will testify that a common red flag of abuse or diversion is when a physician prescribes “cocktail medications,” which are combinations of controlled substances that are widely known to be abused or diverted, and which significantly increase a patient’s risk of morbidity or overdose. Dr. Sullivan will testify that Respondent repeatedly dispensed high doses of oxycodone or hydromorphone along with high dosages of other central nervous system depressant medications, such as benzodiazepines (e.g., alprazolam). Dr. Sullivan will testify that these controlled substances are dangerous when used in combination. For example, when opioids are combined with benzodiazepines, a patient’s risk of overdose by respiratory depression increases dramatically. Dr. Sullivan will testify that Respondent repeatedly filled prescriptions without resolving the red flag of “cocktail medications
DRUG COCKTAILS
ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE AND IMMEDIATE SUSPENSION OF REGISTRATION OF PRONTO PHARMACY LLC AUGUST 23, 2020
Prescribing of Drug Cocktails: A common red flag of abuse or diversion is when a physician prescribes “cocktail medications,” which are combinations of controlled substances that are widely known to be abused or diverted and that significantly increase a patient’s risk of morbidity or overdose. The DEA’s sexpert reviewed numerous prescriptions that were filled by Pronto Pharmacy and concluded that Pronto Pharmacy regularly dispensed “cocktail medications” without addressing or resolving this red flag.
Prescribing of DrugCocktails: A common red flag of abuse or diversion is when a physician prescribes “cocktail medications,” which are combinations of controlled substances that are widely known to be abused or diverted and that significantly increase a patient’s risk of morbidity or overdose. TheDEA’sexpert reviewed numerous prescriptions that were filled by Pronto Pharmacy and concluded that Pronto Pharmacy regularly dispensed “cocktail medications” without addressing or resolving this red flag. Specifically, the DEA’s expert noted that Pronto Pharmacy routinely dispensed high doses of oxycodone along with high doses of benzodiazepines to the same patient. The DEA’s expert opined that this combination of drugs is dangerous when used in combination and is well-known by pharmacists as one used by patients abusing and/or diverting controlled substances. ProntoPharmacy’s lawfully filling of”drug cocktail” medications included the following specific occasions:
DONALD SULLIVAN RPH., PHD., AND THE FOLSON AMICUS BRIEFSTORY BEHIND THE ECONOMIC LYNCHING OF BLACK OWNED PHARMACY BUSINESSES BY THE DRUG ENFORCEMENT AGENCY (DEA) IN AMERICA HOW THIS DANGEROUS DECISION BASED UPON BIAS EFFECTS ALL HEALTHCARE (ESPECIALLY BLACK PROFESSIONALS IN AMERICA) by Jack Folson
Jack Folson Pharmacist expert writes:
In this case, the DEA continually referred to combinations of medications as Drug Cocktails, which has no basis in clinical pharmacy nor medicine. It might be a street term but since we as Pharmacists do not operate in the street the use of that terminology is more akin to propaganda than actual medical practice. Many patients with chronic pain have comorbidities and as such require medications to treat other issues. To cherry-pick out two or three conditions and to assign criminality to them without the benefit of knowing what the patient’s condition rises to the height of absurdity and should be discounted. (14)
This video (img_917) shows DEA took Pronto Pharmacy’s computers and screens because DEA expert Donald Sullivan who works 1150 miles from Pronto Pharmacy and 1740 mile from Mr’ Kiley’s home determined he was and abusers. The DEA goal was to put us out of business by seizing our equipment because they deem Mr. Kiley an abuser and he was diverting his medication.
The DEA has no supportive measures to apply further or support their claim that a crime was committed. Their tacit applications can be applied to any and all retail outlets. Whereby the acts and application and their idea of enforcement are so vague, that it strikes at the core values of our law. This agency can no longer be entrusted to protect and serve the citizenry. Their conduct throughout the nation strikes fears in that a law enforcement agency can act at will to claim that a citizen violated the law by merely stating that a specific law was violated. With no supporting facts and or articulations of how the citizens violated the law, this agency acts at will. With little and no restraints. (9)
DONALD SULLIVAN
In 2010, Dr. Sullivan testify in court East Main Street Pharmacy Dr. Sullivan admitted that he had probably not filled a pain medication prescription in approximately twelve years, id. at 977, and that this report represented his first determination that ‘‘a pharmacy is abusing controlled substances.’’ Id. at 990. However, he had previously filled ‘‘probably 1,000’’ prescriptions for oxycodone and thousands of prescriptions for alprazolam.
When asked on cross-examination if he knew what break-through pain is and whether he was aware that Dr. Volkman ‘‘practiced pain break- through type treatment,’’ Dr. Sullivan explained that there is no such separate specialty in pain management and that this ‘‘is when a patient is on a dose of medication and they are having flare-ups in pain, then another drug is given to help on a temporary acute basis to take care of that pain flare.’’ Tr. 1027.
He further stated that such treatment regimens were sometimes seen ‘‘in hospice patients and cancer patients.’’ Id. at 1028. Respondent did not establish that Volkman was legitimately prescribing multiple drugs for this purpose.”
In the video (img_9185-mov)Mr. Kiley states in the video he has other medical conditions that require the use of medications
In the next video (img_9189) Mr. Kiley asked, “is there any place he can go to get his medication filled.”
Mr. Gerald R. Kiley (IMG-9190-MOV) gave me permission to use this video as he wants the world to see his suffering from DEA’s expert Donald Sullivan’s tacit bias.
THE GRAPHIC RESULTS OF DONALD SULLIVAN’S LONG HISTORY OF PROFESSIONAL, ACADEMIC FRAUD AND JUDICIAL PERJURY
The last video (img_9191-mov) supports that why DEA must be Congressional Investigation as they illegally redefine medical procedures and cause patients like Mr. Kiley to suffer unnecessarily because of stigmatization.
CONCLUSION
THE CONGRESS MUST INVESTIGATE AND DEFUND THE UNITED STATES DRUG ENFORCEMENT AGENCY (DEA)
VICE NEWS AUGUST 11, 2020 MANISHA KRISHNAN
According to sociology professor Alex S. Vitale is unambiguous in his assessment of the Drug Enforcement Administration and its stated mission of reducing drug trafficking in the United States: “They have been a 100 percent failure by any measure you can think of.”
Vitale, coordinator of the Policing and Social Justice Project at Brooklyn College and the author of The End of Policing, said the DEA hasn’t saved any lives, nor has it made drugs less available. (8)
The American Medical Association (AMA) June 16, 2020,
“The nation no longer has a prescription opioid-driven epidemic. However, we are now facing an unprecedented, multi-factorial, and much more dangerous overdose and the drug epidemic is driven by heroin and illicitly manufactured fentanyl, fentanyl analogs, and stimulants.
We can no longer afford to view increasing drug-related mortality through a prescription opioid-myopic lens. This is why the AMA continues its aggressive advocacy efforts in support of patients with pain and those with a substance use disorder as well as broad support for harm reduction policies and practices that address the wide range of factors affecting patients. “
DONALD SULLIVAN RPH., PHD., AND THE FOLSON AMICUS BRIEF
“STORY BEHIND THE ECONOMIC LYNCHING OF BLACK OWNED PHARMACY BUSINESSES BY THE DRUG ENFORCEMENT AGENCY (DEA) IN AMERICA HOW THIS DANGEROUS DECISION BASED UPON BIAS EFFECTS ALL HEALTHCARE (ESPECIALLY BLACK PROFESSIONALS IN AMERICA)“
by Jack Folson
MAY 5, 2020
DEA destroyed the data in the Pronto Pharmacy computer these codes, which are no more than 6 characters spread out over 3 different fields cannot be presented. The malfeasance of the DEA could be considered contributory negligence in this case.
Other places that such documentation could be found are on the front or back of the original prescriptions. Not to mention the electronic patient profiles, all of which were available to the DEA but not presented at trial.
ABC NEWS JUNE 18, 2020 BY JUSTIN MUSTAIN
The DEA was first held liable in the early 1980s for discriminating against black agents in salary, promotions, supervisory evaluations and discipline.
Last year, a federal judge in Washington ruled the DEA had run afoul of court orders intended to remove the subjectivity from the agency’s promotion process. U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan reiterated that the agency owes damages to black agents whose careers were affected by what he called an “unlawful selection device.”
Attorneys for the black agents said they are still trying to determine how much money the DEA owes their clients. The DEA also could owe as much as $12 million in attorneys’ fees.
A half dozen retired black agents told AP that the “good ol’ boy” mentality is so entrenched at the DEA that it persisted even under black attorneys general Eric Holder and Loretta Lynch. They recalled colleagues who faced retaliation and exile for speaking out and said the agency’s failure to diversify has hampered its ability to build trust. (9) (10)
NEW YORK TIMES SEPTEMBER 17, 2018
According to Professor Leo Beletsky and Jeremiah Goulka,
” It is more than clear Congress must take actions to reform or disband The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). DEA has had over 40 years to win the war on drugs. Instead, its tactics have fueled the opioid crisis. To finally make a dent in this national emergency, we need to rethink the agency from the bottom up.”
“Parts of the D.E.A.’s law enforcement mandate should be transferred to the F.B.I., delegated back to the local or state, or eliminated. A significant portion of the D.E.A.’s budget should be reinvested in lifesaving measures like access to high-quality treatment.” According to Professor Leo Beletsky and Jeremiah Goulka. (11)
DRUG POLICY ALLIANCE AUGUST 2020
IT’S TIME TO DISMANTLE THE DEA
For nearly 50 years, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has fueled mass incarceration, wasted taxpayer money, abused its authority, and blocked scientific research.
The DEA was established in 1973 ostensibly to consolidate drug enforcement activities into a “superagency” that would bring together federal drug enforcement resources. In the last 50 years, it’s been a tremendous waste of resources and left a wake of devastation in the United States and abroad. (12)
DEA personnel have repeatedly engaged in unlawful operations, spent lavishly, ignored civil rights, packed federal prisons, and still failed to make a significant impact on drug supply. Meanwhile, Congress has engaged in little scrutiny of the agency, its actions, or its budget.
WASTING TAXPAYER FUNDS
The DEA is the central player in the failed war on drugs. When the DEA was created in 1973, it started with less than $75 million. In the fiscal year, 2020 U.S. taxpayers spent more than $3.1 billion on the DEA. President Trump asked for even more for the fiscal year 2021 – a staggering $3.5 billion, with more than $520 million specifically for its international programs. (12)
What has it done with all that money?
It has facilitated the growth of paramilitary forces on U.S. soil, expanded surveillance, and embedded itself in communities throughout the U.S. and abroad. It has directly participated in domestic enforcement at the local level and even conducted its own research and public propaganda campaigns
Ten percent of its Special Agent and Intelligence Analysts are permanently stationed overseas conducting drug interdiction, including undercover operations, surveillance, money laundering, paying informants, and facilitating arrests. Internationally, the DEA-led drug war has contributed to increased violence in many countries, as well as political and economic instability.
The DEA now has:
Over 10,000 employees in 23 “field divisions”
47 district offices
111 “resident offices”
58 “posts of duty”
90 foreign offices in 67 countries
Its functions, however, are also performed by other federal agencies, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Customs and Border Protection (CBP), United States Postal Inspection Service, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Criminal Investigation unit, and the U.S. Coast Guard.
FUELING MASS INCARCERATION AND RACIAL DISPARITIES
More than 20,000 individuals were convicted of federal drug offenses in 2019. Most of those sentences included imprisonment for many years. The average sentence for those convicted of trafficking marijuana was 31 months in federal prison. Sentences for methamphetamine trafficking average nearly 8 years, but many extend for decades.
Half of those in federal prisons are serving sentences for drug crimes. Over 75 percent of those convicted of federal drug offenses in 2019 were non-white people. While people of all races use and sell drugs at equivalent rates, the DEA and the drug war have targeted communities of color, producing profoundly unequal outcomes across racial groups.
And the DEA’s influence does not end at the gates of federal prisons. Its support for local drug-war policing has helped grow the number of people in state prisons and jails from around 36,000 people in 1980 to nearly 375,000 in 2017. This is costing taxpayers billions for incarceration and far more in collateral consequences to individuals who face barriers to housing, employment, education, and public assistance. All of this is causing further harm to the broader economy.
ABUSING ITS AUTHORITY
At its inception the DEA was tasked with classifying drugs and establishing controls on them. Instead, it has ignored scientific evidence and blocked research into the medical benefits of certain drugs, including marijuana. It has also fostered a culture of sidestepping the Constitution and failing to protect human rights.
Repeatedly the DEA has been found to have abused its authority. The agency has a history of human rights abuses, lavish payments to confidential informants, and surveillance of Americans with no suspected connection to illegal drug activities.
Over the years the DEA has rarely been held accountable for its scandals and the misconduct of its agents. Some of those scandals in the past decade have included:
Exorbitant Payments to Confidential Informants A 2016 audit revealed the DEA paid 18,000 informants $237 million over five years. The informants operated with little oversight or review of the reliability of their information.
Bulk Collection of Phone Records The DEA secretly and without explicit authority tracked billions of international phone calls made by U.S. residents for decades. The Justice Department Inspector General in 2019 raised numerous concerns about the DEA’s suspicionless surveillance of American’s phone records.
Tapping Phone Calls and Text Messages with Little Scrutiny DEA agents went around federal courts and prosecutors to routinely get wiretap authorization from one local court. At one point this was the source of one-fifth of all U.S. wiretaps.
Lack of Supervision and Accountability of Agents DEA agents reportedly received money, gifts and weapons from Colombian drug trade organizations. This included participating in parties with sex workers hired by these organizations. Most concerning is that DEA officials were not fully compliant with the Inspector General investigating the allegations.
Gross Neglect in the Handling of an Improperly Detained Person DEA agents detained 23-year-old student Daniel Chong, but then left him locked in a windowless cell with no food or water for five days. He drank his own urine to survive. The DEA eventually paid $4.1 million to settle a lawsuit. The most significant sanction for the personnel involved included a 7-day suspension. (12)
Other incidents over the years have raised similar questions about the DEA’s practices, including:
For too long the DEA fostered a culture of ignoring the law and tolerated abuses of power. It has rarely been forced to account for the misconduct.
LACK OF RESULTS
The DEA’s rogue practices have not only undermined the rule of law, they have also failed to deliver their intended result, cutting off the supply of drugs. Even as its operating budget has swelled and it sent a steady stream of people to prison, increasing violence and instability at home and abroad, the supply of drugs entering the United States has never significantly declined. (12)
According to the DEA’s own “2019 National Drug Threat Assessment” the “opioid threat (controlled prescription drugs, synthetic opioids, and heroin) continues at ever-increasing epidemic levels, affecting large portions of the United States” and “The stimulant threat (methamphetamine and cocaine) is worsening and becoming more widespread.”
After billions of dollars spent on their futile drug war, drugs remain cheap, potent and widely available.
A New Approach: Defund and Reinvest
For too long the DEA has abused its powers, misspent taxpayer funds, fueled mass incarceration, and ignored civil rights.
It’s time to dismantle and abolish the DEA. We need to pivot to a health-based approach to address addiction and improve social conditions that contribute to problematic drug use.
‘”AND THE LORD TOLD PAUL DO NOT BE AFRAID FOR I AM WITH YOU“
THE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENT OPERATIONS, COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY, CONGRESSIONAL BLACK CAUCUS MUST BEGIN INVESTIGATIONS TO PUT AN END TO MEDICAL APARTHEID IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND STOP THE TARGETING OF BLACK PHARMACIST AND DEFUND THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF DRUG ENFORCEMENT (DEA) IMMEDIATELY
JACK FOLSON RPH., NORMAN L.CLEMENT PHARM-TECH, REV. C.T. VIVIAN, JELANI ZIMBABWE CLEMENT, BS., MBA., WILLIE GUINYARD BS., BRAHM FISHER ESQ.,JOSEPH WEBSTER MD., ESTER HYATT PHD.,BERES E. MUSCHETT, STRATEGIC ADVISOR
THE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENT OPERATIONS, COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY, CONGRESSIONAL BLACK CAUCUS MUST BEGIN INVESTIGATIONS TO PUT AN END TO MEDICAL APARTHEID IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND STOP THE TARGETING OF BLACK PHARMACIST AND DEFUND THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF DRUG ENFORCEMENT (DEA) IMMEDIATELY
Mental Health
How systemic racism affects public health Part 1: Health disparities among Black people
Written by Terence F. Chappell Edited by Emily Ornberg Clinically reviewed by Chet Robson DO, MHCDS, FAAFP
As the nation reckons with racism, medical communities are taking action to address the health disparities among minorities—by declaring racism as a public health crisis.
While racism impacts all people of color, Black Americans have historically been among the most impacted. In this series, we’ll look at some of the connections between race, racism and health in the United States and discuss actions toward health equity for all.
What is racism?
While it might seem obvious, the definition of “racism” has evolved—it doesn’t just refer to hate groups or bigoted comments. Racism is folded into the foundation of our country—so much so, that racism may go unseen to some who don’t experience it. Racism can be direct or indirect, and affects Black people, and other minorities—of all classes, ages and genders.
Here’s how Camara Phyllis Jones, MD, MPH, PhD of the American Public Health Association (APHA) defines racism:
“Racism is a system of structuring opportunity and assigning value based on the social interpretation of how one looks (which is what we call “race”), that unfairly disadvantages some individuals and communities, unfairly advantages other individuals and communities, and saps the strength of the whole society through the waste of human resources.”1
“WE MUST BE LIKE JOHN”
How is racism linked to public health?
Our race impacts our health outcomes, similar to other social determinants of health such as housing, education and work situations.1 Black Americans report higher overall stress levels compared to white Americans—and chronic, sustained stress over time can raise the risk for conditions such as heart disease, high blood pressure and depression.2 And lack of adequate health insurance coverage remains a major barrier to accessing quality health care for people of color and low-income individuals.3
The American Academy of Pediatrics, American Medical Association and American College of Physicians, among many other health institutions, have spoken out against the major health and socioeconomic disparities among Black Americans—naming racism as a public health concern.
The results are staggering—Black Americans are:
1.7 times more likely to be hospitalized4
2.2 times more likely to die as infants5
80 percent more likely to be diagnosed with diabetes6
Up to 60 percent more likely to have high blood pressure7
40 percent more likely to die of breast cancer8
20 percent more likely to have visual impairments6
20 percent more likely to report psychological distress9
50 percent less likely to receive counseling or mental health treatment9
Overall, Black Americans are living longer, but in certain regions of the country, this isn’t the case. For example, in Chicago in the predominately white and affluent neighborhood Streeterville, residents are expected to live until 90, while in the predominately Black and poor area Englewood (only nine miles away on the city’s South Side) residents typically live until about 60, according to a study by NYU School of Medicine.10 The life expectancy for Blacks living in other cities is shorter, including LA County, New York City, and Washington D.C.
Black Americans are also more likely to have chronic health conditions, according to the CDC.11 Younger Black Americans are living with diseases more associated with older age groups, including high blood pressure, diabetes and stroke.
How has COVID-19 impacted races?
The COVID-19 pandemic has made race disparities—and the systematic racism they are rooted in—more apparent.
Severe illness and death rates have historically been higher for racial and ethnic minority groups during public health emergencies. To address the needs of these populations in emergencies, the CDC stresses improving their daily life and harnessing their strengths.12
What are some factors of these health disparities?
Various factors and social inequities have put some members of racial and ethnic minority groups at increased health risks. All of these factors affect our health, and all are shaped by systemic racism.
Black people are more likely than white people to:
Report not being able to see a doctor in the past year because of cost
Live in areas without clean water or air
Have less access to green spaces
Grow up in high-poverty areas
Live in food deserts with limited access to fresh fruit or vegetables
Be exposed to greater occupational hazards, often working in frontline jobs across many fields
What can be done
The first step is identifying racism a health crisis. Then comes a plan of action for addressing it.
The CDC recommends these actions for public healthcare providers.11
Ensure healthcare professionals understand cultural differences and the social and economic conditions that may put some patients at higher risk than others.
Link more people to accessible doctors, nurses or community health centers to encourage regular and follow-up medical visits.
Support actions to create healthy food environments and increase physical activity in underserved communities.
What you can do
By discussing actions of racism with friends, coworkers and family, you are more likely to affect change in your communities.
Address racist attitudes/ statements when you hear them.
If you have the means, contribute to community organizations.
Volunteer at organizations to help minorities gain better access care.
How Walgreens can help bridge access to care
To ensure everyone has the opportunity to be as healthy as possible, it’s important to bridge access to care. Pharmacists are often the most accessible and frequently visited members of the healthcare team, especially in underserved areas.
Schedule telehealth appointments for general illnesses, dermatology and mental health.
Entrenched health disparities impact the wellbeing of the Black community. As a healthcare resource in many communities, Walgreens is here to address and decrease those disparities. In Part 2, we will take a look at the differences in chronic conditions by race.
NORMAN J. CLEMENT RPH., DDS., MALACHI F. MACKANDAL PHARMD, JOSEPH SOLVO ESQ., BEVERLY PRINCE MD., JACK FOLSON RPH., NORMAN L.CLEMENT PHARM-TECH, REV. C.T. VIVIAN, JELANI ZIMBABWE CLEMENT, BS., MBA., WILLIE GUINYARD BS., BRAHM FISHER ESQ.,JOSEPH WEBSTER MD., ESTER HYATT PHD.,BERES E. MUSCHETT, STRATEGIC ADVISOR
“Retired Neonatologist Keith Kanarek MD, Tampa Florida points out they operate under think and feel rather than fact-based on a foundation of science.“
THE CONGRESS MUST INVESTIGATE AND DEFUND THE UNITED STATES DRUG ENFORCEMENT AGENCY (DEA)
Charles Ogletree Esq; Harvard Law Professor
…..from The Presumption of Guilt, the arrest of Henry Louis Gates Jr., …”I examine the race and class dimensions of the Gates arrest by looking at how other successful, prosperous, and noteworthy African American men (who are by no means alone in experiencing problems of racial profiling) have grappled with a wide range of encounters not only with police but with countless everyday citizens and found themselves being judged by the color of their skin rather than the content of their character.“…..
THE PROBITY
DONALD SULLIVAN’S LONG HISTORY OF PROFESSIONAL, ACADEMIC FRAUD AND JUDICIAL PERJURY
The year is 2010, the case docket 09-48, Columbus, Ohio The United States Drug Enforcement Agency vs East Main Street Pharmacy (‘‘Respondent’’), of Columbus, Ohio Harold Eugene Fletcher PharmD from the record it reads,
The Government called Donald Sullivan, R.Ph. and Ph.D., as its expert witness. Dr. Sullivan, who holds active pharmacist licenses in Ohio and Florida, obtained a B.S. in Pharmacy from The Ohio State University, as well as both an M.S. and Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Administration, also from The Ohio State University.
DR. DON SULLIVAN
Between 1997 and 2006, Dr. Sullivan was an Associate Professor of Pharmacy Practice at Ohio Northern University. Thereafter, Dr. Sullivan was appointed to the rank of Full Professor and has been Chairman of the Department of Pharmacy at Ohio Northern University for the last four years. (1)
During graduate school, Dr. Sullivan worked as a Registered Pharmacist at both retail and mail-order pharmacies. He testified that he has worked at ‘‘several different independents in the central Ohio area’’ and that he currently works part-time as a pharmacist for North Central Mental Health. Dr. Sullivan was offered and accepted as an ‘‘expert witness” on standard pharmacy
Before this Court Professor Dr. Sullivan testified that under both Ohio and Federal law,
there ‘‘is corresponding responsibility between the physician and the pharmacist.’’ He further explained that ‘‘a lot of pharmacists think that just because the physician wrote it, I have to fill it.’’ However, Dr. Sullivan stated that there is nothing in Ohio law that says you have to fill any prescription.’’ He then explained that ‘‘one of the first things we try to get the students and pharmacist to understand is that under Ohio law, and federal law 50 percent of the responsibility falls on the pharmacy, the pharmacist, 50 percent falls on the physician. Don’t just fill it because the doctor wrote it.’’
Similarly, in his report, Dr. Sullivan, after discussing the CSA’s prescription requirement (21 CFR 1306.04(a)), explained that:
The State of Ohio has similar language in its laws and regulations. Ohio Law states that: The pharmacist who fills any prescription has a corresponding responsibility with the physician to make sure that the prescription has been issued for a Legitimate Medical Purpose. The responsibility to ensure that a prescription is for a legitimate medical purpose in the usual course of a prescriber’s professional practice is equal for both the physician and pharmacist. (Fifty percent of this responsibility is on the pharmacist and 50% is on the physician). The argument that ‘‘Just because a physician wrote the prescription,
However the DEA Judge wrote in her observations of Dr. Donald Sullivan in 2010:
While the Ohio courts may have interpreted State law as described above, as explained below, Dr. Sullivan’s testimony that Federal law allocates fifty percent of the responsibility to the physician and fifty percent to the pharmacist is not a correct statement of the law, which has been amply explained in numerous decisions of the Federal courts and this Agency. To make clear, Federal law does not apportion the responsibility for dispensing unlawful prescriptions between a prescribing practitioner and a pharmacist. Rather, Federal law imposes separate and independent duties on the prescriber and the pharmacist.
More specifically, the prescriber must act within the usual course of professional practice and have a legitimate medical purpose to lawfully issue a controlled-substance prescription. 21 CFR 1306.04(a). As the Supreme Court and numerous Federal courts have made plain, to lawfully prescribe a controlled substance the physician must act ‘‘in accordance with a standard of medical practice generally recognized and accepted in the United States.’’
The DEA Judge further notes
” By contrast, a ‘‘pharmacist is not required to practice medicine.’’ United States v. Hayes, 595 F.2d 258, 261 (5th. Cir 1979). ‘‘What is required of [a pharmacist] is the responsibility not to fill an order that purports to be a prescription but is not a prescription within the meaning of the statute because he knows [or has reason to know] that the issuing practitioner issued it outside the scope of medical practice.’’
However, Dr. Sullivan’s statements that: (1) A pharmacist is not required to fill any prescription, and (2) it is not an excuse that because a doctor wrote the prescription, it can be legally filled, are consistent with Federal law. According to Dr. Sullivan, as part of the prospective drug utilization review, a pharmacist is required to check a patient’s profile for the following: ‘‘(a) over-utilization or under- utilization[;] (b) therapeutic duplication[;] (c) drug-disease state contraindications[;] (d) drug-drug interactions[;] (e) incorrect drug dose or duration of treatment[;] (f) drug-allergy interaction[;] (g) abuse/ misuse[;] (h) inappropriate duration of treatment[; and] (i) documented good/nutritional supplements- drug interactions.’’
DONALD SULLIVAN’S LONG HISTORY OF PROFESSIONAL, ACADEMIC FRAUD AND JUDICIAL PERJURY CONTINUES
The year is 2020, the case docket 09-42, Tampa, Florida the United States Drug Enforcement Agency vs Pronto Pharmacy LLC., Norman J Clement RPh, DDS from the record it reads,
DEA Judge Mark D. Dowd writes:
“I question the sufficiency of the factual foundation for Dr. Sullivan’s expert opinion that the above prescriptions were an apparent attempt to mask scores of improper opioid prescriptions. The relevant medical records were not reviewed, the prescriber’s justification for the prescriptions were not considered by Dr. Sullivan, nor was the patient’s input as to the subject prescriptions considered. I find Dr. Sullivan’s subject opinion, on the basis of this record, to be improperly speculative and unjustified as an expert opinion.”
“This finding does not affect the probity of Dr. Sullivan’s opinions as to the therapeutic effect of the subject medications, their contraindication with other prescribed medications, or the justification of their prescription.”
CDUJOE WILDING BS. POLITICAL SCIENCE, STRATEGIC ADVISOR
Here we are in the year 2020 and the overwhelming effects of “White Privilege” are still being levied unjustly and on the side of the privileged group. The above statements made by Administrative Law DEA Judge Mark Dowd are clearly reflective of his unbalanced application of the facts as it pertains to Dr. Sullivan’s questionable and problematic efforts. Judge Dowd himself indicates that Dr. Sullivan’s claim to be an expert in the subject matter is not supportable.
However, Judge Dowd failed to give any just consideration to the pharmaceutical practices and procedures of a real expert with well over 40 years of experience.
………“This finding does not affect the probity of Dr. Sullivan’s opinions as to the therapeutic effect of the subject medications, their contraindication with other prescribed medications, or the justification of their prescription.”………..
DEA Judge Dowd clearly indicates Dr. Sullivan’s subpar attempt to discredit Dr. Clement was carried out with honesty and strong moral principles. Yet, Judge Dowd gave absolutely no consideration to the thoughts of morality, honesty, and basic human decency that Dr. Clement has displayed in his pharmaceutical practices for over 40 years.
THE ARROGANCE OF HUBRIS
WHY THE HOUSE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE MUST INVESTIGATE AND SHUT DOWN THE DEA COURT SYSTEM
DEA Judge Mark D. Dowd writes:
Dr. Sullivan demonstrated a commanding grasp of pharmacy practice and of the distinctions between pharmacy compounding and manufacturing. However, there were several matters for which he had diminished credibility. For one, he was unaware that Florida had codified the standard of care for medical personnel.
Although I later determined the statute in question did not apply to pharmacists, it was somewhat surprising he was unaware of it, as he teaches Florida pharmacy law, More problematically, he quickly agreed that it was consistent with his understanding of the standard of care for pharmacists in Florida, which was somewhat surprising, as the standard of care for medical personnel is a highly generalized standard, a prudent healthcare provider standard.
While the standard of care for pharmacists in Florida, as set out in the relevant Florida regulations, is highly specific in listing particular responsibilities and duties.
He arguably conceded an alternate generalized standard of care for pharmacists in Florida, which is not consistent with Florida law or regulation.
DEA Judge Mark D. Dowd writes:
Secondly, he gave inconsistent testimony regarding unresolvable red flags. He described several red flags as unresolvable, that no explanation could warrant the filing of the subject prescription. Later, he conceded that those same red flags could be resolved. At one point he suggested no single red flag was unresolvable, rather it was the combination of red flags which made them unresolvable. Accordingly, because of these inconsistencies, in the absence of a reliable principle or method employed by Dr. Sullivan, I reject his conclusions regarding his claim that certain red flags were unresolvable. For each of the red flags, he testified were “unresolvable,” I accept his alternate opinion that each of those red flags went unresolved in this matter, a finding clearly supported by the evidence.
DEA Judge Mark D. Dowd writes:
“An expert, however, must base his knowledge on more than “subjective belief or unsupported speculation.” Daubert, 509 U.S. at 590 (discussing Federal Rule of Evidence 702). Without additional supporting evidence I am unable to rely on Dr. Sullivan’s opinion regarding this red flag. The same will be true with respect to the other patients as to whom he raised a similar red flag to this one. I will, however, accept his opinion that prescriptions for opioids and low-dose non-controlled drugs raise a red flag to the extent that a low-dose non-controlled medication “doesn’t make sense” alongside a high-dose opioid. In other words, I accept his testimony that low doses of non-controlled drugs are suspicious because they do not make medical sense when prescribed with high doses of opioids, but I do not accept his testimony that any doctor prescribed those non-controlled drugs with the intent to cover illegitimate treatment”
In contrast The American Medical Association wrote on June 16, 2020:
While the AMA understands that the apparent goal of the CDC Guideline was to reduce opioid prescribing, we believe the proper role of CDC is to improve pain care. It follows that a dedicated effort must be made to undo the damage from the misapplication of the CDC Guideline.
Recommendations to improve the CDC GuidelineS
Accordingly, the CDC Guideline could be substantially improved in three overarching ways. First, by incorporating some fundamental revisions that acknowledge that many patients experience pain that is not well controlled, substantially impairs their quality of life and/or functional status, stigmatizes them, and could be managed with more compassionate patient care.
MR. DECROYO GREEN RECOVERING FROM GUN SHOT INJURY IS FORCE TO TRAVEL AROUND BECAUSE OF PHARMACIST WHO STIGMATIZED HIM
Second, by using the revised CDC Guideline as part of a coordinated federal strategy to help ensure patients with pain receive comprehensive care delivered in a patient-centric approach. And third, by urging state legislatures, payers, pharmacy chains, pharmacy benefit management companies, and all other stakeholders to immediately suspend the use of the CDC Guideline as an arbitrary policy to limit, discontinue or taper a patient’s opioid therapy.
Recommendation 1
Nonpharmacologic therapy and nonopioid pharmacologic therapy are preferred for chronic pain. Clinicians should consider opioid therapy only if expected benefits for both pain and function are anticipated to outweigh risks to the patient. If opioids are used, they should be combined with nonpharmacologic therapy and nonopioid pharmacologic therapy, as appropriate.
With respect to specific revisions, and in addition to the suggestions provided above, the AMA recommends the following revisions to the first recommendation of the 2016 CDC Guideline:
“Non-pharmacologic therapy and non-opioid pharmacologic therapy are preferred for patients with pain. Providers should consider using opioid therapy only if expected benefits for both pain and function are anticipated to outweigh risks to the patient. If opioids are used, they should be combined with nonpharmacologic therapy, as appropriate. In order to achieve this goal, public and private payer policies must be fundamentally altered and aligned to support payment for non- pharmacologic treatments and multimodal, multidisciplinary pain care. In addition, more evidence must be developed to inform clinical decision-making on the use of nonpharmacologic approaches, and more clinicians need to be trained in their effective use.“
The AMA’s rationale for this revision starts with the fundamental principle that treatment decisions for patients with pain must be made on an individualized basis. Opioid therapy should only be used when the benefits outweigh the risks, but there is no question that some patients benefit from opioid therapy— including at doses that some may consider “high.” As noted above, CDC authors of the CDC Guideline recognize that it has been used to deny access to legitimate pain care and non-consensually taper patients. The AMA urges CDC to specifically address this in the revised CDC Guideline.
We further urge CDC to support patients’ access to a broad range of pharmacologic and non- pharmacologic options. Broad-based, effective implementation of this recommendation requires large scale changes in the public and private payer communities and better evidence to inform the most effective nonpharmacologic approach for various conditions. Furthermore, access to non-pharmacologic and non-opioid pharmacological treatments and reimbursement for them are often inadequate, especially for multidisciplinary care. The National Pain Strategy specifically identifies that a pressing need exists to assess insurer practices such as prior authorization, step therapy, fail-first protocols, specialty tier payment structures, and other limits on reimbursement for multidisciplinary care treatments that act as barriers to effective care. Telling physicians they must use non-opioid pain care options when payers and other make them financially or administratively unavailable is a Catch-22 that CDC needs to help end.”
Recommendation 2
Before starting opioid therapy for chronic pain, clinicians should establish treatment goals with all patients, including realistic goals for pain and function, and should consider how therapy will be discontinued if benefits do not outweigh risks. Clinicians should continue opioid therapy only if there is a clinically meaningful improvement in pain and function that outweighs risks to patient safety.
While we generally support the CDC Guideline’s second recommendation, some situations exist where patients may have intractable pain and sufficient disability such that functional improvement is not possible, and relief of pain and suffering alone is a supportable primary goal. In an analogous fashion, some patients may demonstrate functional improvement, with limited changes in pain scores.” (7)
DONALD SULLIVAN: ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE AUGUST 29, 2019, PRONTO PHARMACY MILAGE AND DISTANCE
Patients Travelling Long Distances to Fill Prescriptions at Pronto Pharmacy: The DEA’s expert Donald Sullivan opined that it can be a red flag of abuse and diversion if a patient travels a significant distance to a specific pharmacy, especially if the patient also travels a significant distance to a particular prescriber. Numerous Pronto Pharmacy customers traveled significant distances to obtain and fill their prescriptions.
DEA’s expert Donald Sullivan opined that both patients traveling long distances from their residences and patients traveling long distances from the medical practices of the prescribers to have their prescriptions filled are significant red flags that the prescriptions being filled by Pronto Pharmacy were being abused and/or diverted and that a pharmacist who was properly exercising his corresponding responsibility would have recognized this and refused to fill most of these prescriptions. (6)
DEA Judge Mark D. Dowd writes in his recommended order May 05, 2020:
I am not accepting Dr. Sullivan’s testimony that the roundtrip distance from M.M.’s home to the doctor’s office, and then to the Respondent, and then back home, is a red flag. There was no evidence M.M. ever made that round trip. The 38 miles from M.M.’s home to the Respondent is not overly suspicious on its face. I believe the Government withdrew its allegation as to that distance. I will, however, accept Dr. Sullivan’s testimony that the 134 miles from M.M.’s home to the doctor’s office. U.S. Administrative Law Judge Mark D. Dowd was so busy trying to be a bigot, so busy trying to be a racist, so busy reading you are withinthenorms.com toughest man he couldn’t be fair.
Sullivan prevails solely on privilege and not on science or fact,
Donald Sullivan, Mark D. Dowd vs American Medical Association
However, The American Medical Association (AMA) June 16, 2020, wrote to Deborah Dowell, MD, MPH Chief Medical Officer National Center for Injury Prevention and Control U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 4770 Buford Highway, NE Atlanta, GA 30341 undermines The DEA’s Prescription Red Flag Crusade “Opioid War” against license Physicians, Dentist, Pharmacist, the testimony and conclusion drawn by both DEA Pharmacist Expert Donald Sullivan, DEA Judge Mark D. Dowd:
The AMA writes:
“The nation no longer has a prescription opioid-driven epidemic. However, we are now facing an unprecedented, multi-factorial, and much more dangerous overdose and the drug epidemic is driven by heroin and illicitly manufactured fentanyl, fentanyl analogs, and stimulants. We can no longer afford to view increasing drug-related mortality through a prescription opioid-myopic lens. This is why the AMA continues its aggressive advocacy efforts in support of patients with pain and those with a substance use disorder as well as broad support for harm reduction policies and practices that address the wide range of factors affecting patients. “
The nation’s opioid epidemic has never been just about prescription opioids, and we encourage CDC to take a broader view of how to help ensure patients have access to evidence-based comprehensive care that includes multidisciplinary, multimodal pain care options as well as efforts to remove the stigma that patients with pain experience on a regular basis. CDC has a great opportunity to demonstrate its commitment to patients with pain through a detailed re-examination of the CDC Guideline, and the AMA urges CDC to work with physicians and patients to ensure that the revisions support patients with pain and the physicians who care for them.”
The AMA further writes:
“We are concerned that such a careful approach to identifying the precise combination of pharmacologic options could be flagged on a prescription drug monitoring program as indications wrongly interpreted as so-called “doctor shopping” and cause the patient to be inappropriately questioned by a pharmacist. The AMA strongly supports a pharmacist carrying out his or her corresponding responsibility under state and federal law, but the past few years are rife with examples of patients facing what amounts to interrogations at the pharmacy counter as well as denials of legitimate medication. The AMA urges CDC to provide strong guidance and support for physicians and pharmacists to work together rather than jumping to conclusions about a patient’s PDMP report.” (2)
” Clinicians are encouraged to have open and honest discussions with their patients so as to avoid stigmatizing the decision to start, continue, or discontinue opioids or non-opioid therapy. This discussion also must account for the treatment options accessible to the patient based on their health condition, social determinants of health (e.g. transportation, employment, childcare responsibilities, race, gender, age) and insurance coverage.” (2)
THE DEA’S CADRE OF JUNK SCIENCE-TIERS AND SUPER DEFRAUDERS OF THE AMERICAN TAXPAYER’S MONEY
They’ve (DEA) exploited the use of a network of medical practitioner hustlers such as Donald Sullivan RPh., Phd., Timothy Munzing, MD., in Court Rooms who have been paid millions by the United States Federal Government see GovTribe. (1),(2),(3) Their testimony which often relies on tacit bias without examining radiographs (X-rays) the patients or interviewing prescribing practitioners in many cases are equivalent to the discredited bite mark evidence once used in courtrooms.
TIMOTHY MUNZING MD
The DOJ, DEA idea is to starve us out of business through harassment, intimidation, and fraudulent misrepresentations by their network of so-called DEA experts like Timothy Munzing, MD. (1)
According to GovTribe, a website that tracks payments to federal contractors, Munzing is paid $300 an hour by the DEA. (1) In the past few months, Munzing has been paid over $250,000 by the DEA to review patient records and testify as an expert witness in DEA cases. (1)
DONALD R. SULLIVAN RPH., PHD.
Dr. Munzing who works with Kaiser Permanente and Donald R. Sulivan Professor at Ohio State University College of Pharmacy never appears to have examined or interviews the patients or prescribing physicians and relies conclusions on Junk Science in their Courtroom testimonies.
Jack Folson RPh., expert pharmacist Consultant from Michigan stated in his May 2020 report known as The Folson Amicus Brief:
Presently, because of the criminalization of pain management suffering has increased and has led, to an increase in Heroin use. Due to the dangers associated with heroin use this, more than anything else, in this case, is an immediate threat to public safety. To put it plainly the actions by the DEA are causing the thing that they are trying to avoid.
THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY PROFESSOR DONALD R. SULLIVAN IS AN ACADEMIC FRAUD AND SHOULD BE TERMINATED BY THE UNIVERSITY, WE RENEW THIS ARUGUMENT
DEA expert Don Sullivan must be brought before the Academic and Standard Review Committee at The Ohio State University for academic fraud. Donald Sullivan never interviews the patients nor their prescribing physicians in his narrative of irrevocable flags. Clearly his opinion was base on a tacit bias.
PROFESSOR DONALD SULLIVAN
A group is renewing our complaint of Professional and Academic Fraud charges against the Ohio State University College of Pharmacy, DEA Expert, Clinical Professor Donald Sullivan. Who, in sworn testimony, admitted to not having interviewed any of the patients, nor their prescribing physicians, neither saw nor reviewed any of the patient’s prescriptions. Professor Sullivan opined every prescription to be illegitimate.
LOW HANGING FRUIT
NATASHA DUVALL PHARMD, BLOOMFIELD HILL, MICHIGAN
I think for low hanging fruit, you are a scholar to be reckoned with. The court with their professional witness and the DEA should be embarrassed.
ELIZABETH GREEN DDS, MONTICELLO, FLORIDA
This unlawful practice of singling out black practitioners must stop. When will we be permitted to practice and provide for our families in the same way that white America does? As the Lord instructed Paul do not be afraid:
PRESIDENT OBAMA WE MUST BE MORE LIKE JOHN “AS THE LORD INSTRUCTED PAUL. “DO NOT BE AFRAID”
EUGENE RAVENEL SOUTH CAROLINA wrote:
It appears as if the judge believed Dr. Sullivans based upon two main points; 1. his position as a governmental position of status from DEA. 2. As someone whom he gave credence as the evidence for what was stated is not factual sound to bring charges. I am not an attorney but my understanding from reading this document supports my statements.
THE GORILLA THEORY
DEBRA H. GRANNY-NANNY BS, ANN ARBOR, MI
…….”I find Dr. Sullivan’s subject opinion, on the basis of this record, to be improperly speculative and unjustified as an expert opinion.”……..
When reading an excerpt from Judge Mark D. Dowd’s opinion, the fact that he bases his conclusion of law on Dr. Sullivan’s testimony that he found to be “improperly speculative and unjustified as an expert opinion …
……….”I question the sufficiency of the factual foundation for Dr. Sullivan’s expert opinion that the above prescriptions were an apparent attempt to mask scores of improper opioid prescriptions.“……..
…….“This finding does not affect the probity of Dr. Sullivan’s opinions as to the therapeutic effect of the subject medications, their contraindication with other prescribed medications, or the justification of their prescription.”……..
does not affect the probity of Dr. Sullivan’s opinions …” exemplifies the glaring reality that no matter what the scientific evidence says that supports a learned person of color, it’s not enough. White privilege supersedes it all.
DEB HARGROVEBS., THOMASVILLE, GEORGIA
Norm, this is another example of the verdict without fact, sense of justice, lack of academics, and total absence of righteousness. The foundation of THE SYSTEM is so eroded that a total defunding would aid rebuilding the brick and mortar basics that should have been, but not characterized in this case as of many others. I dare to say that the crumbling away of righteous judgment has brought us to the brink of self-annihilation.
Not only is the moral fabric of this system decayed, but the soul of civilization has stepped back into the darkest depths of “humanity”.Look around you. Can you see it? Can you feel that the heart of mankind is throbbing its last gasp for life? Money has been the lifeblood for this failing system, and man’s neglect for our duty to God is cancer. Yes, starve cancer and there may be a chance for renewed life.
In Jim Crow America we fought what was in our means to fight WE REFUSE TO ADOPT 3 part principle GANDHI OF NONE CORPORATION WITH THE ENEMY.
NON-VIOLENCE
NON CORRPORATION WITH THE ENEMY (salt)
TRUTH
PIG LAWS AND THE PROBITY
The old master, he does anything he wants to do without any repercussions but looks in the direction of a white woman, any action on a par of Blackman he deems inappropriate especially toward a woman any action he would be hung from a tree. So looking at is these ways have continued because they haven’t been forced to stop. (3)
We didn’t refer to as probity we called it the “the good ole boy network” and we knew exactly what meant and how it works and we reduce it to a common say if you wanted to get ahead or get out of jail you had to have a: “good ole white bot to sponsor you” and to recently the end result of that was every black community the white folks had a black family or a black sponsor that they controlled and that was the modern-day version of the house nigger and person within that community Knew exactly whose those people were.
THE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENT OPERATIONS, COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY, CONGRESSIONAL BLACK CAUCUS MUST BEGIN INVESTIGATIONS TO PUT AN END TO MEDICAL APARTHEID IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND STOP THE TARGETING OF BLACK PHARMACIST AND DEFUND THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF DRUG ENFORCEMENT (DEA) IMMEDIATELY
FOR NOW YOU ARE WITHIN THE NORMS
END NOTES
DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE Drug Enforcement Administration [Docket No. 09–48]East Main Street Pharmacy; Affirmance of Suspension Order
On April 23, 2009, the Deputy Assistant Administrator, Office of Diversion Control, Drug Enforcement Administration, issued an Order to Show Cause to East Main Street Pharmacy (‘‘Respondent’’), of Columbus, Ohio. The Show Cause Order proposed the revocation of Respondent’s DEA Certificate of Registration, BE5902615, as a retail pharmacy, as well as the denial of any pending applications to renew or modify its registration, ‘‘for reason that [Respondent’s] continued registration is inconsistent with the public interest, as that term is used in
6. IN THE MATTER OF Pronto Pharmacy, LLC 1461 West Busch Boulevard Tampa, Florida 33612 Certificate of Registration Number FP2302076, U.S. Department of Justice Drug Enforcement Administration Springfield. VA 22!52, August 23, 2019 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE AND IMMEDIATE SUSPENSION OF REGISTRATION PURSUANT to Sections 303 and 304 of the Controlled Substances Act, Title 21. United States Code. Sections 823 and 824.
“Defending our freedom, though, is not just the job of our military alone. We must all do our part to make sure our God-given rights are protected here at home. That includes one of the most fundamental right of a democracy: the right to vote. When any American, no matter where they live or what their party, are denied that right because they can’t afford to wait for five or six or seven hours just to cast their ballot, we are betraying our ideals.” – President Obama, February 12, 2013
OUR DAD ERILIN CLEMENT SR. VOTING AT AGE 103
– President Lyndon JohnsonMarch 15, 1965
[As delivered in person before a joint session at 9:02 p.m.]
Mr. Speaker, Mr. President, Members of the Congress:
I speak tonight for the dignity of man and the destiny of democracy.
I urge every member of both parties, Americans of all religions and of all colors, from every section of this country, to join me in that cause.
At times history and fate meet at a single time in a single place to shape a turning point in man’s unending search for freedom. So it was at Lexington and Concord. So it was a century ago at Appomattox. So it was last week in Selma, Alabama.
There, long-suffering men and women peacefully protested the denial of their rights as Americans. Many were brutally assaulted. One good man, a man of God, was killed.
There is no cause for pride in what has happened in Selma. There is no cause for self-satisfaction in the long denial of equal rights of millions of Americans. But there is cause for hope and for faith in our democracy in what is happening here tonight.
For the cries of pain and the hymns and protests of oppressed people have summoned into convocation all the majesty of this great Government–the Government of the greatest Nation on earth.
ERLIN CLEMENT SR BORN FEBRUARY 1917
Our mission is at once the oldest and the most basic of this country: to right wrong, to do justice, to serve man.
In our time we have come to live with moments of great crisis. Our lives have been marked with debate about great issues; issues of war and peace, issues of prosperity and depression. But rarely in any time does an issue lay bare the secret heart of America itself. Rarely are we met with a challenge, not to our growth or abundance, our welfare or our security, but rather to the values and the purposes and the meaning of our beloved Nation.
The issue of equal rights for American Negroes is such an issue. And should we defeat every enemy, should we double our wealth and conquer the stars, and still be unequal to this issue, then we will have failed as a people and as a nation.
For with a country as with a person, “What is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul ?”
There is no Negro problem. There is no Southern problem. There is no Northern problem. There is only an American problem. And we are met here tonight as Americans–not as Democrats or Republicans-we are met here as Americans to solve that problem.
This was the first nation in the history of the world to be founded with a purpose. The great phrases of that purpose still sound in every American heart, North and South: “All men are created equal”–“government by consent of the governed”–“give me liberty or give me death.” Well, those are not just clever words, or those are not just empty theories. In their name Americans have fought and died for two centuries, and tonight around the world they stand there as guardians of our liberty, risking their lives.
Those words are a promise to every citizen that he shall share in the dignity of man. This dignity cannot be found in a man’s possessions; it cannot be found in his power, or in his position. It really rests on his right to be treated as a man equal in opportunity to all others. It says that he shall share in freedom, he shall choose his leaders, educate his children, and provide for his family according to his ability and his merits as a human being.
To apply any other test–to deny a man his hopes because of his color or race, his religion or the place of his birth–is not only to do injustice, it is to deny America and to dishonor the dead who gave their lives for American freedom.
THE RIGHT TO VOTE
Our fathers believed that if this noble view of the rights of man was to flourish, it must be rooted in democracy. The most basic right of all was the right to choose your own leaders. The history of this country, in large measure, is the history of the expansion of that right to all of our people.
Many of the issues of civil rights are very complex and most difficult. But about this there can and should be no argument. Every American citizen must have an equal right to vote. There is no reason which can excuse the denial of that right. There is no duty which weighs more heavily on us than the duty we have to ensure that right.
Yet the harsh fact is that in many places in this country men and women are kept from voting simply because they are Negroes.
HISTORY OF VOTING
Until the ratification of the 15th Amendment in 1870, African American men did not have the constitutional right to vote. (African American women did not gain the right to vote until passage of the 19th Amendment in 1920 when all women obtained this right). But even with this constitutional right, many states prevented African Americans from enjoying the benefits of full citizenship through laws known as Jim Crow laws.(2)
Every device of which human ingenuity is capable has been used to deny this right. The Negro citizen may go to register only to be told that the day is wrong, or the hour is late, or the official in charge is absent. And if he persists, and if he manages to present himself to the registrar, he may be disqualified because he did not spell out his middle name or because he abbreviated a word on the application.
And if he manages to fill out an application he is given a test. The registrar is the sole judge of whether he passes this test. He may be asked to recite the entire Constitution, or explain the most complex provisions of State law. And even a college degree cannot be used to prove that he can read and write.
For the fact is that the only way to pass these barriers is to show a white skin.
Experience has clearly shown that the existing process of law cannot overcome systematic and ingenious discrimination. No law that we now have on the books-and I have helped to put three of them there–can ensure the right to vote when local officials are determined to deny it.
In such a case our duty must be clear to all of us. The Constitution says that no person shall be kept from voting because of his race or his color. We have all sworn an oath before God to support and to defend that Constitution. We must now act in obedience to that oath.
GUARANTEEING THE RIGHT TO VOTE
Wednesday I will send to Congress a law designed to eliminate illegal barriers to the right to vote.
The broad principles of that bill will be in the hands of the Democratic and Republican leaders tomorrow. After they have reviewed it, it will come here formally as a bill. I am grateful for this opportunity to come here tonight at the invitation of the leadership to reason with my friends, to give them my views, and to visit with my former colleagues.
I have had prepared a more comprehensive analysis of the legislation which I had intended to transmit to the clerk tomorrow but which I will submit to the clerks tonight. But I want to really discuss with you now briefly the main proposals of this legislation,
This bill will strike down restrictions to voting in all elections–Federal, State, and local–which have been used to deny Negroes the right to vote.
This bill will establish a simple, uniform standard which cannot be used, however ingenious the effort, to flout our Constitution.
It will provide for citizens to be registered by officials of the United States Government if the State officials refuse to register them.
It will eliminate tedious, unnecessary lawsuits which delay the right to vote.
Finally, this legislation will ensure that properly registered individuals are not prohibited from voting.
I will welcome the suggestions from all of the Members of Congress–I have no doubt that I will get some–on ways and means to strengthen this law and to make it effective. But experience has plainly shown that this is the only path to carry out the command of the Constitution.
To those who seek to avoid action by their National Government in their own communities; who want to and who seek to maintain purely local control over elections, the answer is simple:
Open your polling places to all your people.
Allow men and women to register and vote whatever the color of their skin.
Extend the rights of citizenship to every citizen of this land. (1)
CONGRESSMAN JOHN LEWIS—
” While my time here has now come to an end, I want you to know that in the last days and hours of my life you inspired me. You filled me with hope about the next chapter of the
great American story when you used your power to make a difference in our society. Millions of people motivated simply by human compassion laid down the burdens of division. Around the country and the world, you set aside race, class, age, language, and nationality to demand respect for human dignity.“
That is why I had to visit Black Lives Matter Plaza in Washington, though I was admitted to the hospital the following day. I just had to see and feel it for myself that, after many years of silent witness, the truth is still marching on.
LISTEN TO JOE MADISON INTERVIEW, NORMAN L. CLEMENT JR., AUGUST 11, 2020
Emmett Till was my George Floyd. He was my Rayshard Brooks, Sandra Bland, and Breonna Taylor. He was 14 when he was killed, and I was only 15 years old at the time. I will never ever forget the moment when it became so clear that he could easily have been me. In those days, fear constrained us like an imaginary prison, and troubling thoughts of potential brutality committed for no understandable reason were the bars.”
ROCK THE VOTE
WE SHALL OVERCOME
But even if we pass this bill, the battle will not be over. What happened in Selma is part of a far larger movement which reaches into every section and State of America. It is the effort of American Negroes to secure for themselves the full blessings of American life.
Their cause must be our cause too. Because it is not just Negroes, but really it is all of us, who must overcome the crippling legacy of bigotry and injustice.
And we shall overcome.
As a man whose roots go deeply into Southern soil I know how agonizing racial feelings are. I know how difficult it is to reshape the attitudes and the structure of our society.
But a century has passed, more than a hundred years, since the Negro was freed. And he is not fully free tonight.
It was more than a hundred years ago that Abraham Lincoln, a great President of another party, signed the Emancipation Proclamation, but emancipation is a proclamation and not a fact.
A century has passed, more than a hundred years, since equality was promised. And yet the Negro is not equal.
A century has passed since the day of promise. And the promise is unkept.
The time of justice has now come. I tell you that I believe sincerely that no force can hold it back. It is right in the eyes of man and God that it should come. And when it does, I think that day will brighten the lives of every American.
For Negroes are not the only victims. How many white children have gone uneducated, how many white families have lived in stark poverty, how many white lives have been scarred by fear, because we have wasted our energy and our substance to maintain the barriers of hatred and terror?
So I say to all of you here, and to all in the Nation tonight, that those who appeal to you to hold on to the past do so at the cost of denying you your future.
This great, rich, restless country can offer opportunity and education and hope to all: black and white, North and South, sharecropper and city dweller. These are the enemies: poverty, ignorance, disease. They are the enemies and not our fellow man, not our neighbor. And these enemies too, poverty, disease and ignorance, we shall overcome.
AN AMERICAN PROBLEM
Now let none of us in any sections look with prideful righteousness on the troubles in another section, or on the problems of our neighbors. There is really no part of America where the promise of equality has been fully kept. In Buffalo as well as in Birmingham, in Philadelphia as well as in Selma, Americans are struggling for the fruits of freedom.
This is one Nation. What happens in Selma or in Cincinnati is a matter of legitimate concern to every American. But let each of us look within our own hearts and our own communities, and let each of us put our shoulder to the wheel to root out injustice wherever it exists.
As we meet here in this peaceful, historic chamber tonight, men from the South, some of whom were at Iwo Jima, men from the North who have carried Old Glory to far corners of the world and brought it back without a stain on it, men from the East and from the West, are all fighting together without regard to religion, or color, or region, in Viet-Nam. Men from every region fought for us across the world 20 years ago.
And in these common dangers and these common sacrifices the South made its contribution of honor and gallantry no less than any other region of the great Republic–and in some instances, a great many of them, more.
And I have not the slightest doubt that good men from everywhere in this country, from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico, from the Golden Gate to the harbors along the Atlantic, will rally together now in this cause to vindicate the freedom of all Americans. For all of us owe this duty; and I believe that all of us will respond to it.
Your President makes that request of every American.
PROGRESS THROUGH THE DEMOCRATIC PROCESS
The real hero of this struggle is the American Negro. His actions and protests, his courage to risk safety and even to risk his life, have awakened the conscience of this Nation. His demonstrations have been designed to call attention to injustice, designed to provoke change, designed to stir reform.
He has called upon us to make good the promise of America. And who among us can say that we would have made the same progress were it not for his persistent bravery, and his faith in American democracy.
For at the real heart of battle for equality is a deep-seated belief in the democratic process. Equality depends not on the force of arms or tear gas but upon the force of moral right; not on recourse to violence but on respect for law and order.
There have been many pressures upon your President and there will be others as the days come and go. But I pledge you tonight that we intend to fight this battle where it should be fought: in the courts, and in the Congress, and in the hearts of men.
We must preserve the right of free speech and the right of free assembly. But the right of free speech does not carry with it, as has been said, the right to holler fire in a crowded theater. We must preserve the right to free assembly, but free assembly does not carry with it the right to block public thoroughfares to traffic.
JOE MADISON“The Black Eagle”— August 13, 2020
” There is more effort put on voting restrictions than there is owning a gun….because the real power in the United States of America is really in your hands as a voter… that is where the real power is..that’s where you can either hire or fire someone who makes a law….someone who controls the budget…someone who controls the judicial system….that vote quite honestly you can tell how powerful it is…”
“You can tell how powerful it is it is powerful…that’s why when African Americans went and fought the right to get to vote they stood in our way….that is why we are looking at voter suppression in various states….“
“if it wasn’t powerful if it wasn’t important…I’ll say it again as I said 5 year ago, it is as true today as it was 5 years ago they wouldn’t try to keep it from us….. that is a fact an absolute fact…..”
“if it wasn’t important they would not beat John Lewis over the head, if it wasn’t important they wouldn’t shoot or kill those students who went down to Philadelphia, Mississippi to register people to VOTE.“
“if it wasn’t important they wouldn’t be blowing up Churches….that is an absolute fact”
IN SELMA
We do have a right to protest, and a right to march under conditions that do not infringe the constitutional rights of our neighbors. And I intend to protect all those rights as long as I am permitted to serve in this office.
We will guard against violence, knowing it strikes from our hands the very weapons which we seek–progress, obedience to law, and belief in American values.
In Selma as elsewhere we seek and pray for peace. We seek order. We seek unity. But we will not accept the peace of stifled rights, or the order imposed by fear, or the unity that stifles protest. For peace cannot be purchased at the cost of liberty.
In Selma tonight, as in every–and we had a good day there–as in every city, we are working for just and peaceful settlement. We must all remember that after this speech I am making tonight, after the police and the FBI and the Marshals have all gone, and after you have promptly passed this bill, the people of Selma and the other cities of the Nation must still live and work together. And when the attention of the Nation has gone elsewhere they must try to heal the wounds and to build a new community.
This cannot be easily done on a battleground of violence, as the history of the South itself shows. It is in recognition of this that men of both races have shown such an outstandingly impressive responsibility in recent days–last Tuesday, again today,
RIGHTS MUST BE OPPORTUNITIES
The bill that I am presenting to you will be known as a civil rights bill. But, in a larger sense, most of the program I am recommending is a civil rights program. Its object is to open the city of hope to all people of all races.
Because all Americans just must have the right to vote. And we are going to give them that right.
All Americans must have the privileges of citizenship regardless of race. And they are going to have those privileges of citizenship regardless of race.
But I would like to caution you and remind you that to exercise these privileges takes much more than just legal right. It requires a trained mind and a healthy body. It requires a decent home, and the chance to find a job, and the opportunity to escape from the clutches of poverty.
Of course, people cannot contribute to the Nation if they are never taught to read or write, if their bodies are stunted from hunger, if their sickness goes untended, if their life is spent in hopeless poverty just drawing a welfare check.
So we want to open the gates to opportunity. But we are also going to give all our people, black and white, the help that they need to walk through those gates.
THE PURPOSE OF THIS GOVERNMENT
My first job after college was as a teacher in Cotulla, Tex., in a small Mexican-American school. Few of them could speak English, and I couldn’t speak much Spanish. My students were poor and they often came to class without breakfast, hungry. They knew even in their youth the pain of prejudice. They never seemed to know why people disliked them. But they knew it was so, because I saw it in their eyes. I often walked home late in the afternoon, after the classes were finished, wishing there was more that I could do. But all I knew was to teach them the little that I knew, hoping that it might help them against the hardships that lay ahead.
Somehow you never forget what poverty and hatred can do when you see its scars on the hopeful face of a young child.
I never thought then, in 1928, that I would be standing here in 1965. It never even occurred to me in my fondest dreams that I might have the chance to help the sons and daughters of those students and to help people like them all over this country.
THERE IS STILL WORK TO DO !!!
CONGRESSMAN JOHN LEWIS 1943-2020
But now I do have that chance—and I’ll let you in on a secret—I mean to use it. And I hope that you will use it with me.
This is the richest and most powerful country which ever occupied the globe. The might of past empires is little compared to ours. But I do not want to be the President who built empires, or sought grandeur, or extended dominion.
I want to be the President who educated young children to the wonders of their world. I want to be the President who helped to feed the hungry and to prepare them to be taxpayers instead of taxeaters.
I want to be the President who helped the poor to find their own way and who protected the right of every citizen to vote in every election.
I want to be the President who helped to end hatred among his fellow men and who promoted love among the people of all races and all regions and all parties.
I want to be the President who helped to end war among the brothers of this earth.
And so at the request of your beloved Speaker and the Senator from Montana; the majority leader, the Senator from Illinois; the minority leader, Mr. McCulloch, and other Members of both parties, I came here tonight–not as President Roosevelt came down one time in person to veto a bonus bill, not as President Truman came down one time to urge the passage of a railroad bill–but I came down here to ask you to share this task with me and to share it with the people that we both work for. I want this to be the Congress, Republicans and Democrats alike, which did all these things for all these people.
Beyond this great chamber, out yonder in 50 States, are the people that we serve. Who can tell what deep and unspoken hopes are in their hearts tonight as they sit there and listen. We all can guess, from our own lives, how difficult they often find their own pursuit of happiness, how many problems each little family has. They look most of all to themselves for their futures. But I think that they also look to each of us.
Above the pyramid on the great seal of the United States it says–in Latin–“God has favored our undertaking.”
God will not favor everything that we do. It is rather our duty to divine His will. But I cannot help believing that He truly understands and that He really favors the undertaking that we begin here tonight.
SIX DECADES OF DIS-ENFRANCHISEMENT SHOULD HAVE ENDED WITH PRESIDENT LYNDON JOHNSON’S THE VOTING RIGHT BILL OF 1965, HOWEVER, LISTEN TO ATTORNEY LAURA COATES URBAN VIEW XM-126 AUGUST 11. 2020, DISCUSSING THE HISTORICAL CREATION OF THE BLACK CODE LAWS.
LAURA COATES ON BLACK CODES AND PIGLAWS AND INTIMIDATION
THE VOTE IS ALMOST SACRED
MY BROTHER CHARLES CLEMENT AND RICHARD CLEMENT TOOK OUR DAD AND THEIR SOULS TO THE POLLS
NORMAN J. CLEMENT RPH., DDS., MALACHI F. MACKANDAL PHARMD, JOSEPH SOLVO ESQ., BEVERLY PRINCE MD., JACK FOLSON RPH., NORMAN L.CLEMENT PHARM-TECH, REV. C.T. VIVIAN, JELANI ZIMBABWE CLEMENT, BS., MBA., WILLIE GUINYARD BS., BRAHM FISHER ESQ.,JOSEPH WEBSTER MD., ESTER HYATT PHD.,BERES E. MUSCHETT, STRATEGIC ADVISOR
THE MANIFESTO OF THE NORTH STAR PROJECT
“When you see THROUGHOUT LIFE most of your friends, colleagues, and classmates who are of degree being sanctioned, terminated, harassed, arrested, jailed, and imprisoned for the most minuscule violation of a regulation, or for just doing what they’ve been trained to do. Then at some point, you are compelled to ask yourself when
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH.
ARE WE NOT SEEN AS BEING HUMAN ???
THE ALGORITHM
According to Heidi Ledford in the October 24, 2019 issue of Nature Magazine, titled;
“Millions of Black People Affected by Racial Bias in Health-care Algorithms”
“An algorithm widely used in US hospitals to allocate health care to patients has been systematically discriminating against black people, a sweeping analysis has found. (1)(2)
The study, published in Science on 24 October, concluded that the algorithm was less likely to refer black people than white people who were equally sick to programs that aim to improve care for patients with complex medical needs. Hospitals and insurers use the algorithm and others like it to help manage care for about 200 million people in the United States each year.
SOWETO, SOUTH AFRICA
“The researchers found that the algorithm assigned risk scores to patients on the basis of total health-care costs accrued in one year. They say that this assumption might have seemed reasonable because higher health-care costs are generally associated with greater health needs. The average black person in the data set that the scientists used had similar overall health-care costs to the average white person.
ARE WE NOT SEEN AS HUMAN ??
Michelle Alexander MD., a graduate of the College of Medicine University of Florida and practicing physician in New York City, writes:
Rampant racial bias in the health care algorithms used by hospitals and insurance companies
Black patients receive lesser care than white patients who are equally sick
Black health-care professionals are forced to spend hundreds of hours to justify treatment
Black patients spend more money for less care
Algorithms used by hospitals and insurance companies failed to account for inherent historical social injustices which are built into the systems (6)
In October 2019, I read an article published in Nature magazine that I was immediately struck by. It explained what I and many of my colleagues already knew. This was that Black patients were systematically given lesser or poorer care than white patients with similar diagnoses who were equally sick.
LESEDI CULTURAL VILLAGE, GAUTENG, SOUTH AFRICA
The article reviewed a study published in Science, which documented what was described as rampant racial bias in the health care algorithms used by hospitals and insurance companies to determine the level of care required for patients, based on the data provided to them by the doctors treating these patients.
ARE WE NOT SEEN AS BEING PEOPLE?
THE VILLAGE PHARMACIST OF QUILLLUBO KATENGA, CACHOEIRA BAHIA, BRAZIL
These hospitals and insurance companies used these algorithms to help manage care for ~200 million people in the US. The article went on to explain that smaller studies have also documented racial bias in decision-making algorithms in everything from the criminal justice system to education.
CAPE TOWN SOUTH AFRICA
It also explained the countless hours spent by my colleagues on telephones and emails to justify the care that they were providing to their patients (Black doctors and Black patients). In many cases, doctors would be forced to provide care that was never reimbursed or to provide lesser care because of these algorithms. Black patients were often sicker with co-morbidities such as diabetes, hypertension, kidney disease, which often would require a greater level of care but did not receive it because of such algorithms.
GAUTENG SOUTH AFRICA
This was also confirmed by the data in which Black patients received care at a cost of $1,800 less than given to a white person with the same number of chronic problems. Needless to say, if doctors did not diligently pursue the necessary treatment, patients suffered. Not all health care providers are so diligent in this pursuit. We already know of the health care biases of humans due to racism and white supremacy.
LESEDI CULTURAL VILLAGE, GAUTENG, SOUTH AFRICA
The researchers of the study (Obermeyer et all) collaborated with the developers of the algorithm (Optum of Eden Prairie, Minnesota) to improve the algorithm to reduce racial bias. Changes were made to reduce bias by 84%. Optum said in a statement that the researcher’s findings were “misleading” because this was only one of the data points used for managing care. It stated that the doctor’s expertise was the most important. However, what Optum failed to understand is the time consumption spent by the doctors of Black patients justifying such care, and often these many hours that would be unnecessary to receive such care. (4)(5)
AMERICAN IN CAPE TOWN
The researcher points out that changing the variables to correct such bias is not straight forward. Racism and injustice is built into the systems and therefore is not easily fixed. It is also in part because of the lack of diversity among the algorithm designers and knowledge and training to these designers about the inherent social and political injustices historically in our systems.
As Black doctors, dentists, nurse practitioners, pharmacists, and ultimately patients we deserved fair and equitable treatment and reimbursement for such care. This is a failure of the systems and must be rectified. These algorithms have been in place for decades. It boggles the mind about the cost to life and health due to such algorithms.
The Algorithmic Justice League’s mission is to raise awareness about the impacts of AI, equip advocates with empirical research, build the voice and choice of the most impacted communities, and galvanize researchers, policymakers, and industry practitioners to mitigate AI harms and biases. We’re building a movement to shift the AI ecosystem towards equitable and accountable AI.
Actionable Auditing: Investigating the Impact of Publicly Naming Biased Performance Results of Commercial AI Products, Inioluwa Deborah Raji University of Toronto 27 King’s College Cir Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M5S 3H7 deborah.raji@mail.utoronto.com, Joy Buolamwini Massachusetts Institute of Technology 77 Massachusetts Ave Cambridge, Massachusetts, 02139 joyab@mit.edu
President Lyndon Johnson, March 15 1965 speech Special Message to the Congress, The American Promise:
THE RIGHT TO VOTE
Our fathers believed that if this noble view of the rights of man was to flourish, it must be rooted in democracy. The most basic right of all was the right to choose your own leaders. The history of this country, in large measure, is the history of the expansion of that right to all of our people.
THE POLICY OF APARTHIED
Many of the issues of civil rights are very complex and most difficult. But about this there can and should be no argument. Every American citizen must have an equal right to vote. There is no reason which can excuse the denial of that right. There is no duty which weighs more heavily on us than the duty we have to ensure that right.
Yet the harsh fact is that in many places in this country men and women are kept from voting simply because they are Negroes.
Every device of which human ingenuity is capable has been used to deny this right. The Negro citizen may go to register only to be told that the day is wrong, or the hour is late, or the official in charge is absent. And if he persists, and if he manages to present himself to the registrar, he may be disqualified because he did not spell out his middle name or because he abbreviated a word on the application.
And if he manages to fill out an application he is given a test. The registrar is the sole judge of whether he passes this test. He may be asked to recite the entire Constitution, or explain the most complex provisions of State law. And even a college degree cannot be used to prove that he can read and write.
REV C.T. VIVIAN
For the fact is that the only way to pass these barriers is to show a white skin.
Experience has clearly shown that the existing process of law cannot overcome systematic and ingenious discrimination. No law that we now have on the books-and I have helped to put three of them there–can ensure the right to vote when local officials are determined to deny it.
YOU MAY NEVER SILENTS THE VOICE OF FREEDOM
In such a case our duty must be clear to all of us. The Constitution says that no person shall be kept from voting because of his race or his color. We have all sworn an oath before God to support and to defend that Constitution. We must now act in obedience to that oath.
GUARANTEEING THE RIGHT TO VOTE
Wednesday I will send to Congress a law designed to eliminate illegal barriers to the right to vote.
The broad principles of that bill will be in the hands of the Democratic and Republican leaders tomorrow. After they have reviewed it, it will come here formally as a bill. I am grateful for this opportunity to come here tonight at the invitation of the leadership to reason with my friends, to give them my views, and to visit with my former colleagues.
I have had prepared a more comprehensive analysis of the legislation which I had intended to transmit to the clerk tomorrow but which I will submit to the clerks tonight. But I want to really discuss with you now briefly the main proposals of this legislation,
This bill will strike down restrictions to voting in all elections–Federal, State, and local–which have been used to deny Negroes the right to vote.
This bill will establish a simple, uniform standard which cannot be used, however ingenious the effort, to flout our Constitution.
TO THOSE MURDERED IN STANDING UP FOR HUMAN RIGHTS, APARTHEID MUSEUM JOHANNESBURG SOUTH AFRICA
It will provide for citizens to be registered by officials of the United States Government if the State officials refuse to register them.
It will eliminate tedious, unnecessary lawsuits which delay the right to vote.
Finally, this legislation will ensure that properly registered individuals are not prohibited from voting.
A SYSTEM OF RACIAL CLASSIFICATION
I will welcome the suggestions from all of the Members of Congress–I have no doubt that I will get some–on ways and means to strengthen this law and to make it effective. But experience has plainly shown that this is the only path to carry out the command of the Constitution.
To those who seek to avoid action by their National Government in their own communities; who want to and who seek to maintain purely local control over elections, the answer is simple:
Open your polling places to all your people.
Allow men and women to register and vote whatever the color of their skin.
Extend the rights of citizenship to every citizen of this land.
