EM Physician, Wife, and Grandchildren Murdered

[DeadCactus]

https://www.heraldonline.com/news/state/south-carolina/article250518564.html

Preliminary reports that the suspect was a former patient who was refused a prescription for opioids. The assaults and murders make me want to get out of medicine far more than most of the other issues the field faces.

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[j4pac]

Frankly...physicians need to unite over this topic unlike any other. We live in a world we’re we have the choice to practice appropriate medical practice and risk injury/death or do the easy thing and maybe stay safe. We are put in an insane situation right now

 

[bronx43]

This is tragic.

Clinical medicine is simply not a tenable longterm career anymore. Societal cohesiveness has all been destroyed, and many people out there are literally hanging on by a thread financially, psychologically, and emotionally. Top this off with disintegration of community and interpersonal relationships, and we have a cauldron of s*** that's set to explode at a moment's notice. Every patient I see now holds some level of risk - whether it's on a personal or professional level, or heaven forbid - safety.

The fact that college students are still clawing tooth and nail to get into medicine is a reflection of the lies that we tell our youth. All for what? A McMansion they will likely never own, ability to vacation at increasingly destabilized foreign countries, or a BMW that depreciates precipitously by the day? I truly feel sorry for kids still going through medical education... it will be infinitely worse by the time they are finished with training. And once the medical-industrial-complex gets its talons into you, getting out is next to impossible.

 

[southerndoc]

I saw an article in the AJC about this (he was a former Atlanta Falcons player, among other teams so the local paper picked it up).

They didn't list as reason for why he did it.

 

[Tipsy McStagger]

Killed his 2 grandchildren as well. This is monstrous. My heart is breaking for their families.

 

[Birdstrike]

Killed his 2 grandchildren as well. This is monstrous. My heart is breaking for their families.

And also shot two HVAC guys that happened to be there, one dead, one struggling for life. Then killed himself.

 

[emergentmd]

Glad dude killed himself. No need to waste more $$$ feeding him in jail.

Killing kids? Definition of a monster.

 

[Birdstrike]

Glad dude killed himself. No need to waste more $$$ feeding him in jail.

Killing kids? Definition of a monster.

There are no words to describe the cold-blooded evil.

 

[Rekt]

Of course everyone can't just say that he was just a piece of **** monster and are blaming CTE instead. What a joke.

 

[emergentmd]

Media is a joke. Someone had to bring up, "he was messed up from football/brain injury". Why are mostly football players the violent, law breaking athletes. Boxers get hit 1000x more and you rarely hear similar violence.

Football just breeds this kind of personality.

 

[Splenda88]

The question is that: Why was an ED doc prescribing that guy narcotics for chronic pain?

 

[emergentmd]

From the sounds of things he worked in the ER but also had an outpt clinic. Prob moonlighted in ER.

From the sounds of reports he killed two innocent bystander, went into the house, killed the doctor, then hunted down the grandkids.

If he had a beef with the doc, then he could have killed him at his office or parking lot.

What he did was planned and executed two kids. Pure evil

 

[Candidate2017]

Media is a joke. Someone had to bring up, "he was messed up from football/brain injury". Why are mostly football players the violent, law breaking athletes. Boxers get hit 1000x more and you rarely hear similar violence.

Football just breeds this kind of personality.

Ironically, a not insignificant number of D1 NCAA and NFL players go on to become physicians, mainly ortho and EM bros.

Boxers also do violent things. But the public can't name 5 current boxers, and some washed out, unknown palooka isn't going to generate media attention. However, "former NFL player" applies to tens of thousands of people and that label attracts public attention even if that person is an unknown.

Also, professional boxers incur way less concussions in their 20s than college and pro football players. That's kind of the #1 requirement of making money in the face punching business -- the ability to see and defend shots, slipping and rolling with punches. Boxers' CTE shows up after decades, when they're too old, infirm, and demented to hurt anyone.

Maybe this guy was a scumbag, maybe it was CTE, or both. Who knows? I work with a number of TBI cases, mostly from an MVA, occasionally an assault or history of sports concussions. These are previously super high functioning people (educated, professionals, etc) with no history of violence who are now basically 2 year olds with zero impulse control when off meds (i.e., beat their parents to a pulp for not giving them candy, masturbate and defecate in public, etc).

 

[emergentmd]

I do not doubt that CTE exist and messes football players up. What I have issue with is when a football player is violent/kills someone, CTE is always used as an excuse when in truth many of these football players would have been violent if not for football.

 

[NYEMMED]

The question is that: Why was an ED doc prescribing that guy narcotics for chronic pain?

He was a long time EM doc, but he opened a urgent care, that also did primary care, home visits, and palliative care.
He mostly worked in the urgent care portion.

 

[NYEMMED]

This is why I’ve long said that physician addresses should not be publicly searchable. In many states you can go to the medical board website, search a physician, and it gives you their address.

 

[Splenda88]

This is why I’ve long said that physician addresses should not be publicly searchable. In many states you can go to the medical board website, search a physician, and it gives you their address.

I agree. Physicians should put camera everywhere around their home IMO; it might not really protect you but it will at least be a deterrent.

 

[southerndoc]

I have cameras all around my house. Also things go to a PO Box (one for business things such as my medical license, another for things such as homeowner stuff).

Where did you read that he was a patient of this physician? The articles I've read said that he was a neighbor and not known to be a patient of his.

 

[emergentmd]

I read that he was a patient and doc would not give him narcotics. Seems so much easier to buy from street but obviously dude was evil.

Anyhow, if someone is capable of killing the doc, there is nothing stopping them from finding where you live.

 

[Birdstrike]

I have cameras all around my house. Also things go to a PO Box (one for business things such as my medical license, another for things such as homeowner stuff).

Where did you read that he was a patient of this physician? The articles I've read said that he was a neighbor and not known to be a patient of his.

Report: Phillip Adams shootings were sparked by decision to stop medication

It remains unknown why former NFL defensive back Phillip Adams shot and killed a prominent South Carolina doctor, his wife, two grandchildren, and another person. A new report supplies a potential motive. South Carolina U.S. Representative Ralph Norman tells Alex Giles of WBTV that Dr. Robert...

www.yahoo.com

"South Carolina U.S. Representative Ralph Norman tells Alex Giles of WBTV that Dr. Robert Lesslie had been treating Adams, and that Dr. Lesslie had stopped giving Adams medication.

'He was treating him and stopped giving him medicine and that’s what triggered the killings from what I understand,' Norman said.

Norman, who posted a statement following the killings explaining that he was a close friend of Dr. Lesslie’s, said that the information supplying a potential motive came from law enforcement."

 

[Zebra Hunter]

I get threatened probably at least a couple times a year for not prescribing narcotics for chronic pain. I even once had a patient call in to ask for my information after he left AMA because I wouldn't give him narcs (he asked for name, NPI number, license number). It seems this scenario of doctors being murdered for not prescribing narcs is becoming increasingly more common as we have finally come to the realization as a profession of just how dangerous and counterproductive these meds are for the treatment of subacute and chronic pain.

 

[MechEDoc]

I get threatened probably at least a couple times a year for not prescribing narcotics for chronic pain. I even once had a patient call in to ask for my information after he left AMA because I wouldn't give him narcs (he asked for name, NPI number, license number). It seems this scenario of doctors being murdered for not prescribing narcs is becoming increasingly more common as we have finally come to the realization as a profession of just how dangerous and counterproductive these meds are for the treatment of subacute and chronic pain.

Has hospital admin suggested improved communication skills to address your interactions with violent drug addicts that you are compelled to interact with despite threats..?


I've found that after implementing harp therapy, Pranic and Reiki, healing, and therapeutic touch, my negative interactions are way down! Or maybe it was my universal adoption for a Rx for Dilaudid + a referral for a massage with a "happy" ending for drug seekers made the difference. It's hard to know when there are confounding factors.



Really though, what is ACEP doing with non-BCEM physicians and then Dr. Rosenberg?

Mark S. Rosenberg, DO, MBA, FACEP

www.acep.org

I broke my leg, doc, so why is that lady playing the harp? — Jennifer Margulis

Dr. Mark Rosenberg believes holistic practices and a more human touch—both literally and figuratively—can improve Emergency Room care and patient outcomes.

www.jennifermargulis.net

 

[Birdstrike]

I've found that after implementing harp therapy, Pranic and Reiki, healing, and therapeutic touch, my negative interactions are way down! Or maybe...

Really though, is ACEP doing with non-BCEM physicians and then Dr. Rosenberg?

Because nothing says "I understand what the average pit doc is going through" like championing ED harp therapy.

 

[sylvanthus]

This is why every damn pain seeker and acute on chronic back pain ends up with 12 tabs of oxy inevitably. Bad medicine? Yup. Avoid being killed or getting a bad press ganey.... Worth it? Ugh medicine sucks balls.