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 Association of American Physicians and Surgeons, Inc.
A Voice for Private Physicians Since 1943
Omnia pro aegroto

December 12, 2008

Contact: Jane M. Orient, M.D., Executive Director, (520) 323-3110

For immediate release

AAPS APPLAUDS THE RESIGNATION OF TMB PRESIDENT ROBERTA KALAFUT.
MARI ROBINSON SHOULD RESIGN NEXT.

Roberta Kalafut, D.O., just announced her resignation as President of the Texas Medical Board, possibly bringing to a close the worst abuses of power by the TMB against good physicians. Kalafut�s tenure was marked by unjust disciplinary actions, particularly against her competitors, and stonewalling by the TMB and Governor Rick Perry.

�We applaud Kalafut�s resignation,� said AAPS Executive Director Jane Orient. �AAPS has received far more complaints from good physicians in Texas about their medical board than from any other state.�

Kalafut�s husband, Ed Brandecker, M.D., has been deposed in AAPS�s lawsuit against the TMB, which asserts that Kalafut and the TMB have been repeatedly violating constitutional rights.

Fewer than 10% of Texas physicians are the subject of a complaint each year, but nearly all of Kalafut�s competitors have been victimized by complaints. In a letter to State Senator Kyle Janek, Dr. Norman Dozier wrote,

�I am the only doctor left in a 150 mile radius that is involved in Pain Management in any form or fashion that has not been sanctioned by TMB..., but God knows she [Kalafut] has been trying.�

Under Kalafut�s reign, the Chairman of its Disciplinary Process Review Committee was being paid both by Blue Cross and in malpractice cases by plaintiff�s attorneys. Kalafut claimed not to know about the extent of the conflict of interest until a few months before he resigned.

While Kalafut has resigned as President, attorney Mari Robinson, J.D., still hangs on as Interim Executive Director. Robinson has been the focus of many criticisms, and she should resign immediately also. She instructed Kalafut not to answer a question at a legislative hearing in 2007 concerning her role in the filing of a complaint.

�Perhaps Governor Perry has been too busy campaigning for reelection to find a physician to serve as Executive Director for the TMB,� Jane Orient said. �Texans deserve better.�

For more information AAPS�s lawsuit, see: http://www.aapsonline.org/tmb.php

NOTE: AAPS is a non-profit, professional association of physicians in all specialties, dedicated since 1943 to protection of the patient-physician relationship. It accepts no corporate or government funding, and its board members and officers serve without compensation.