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Michigan Board of Medicine suspends Dr. Robert Alexander’s medical license

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CapitolI wish the headline of this article were different, I really do. I wish it could have been “Michigan Board of Medicine revokes Dr. Robert Alexander’s medical license.”

While I am disappointed in the outcome of yesterday’s hearing by the Michigan Board of Medicine’s Disciplinary Subcommittee meeting, at least there is some relief in my heart and in my mind that at least for an extended period of time, Dr. Robert Alexander will not be able to physically hurt another human being, at least not medically.

Yesterday morning’s hearing was a long time coming for me. I started writing about Dr. Alexander back in June of 2013, and I wrote several follow-ups afterward as I learned of his whereabouts and his activities.

I called out elected officials who didn’t want seem interested in Dr. Alexander’s Gosnell-type “house of horrors.” I built a “Wall of Shame” and named elected officials who had refused to respond to my inquiries as to Dr. Alexander’s whereabouts.

I met and befriended a pro-life activist named Lynn Mills on Facebook. I had seen her post something about an abortionist’s home having had a tax lien placed on it and asked her whose home it was. It wasn’t Dr. Alexander’s, but Lynn knew exactly where Dr. Alexander was employed. Lynn and I became fast friends.

Upon entering the Ottawa Building near in downtown Lansing where the hearing was being held, I saw him in person for the first and hopefully last time. He looked disheveled. His clothes were wrinkled and dirty.

I didn’t really know what to think of him. Pity came to mind, but he has caused an immeasurable amount of pain and suffering to many people. He has disgraced the entire medical profession. So I couldn’t even feel pity for him. I just wanted what I have always wanted – for him to never even have the chance to practice medicine ever again. He didn’t seem to want to make eye contact with anyone but his attorney. I snuck a closeup picture of him inside the hearing room with my iPhone. He didn’t seem fazed in the least when his sanctions were being discussed and voted upon.

Alexander

Much progress has been made to protect patients from bad doctors like him since his Muskegon clinic was shut down on Dec. 26, 2013. Legislation was introduced in the Michigan Senate, and a package of bills was unanimously passed. These new laws have come to be known as “Alexander’s Laws.” They protect Michigan medical patients in that if a patient files a complaint against a physician to the Michigan Board of Medicine, at least three doctors on the board must sign off on the complaint in order for it to be quashed.

Dr. Alexander had previously been protected against complaints made against him by Dr. George Shade, the former Chairman of the Board of Medicine, as well as Dr. Alexander’s mentor. Dr. Shade signed off on complaints against Dr. Alexander, deeming “no investigation needed,” which created a clear conflict of interest. Another news site alleged that Dr. Shade had indeed “covered” for Dr. Alexander’s negligence, showing evidence of outright corruption.

An alleged botched abortion by Dr. Alexander even made Breitbart.com when it was learned that a physician emailed Michigan Sen. Tonya Schitmaker that after examining a patient who had undergone an abortion at the hands of Dr. Alexander, the physician reported that “a severed infant’s head was found inside the body of one of his patients.

In January of this year, I learned that the office of the Michigan Attorney General had filed a complaint against Dr. Alexander. In it the state made a case against him for both negligence and incompetence. It took until Sept. 9 for the Michigan Administrative Hearing System to issue a Proposal for Decision in Dr. Alexander’s case.

In it, Administrative Law Judge Shawn Downey indicated:

The evidence is overwhelming that Dr. Alexander failed to adhere to the most minimal standards of cleanliness and sanitary conditions. He failed to safeguard patient confidentiality, and the allowed dangerous medications to be unsupervised and dangerous conditions to exist by allowing the unsafe disposal of needles and syringes…I find that Petitioner has shown overwhelming evidence that Respondent failed to exercise due care by failing to properly supervise his staff and those persons who he claims to have directed to remove dangerous items from his clinic.

Although the Disciplinary Subcommittee could have voted for revocation of his medical license, instead they voted to suspend it for six months and a day (so that reinstatement would not be automatic) and require that he pays a $75,000 fine before he can even reapply for his license.

I left after the hearing, but Lynn stayed for the allotted time for public comments. Lynn told me that Dr. Alexander commented that he would not be seeking to get his license back, so that his wife may “rest in peace.” Later that day Lynn learned that Mary Alexander, Dr. Alexander’s wife, passed away on Sept. 15, 2014.

I cannot understand why the Disciplinary Subcommittee did not go for full medical license revocation of Dr. Alexander. The committee discussed full revocation, but instead voted to require him to pay a $75,000 fine before even petitioning the state to reinstate his medical license after six months. He has had his medical license revoked twice and he got it back twice with the help of Dr. Shade.

The laws have changed to better protect the citizens of Michigan. It would seem that if the committee wanted to send a stronger message to the citizens of Michigan, the members would have simply voted to revoke his license a third time.

Lynn and I will be keeping Dr. Alexander on our radar. If he shows up after six months, a year, or two, or three, we will know about it, and we will report on it.

Lynn has worked tirelessly for decades in the pro-life movement. I am new at activism against bad doctors, and Dr. Alexander’s story was my first experience in citizen journalism. I never expected I would still be writing about him a year and a half later. Lynn is already following other doctors and is learning how the Disciplinary Subcommittee works.

I cannot thank her enough for her friendship and all of her assistance in helping me keep Dr. Alexander’s story alive.

Never give up, and never give in.

Top photo: YouTube screenshot (Wood TV 8) of Dr. Alexander (left) and a pro-life advocate

Other photos by Gena Rinckey


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