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May 7, 2007 11:35 pm US/Central
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How Much Do You Know About Your Doctor?
by Robert Riggs
DALLAS (CBS 11 News) ―
In his TV commercials, Dr. Jack Thomas portrays himself as a folksy, rural doctor with an old-fashion bedside manner and access to the most modern medical technology. But the truth about him is more complicated.
Behind his public image he has been hiding a criminal past, including two felony convictions and a license revocation.
Bernie Murrey says what he didn't know about the surgeon would have been crucial information in his selection of a surgeon, and he doesn't just blame the doctor. He says the hospital where Thomas performed the surgery and the Texas Medical Board that licenses physicians, failed to protect him.
"Had I known about this, he would have never done surgery on me. He would have never got near me," Murrey says.
An antique toy dealer by day and a competitive bowler by night, Murrey began experiencing sharp pain in his right knee three years ago and sought treatment from Dr. Thomas, who put him on a regiment of pain medication and anti-inflammatory injections.
One day last year, in a twist of fate, Dr. Thomas personally administered the injection instead of the physician's assistant who usually performed the task. Murrey says that is when Dr. Thomas started pressuring him to have knee replacement surgery – a risky procedure for a 74-year-old man with a history of circulatory problems.
"There was never any discussion whatsoever of the risk involved," he recalls. "The only two things he ever talked to me about was the fact that I needed knee replacement, and he could do it safely."
On November 28, 2006, Dr. Thomas performed the operation on Murrey. That is the evening Murrey says his leg "died."
According to medical reports, the surgery induced ischemia, or limited blood flow, resulting in necrosis, or death of the cells and tissue in his leg. Less than a month later doctors were forced to amputate his leg.
It wasn't until January 2007, after he had hired an attorney to file a malpractice lawsuit, that he found out about Dr. Thomas' criminal history.
His attorney, J. Douglas Froneberger, discovered that Dr. Thomas had two felony convictions. Dr. Thomas had been sentenced to state prison in 1991 for Medicare and Medicaid fraud and sentenced to 10 years probation for violation of the controlled substances act.
The doctor had been diverting prescription painkillers, including Dilaudid, for his own personal use. The Texas Medical Board revoked his license in 1991, but reinstated it in 1999.
Physicians are required to self-report their criminal convictions to be included in the physicians' online personal profile on the Board's website. But for the last three years, Dr. Thomas reported to the Board that he had no criminal convictions, and that is what was posted online for public reference.
Dr. Thomas declined CBS-11 News' request for an interview, but his attorney, Joel Steed, said the doctor's failure to report his criminal history was an "administrative oversight," and "he has taken steps to correct it."
"He does not believe, nor do the physicians who have evaluated him believe, that his ability to practice medicine is in any way impacted, impaired, effected by what went on 15 or 16 years ago," Steed told CBS 11.
Ironically, according to a medical ethics textbook used by the Texas Medical Association and written by Dr. Thomas himself, he tells physicians that they are obligated to disclose information that patients consider material to their treatment.
Dr. Donald Patrick is the executive director of the Texas Medical Board. When asked about Dr. Thomas' failure to report his criminal record, he had this to say, "In my view, it is not excusable. It's unprofessional conduct."
When asked why the Medical Board didn't catch the omission, Dr. Patrick cited a lack of resources. But CBS 11 News was able to pull up Dr. Thomas' criminal history in seconds using a publicly accessible website called
Publicdata.com."I never knew to look at (the) Publicdata.com website. This is the first I've heard of it. Sounds like a good idea to me," Dr. Patrick said.
A spokesman at Presbyterian Hospital of Greenville, where Murrey's knee replacement surgery was performed, would not say if hospital administrators knew about Dr. Thomas' convictions when they put him on the staff six years ago.
Meanwhile, Murrey says because Dr. Thomas did not accurately report his criminal record, his life has changed forever.
"I cannot do any of the things that I normally do. I can't keep house, I can't keep the yard. I can't bowl…," he says. "My wife can tell you that bowling was a big part of my life, cause I wanted to stay active. I didn't want to just dry up and blow away."
(CBS 11 News)