DR. GEORGE Macris, the veiled subject of a series of intense oversight hearings on the Guam Memorial Hospital, has once again submitted a response to lawmakers, expressing his distaste for the negative implications accruing against him as a result of what he termed “The George Macris” hearings.
The Committee on Health and Human Services, led by Chairperson Sen. Dennis Rodriguez Jr., spent much of Tuesday evening grilling hospital management once again on its medical peer review policies.
Lawmakers homed in on the apparent circumventing of established procedures that must be taken before a report filed with the National Practitioners Data Bank can be voided. The NPDB is a federal repository that maintains records of malpractice judgments or adverse actions against licensed healthcare practitioners.
Rodriguez was particularly interested in finding out whether GMH interim Administrator Rey Vega and Medical Director Dr. Larry Lizama had taken steps to duly void an NPDB report on Macris before entering a controversial global settlement with him.
The settlement, which was finalized sometime in February, stipulates that Macris will drop all court charges against the hospital in exchange for reversing the medical peer review that led to the suspension of Macris’ hospital privileges.
It was revealed during the Tuesday GMH oversight hearing that GMH did not attempt to ensure the following three pre-requisites were met before an NPDB report can be voided – an erroneous report was submitted, the action was not reportable, or the action against the medical practitioner was overturned on appeal.
However, regardless of GMH’s responsibilities in reversing an NPDB report, Macris contends that GMH “unequivocally” violated its peer review process, bylaws, and rules and regulations pertaining to his case.
According to Macris, the NPDB report filed against him “contained [a] fictionalized account of real or invented patients, the author of which knew, or should have known, contained false, misleading and untrue statements of a reviewed action which never should have happened.” The author of that report, Macris said, was the former GMH legal counsel.
In fact, Macris said his peer review and the subsequent revocation of his medical license was voided by the court and the Attorney General’s Office, which the hospital administration at the time “ignored.”
Macris believes his peer review and the revocation of his medical license was “political retribution” for reporting former Lt. Gov. Mike Cruz and former Sen. Eduardo Cruz – both of whom were physicians – to the Guam Board of Medical Examiners for Medical Practice Act violations.
