Insensitive Doctor Throws Tissue Box at Upset Patient Now on Probation
- Posted on February 16, 2012 at 9:09pm by
Liz Klimas
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Talk about poor bedside manner. A doctor of practicing in Portland, Maine, is now on probation after throwing a box of tissues at a crying patient, according to the Bangor Daily News.
John Boothby, a neurologist, admitted to his “unprofessional conduct” and in addition to his probation and warning by the Maine Board of Licensure in Medicine, he must also attend classes on medical ethics, boundaries and patient communication.
The complaint against Boothby was received in Dec. 2010 and subsequent investigation revealed “sufficient evidence” of Boothby’s insensitivity. Maine Government News has more:
During the investigation Dr. Boothby admitted he might have told the patient to stop crying in an inappropriate way and that he may have been “emotional” in his discussion with the patient and his parent. Dr. Boothby also admitted he tossed the box of tissues onto the patient’s lap.
This was apparently not Dr. Boothby’s first offense. It was reported that he was issued a Letter of Guidance in Oct. 2010 for a complaint filed against him of alleged rudeness to a patient.
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Comments (80)
Ohevi
Posted on February 16, 2012 at 11:58pmAttention all medical personnel, if treated this way, for fear of what you could do, I would take it in stride, my child? I’d follow you home, and break your kneecaps. You would never know who/what hit you. Fair warning. Respect is reciprocal, act respectful, then you’ll get treated respectfully, act like this *****, you’ll get what you deserve.
Report Post »garbagecanlogic
Posted on February 16, 2012 at 11:04pmDoes it count if I knew a woman who used to beat her dog with a kleenex? To top it off – the dumb dog knew it had a good thing going and would cry it’s head off.
Pray For Obama. Psalm 109:8
The U.S. Out Of The U.N.
Report Post »The U.N. Out Of The U.S.
FROTHYDISCHARGE
Posted on February 16, 2012 at 11:38pmthanks for the stupidest thing ever to come out of the mind of a human.
Report Post »beachcomber1017
Posted on February 17, 2012 at 3:25amHi That was so funny what you said. I think Iwill hit my 7 dogs with tissue paper when they get me mad Ihave to fine some in the doller store 20 boxes.
Report Post »1casawizard
Posted on February 17, 2012 at 3:37amDitto to what you said,Garbage.C.L.
Report Post »Dismayed Veteran
Posted on February 17, 2012 at 10:07amMy aunt chased my cousin around the house hitting him with a bag of potato chips after she found out he had enlisted in the USMC. He ran. He ended up doing 25 in the USMC. I always told him he would be safe as long as the NVA/VC didn’t have potato chips.
Report Post »Ruler4You
Posted on February 17, 2012 at 10:33amHe’s seen too many commercials.
Report Post »SevenTrumpets42
Posted on February 16, 2012 at 10:50pmI’ve had it now! We can’t trust doctors to police themselves any longer. We need a Doctor Czar! Only Obama can solve this problem for us.
Report Post »2theADDLED
Posted on February 16, 2012 at 11:12pmResults of the slow decay of our society.
Doctors have a reason to be upset they to will soon be out of a job.
Thanks Barry
Report Post »jujubeebee
Posted on February 17, 2012 at 1:42amWe can trust doctors. I am not sure we can trust the people who found this story and who reported on it. So what about the kleenex box. This is ridiculous. Next the doctor will be charged with assault with kleenex. Maybe the patient was over reacting……..do you think? And even if the patient was not……….so what! Any normal human being would take this in stride. This whole story is ridiculous.
Report Post »4xeverything
Posted on February 17, 2012 at 3:59amWhatever, I can’t stand doctors. Anytime I‘ve been to the doctor’s, I wait until the doc has said his/her piece and then I go straight to the most seasoned nurse to ask all of my questions. Nurses know better 95% of the time.
Report Post »TomFerrari
Posted on February 17, 2012 at 6:18amIf you don’t like your doctor get a new one.
Doctors are faces daily with patient who suffer from imaginary symptoms or diseases.
How do you tell a hypochondriac to stop whining?
This does not excuse bad bedside manners.
But, he didn’t harm the patient.
We also don‘t know what the patient’s problem was.
He was told he is dying?
He was prohibited from playing with his PS2 during the Dr. consultation?
He is 13 and was about to get a shot?
There are times when “kids” cry TOO much or with insufficient cause.
We don’t know enough to criticize or to condone either party in this case.
I’ve been to multiple BAD Doctors in my life. But never more than once!
Report Post »When I find good ones I stick with them!
dr emil shuffhausen
Posted on February 17, 2012 at 11:15amI’m sure the commissar is right around the corner.
Report Post »Rayblue
Posted on February 16, 2012 at 10:47pmI spent teenage years bartending for doctors parties. One thing I learned was that the stress of telling a patient that there was no hope could wear them down and cause them to do things that were beyond their usual behavior. Cause them to act in a regretable manner. Sometimes break them down to an unretrievable state. A box of Klennex isn’t an assault. It’s a cue to pull yourself together. Even for a child. Mean as that seems it’s sometimes the best a human can do for another.
Report Post »unpata
Posted on February 16, 2012 at 10:46pmScandalous! In a free market you just get a second opinion…in todays society you make frivolous accusations and get the dude fired…whahwhahwhah…stop being a baby and find a doctor who treats you better…its like going to the drive through and calling the police cause the fast food place made ur order wrong…get over it and take ur business elsewhere….period
Report Post »Got2bRoni
Posted on February 16, 2012 at 10:36pmLol…
Report Post »afishfarted
Posted on February 16, 2012 at 10:48pmTHIS IS A PROBATIONAL OFFENSE ?!?!?!?!?!?!?
Oh wait, I forgot. 5 years ago a 200+ lbs woman wne to the doc complaining of leg pain. The doc told her she needed to gfo on a diet to take the weight stress off her muscles and joints. She sued for malpractice because of his insensitivity—and won. NEVER MIND THAT IT WAS THE RIGHT MEDICAL ADVICE !!!! Her fat feelings got a dose of reality, and she didn’t want to hear it. sheesh, what a country
Report Post »beachcomber1017
Posted on February 17, 2012 at 3:12amHi I like your remark on the lady with leg pain. why do they not understand that your body could only hold up so much weight.Something is going to give out and It was her knee.
Report Post »bullcrapbuster
Posted on February 16, 2012 at 10:17pmSomebodies widdo feelings got hurt. Call the thought police.
Report Post »PowerPC
Posted on February 16, 2012 at 10:30pmYeah, the Dr’s feelings apparently got hurt since he is the one that threw a tantrum and then threw a box of tissues at his patient. The patient..apparently a minor since his mother was with him, may have had a reason to cry. He may have had severe pain or a bad prognosis on a medical condition he may have had. A person does not go to a Neurologist because they have a runny nose. The doctor is getting what he deserves especially since this is not the first complaint against him.
Report Post »yiska8
Posted on February 16, 2012 at 11:06pmThank You Powerpc. I thought the doctor was callous, but some of these posts are really cold. I hope the kid found a better, less *sswhole- like doctor.
Report Post »Wolf
Posted on February 17, 2012 at 8:00amSomeone watches too much television.
Report Post »Still, though the doctor acted improperly by following Emery’s commercial character, he probably had a point in telling the limp wristed wimp to grow a pair and toughen up.
Or, as the bard says, “Life imitates art.”
VISITORNUMBER3
Posted on February 17, 2012 at 2:27pm@ Power: On the contrary, I would invite you to be a fly on the wall in an average emergency room these days. Or go by an ambulance station one day and ask to hear stories about people who call an 911 to have an ambulance take them to the emergency room because of minor aches and pains. Injuries days old, like, “I slipped down in the kitchen and my calf hurts”…and they call an ambulance to take them.
It might not have been the case here, and yes, this doctor was out of line…but people WILL go to a neurologist for a runny nose in this day in time. Especially if there are pain meds invovled…
Report Post »beachcomber1017
Posted on February 16, 2012 at 10:14pmThis is really good now when I get mad I am going to throw tissus,s at my husband
Report Post »chips1
Posted on February 16, 2012 at 10:07pmJohn Boehner does cry a lot. Throwing a box of tissues seems like a normal thing to do.
Report Post »kstansbury
Posted on February 16, 2012 at 10:05pmI think we need to create an oversight committee; or hire a new Doctor CZAR to ensure this kind of incidents do not happen again.
Report Post »Stoic one
Posted on February 16, 2012 at 10:22pmwith cavity searches weekly.
Report Post »beachcomber1017
Posted on February 16, 2012 at 10:05pmA neurologest Throwing a tissue box , he need,s to find a head doctor for himself.
Report Post »DD313
Posted on February 16, 2012 at 9:58pmDid the patient suffer a lap injury as a result of this incident? Emotional trauma? Doesn’t the Maine Board of Licensure in Medicine have better things to do than penalize a doctor for insensitivity?
Report Post »TwoMinuteMan
Posted on February 16, 2012 at 9:56pmhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=2lg55p9reZc
Report Post »tazman2
Posted on February 17, 2012 at 12:00amLOL!!! Exactly what came to mind when I saw this story… Hilarious…
Report Post »Bonnieblue2A
Posted on February 17, 2012 at 2:06amAbsolutely. I guess the R Lee Ermey video needs to have a disclaimer for doctors not to try this with their patients.
Report Post »TwoMinuteMan
Posted on February 16, 2012 at 9:55pmJackwagon!!!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=2lg55p9reZc
Report Post »heyjim55
Posted on February 16, 2012 at 9:53pmMaybe he is practicing for Obama care or maybe he wants on the death panel.
Report Post »Abraham Young
Posted on February 16, 2012 at 9:52pmCall out the troops! Call OSHA! Call they MAYO CLINIC. Don’t just stand there! A woman has had a tissue box thrown at her!!! Somebody DO something.
Help me Obi Wan Kanobi. You’re the last beacon of hope in a dark and dreary world. A cruel world where people are not the professional doctors they were certified to be! Who’d a thunk it?
Report Post »chips1
Posted on February 16, 2012 at 10:10pmMaybe he just belongs at an Abortion clinic. He would fit right in.
Report Post »American Resistance
Posted on February 16, 2012 at 10:22pmI know, I….. probably shouldn’t even bring it up but Kenobi is spelled with an e. Just trying not to get side tracked. :)
Report Post »PowerPC
Posted on February 16, 2012 at 10:33pmPlease actually read the article! When you get the very first fact right on the first sentence of your comment please come back and then comment. You seem to have a problem with comprehending what you read.
Report Post »LeadNotFollow
Posted on February 16, 2012 at 9:51pm…
Report Post »I’ve not had a doctor, optometrist, or dentist, with decent bedside/chairside manners in years.
They all seem to be short tempered, heartless and insensitive, and only in it for the money.
yiska8
Posted on February 16, 2012 at 10:54pmIn total agreement with you. Many on here don’t get it. The care is already in the toilet without Obamacare. With Obamacare, God help us. Nothing broken will be fixed, fraud will continue, ethics not respected, and it will only make medical professional even more stressed and cold. Which will eventually effect the patient they treat. If Medicare and Medicaid last, doctors will turn away people because the government will not pay out fast enough or at all, once Obamacare takes over. They came into the profession for the money, not all, but many and “job security”, but soon the government will regulate how they make money and give them more paperwork. It will be less lucrative to be a doctor, and I guess the only upside will be that the “ healing professions” will attract people who really take the Hippocratic Oath to heart and be respectful toward their patient. We will need them with the Baby Boomers coming into their older years.
Report Post »yiska8
Posted on February 16, 2012 at 9:44pm*sshole sadist. Maybe he should get his head checked. Good doctors are a rare minority and these types are the majority. Most of these episodes never get reported. Poor kid. I hope this SOB loses his MD license someday. No ethics classes on earth can change a tiger’s stripes. Boothby, please quit and go golfing. Get out now, before you really screw up and then not give a *hit.
Report Post »Abraham Young
Posted on February 16, 2012 at 9:55pmYes , he’s a sadist. Probably a warmonger. Most likely a seducer of small children and barnyard animals. Better stop him now before it escalates.
Today a tissue box, tomorrow, who knows ?
Report Post »mattwakulik
Posted on February 16, 2012 at 9:55pmyeah i know! i think people who throw tissue boxes are so evil and sick in the head! i mean just look at the damage that could be caused from a thrown tissue box at someones lap!!! he should be burned at the stake!!!
Report Post »yiska8
Posted on February 16, 2012 at 10:30pmWhat kind of news was he telling the kid? What if he told the kid he had a serious medical condition and it’s not going to get better. What if it was you’re kid and you saw Boothby act this callously. Of course you’d go to another doctor, but anyone who had an ounce of common sense would report him. He’s already got a “history” of complaints. I guess we should all be thankful he even offered tissues. I mean who has time to deal with a crying kid in a neurologist’s office, right?
Report Post »Abraham Young
Posted on February 16, 2012 at 9:43pmYa know what? We don’t need no government oversight. A doctor like that would lose out by his own reputation. Who needs a panel of government “experts” deciding who gets on probation and for what reason? We can think for ourselves, can’t we?
Oh, no, that’s right, we need a licensing board who is smarter than the rest of us.
Report Post »yiska8
Posted on February 16, 2012 at 9:50pmThey licensed Conrad Murray.
Report Post »neiman1
Posted on February 16, 2012 at 9:42pmI thought a licensing bureau was to guarantee competency, not to regulate mannerisms and rudeness. How did government get this deep in our lives? If you don’t like the doctor, go to a different one.
Report Post »1casawizard
Posted on February 16, 2012 at 9:42pmWhy is the upset patient now on probation and why did the doctor throw a tissue box at him? I want to know. It makes me want to throw tissue papers. I’m upset.
Report Post »justangry
Posted on February 16, 2012 at 9:32pmI wonder how many patients who have been waiting months to see a neurologist have to wait longer because this man is human afterall.
Report Post »Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra
Posted on February 16, 2012 at 9:31pmMaybe he was a baseball player. “Are you Crying? There’s no crying in baseball!”
Report Post »Smokey_Bojangles
Posted on February 16, 2012 at 9:24pmDid he Call him a Jack Wagon?
Report Post »Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra
Posted on February 16, 2012 at 9:31pmBeat me to it…..Nice.
Report Post »1casawizard
Posted on February 16, 2012 at 9:44pmHe call him jack sock.
Report Post »bikerr
Posted on February 16, 2012 at 9:19pmWasn’t this a commercial a while back?. Funny.
Report Post »