Survival Strategies

1. "Extra" Judicial or "Extra"-legal services. Necessary services that your lawyer does not offer The opposing side enjoys "immunity" and as such, it takes away any advantage the Peer Reviewed Doctor might have

2. Management of the media to get the truth out

3. Consulting

4. Legal Consulting by Center lawyers

5. Negotiation

6. Legal Referral Service. "The best lawyer is not the most expensive one."

7. Proven strategies for dealing with state boards,  hospital boards, jealous competitors

8. Recovering your reputation

9. Headhunter services
    

   Comments from our members:

• Sent: Monday, November 7, 2011 2:52 PM
  Dr. Willner,
  
  I just want to express my heart felt gratitude towards you. I truly believe God put you in my life as a guardian angel. When I first contacted you, I felt relieved just to have someone to talk to who believed in me and offered me guidance throughout this whole process. I had no idea what a huge role you would play in helping me get my license. Throughout the months, I have not always known exactly what your plans would be or what you were doing behind the scenes, but now in looking back, it all makes sense. I know I say this a lot, but I definitely feel as though you were made for doing what you do. You have the knowledge and experience to correct the wrongs of the medical field, but above all, you have the heart. You have a heart of gold and truly care about people, and that is why you are so successful.
  
  The past few weeks leading up to the medical board hearing were so stressful and I could not have gotten through it without you. I can never express enough to you my gratitude for you driving all the way down here to be at my side during the hearing. Without you, I would not have a license or a career in medicine. You have made a friend for life. Please let me know if there is anything I can ever do for you...
  
  KMS, MD
   
• Sent: Mon, October 11, 2010 12:16:43 PM
  Subject: Thank you
  
  Dr. Willner,
  
  Thank you for your hard work and invaluable insights with regard to handling disciplinary matters with the medical board. Your approach to handling these matters helped avoid a deportation because the lack of due process protections in medical board matters may frustrate favorable resolution through the adversarial legal processes available to physicians.
  
  WPR
  A letter from the Hospital following a killer sham?
  That is a first. Who would believe it?
   
• Sent: Wednesday, December 12, 2007 5:46:44 AM
  Subject: Happy Holidays!!
  
  Dear Rich, Our spirits were raised today when we read the APOLOGY letter from our old hospital. It has been expensive, stressful, and educational for myself and my family to survive the ordeals begun a year ago. Thanks for your ongoing support and for always being there for us. Talking to you first prevented me from doing or saying the wrong thing....our surgeons' angel!! Thanks for everything!!
  
  T.H, DO, FACOOG
  Dr. Richard Willner
  Center for Peer Review Justice
  December 10, 2007
   
•  Dear Rich,
  
  Until recently, I had never known the real depths of despair. As an individual who has desired to be a physician from a very young age, witnessing first-hand the near destruction of my career was tantamount to being annihilated as a person. Your perseverance to rectify my situation and to seek-out the hidden method to unravel and thus resolve the dilemma of my career is nothing but phenomenal. The drive with which you approached the case and your unyielding desire to see this “wrong” put to “right” is remarkable. Few individuals have the motivation to help anyone in a situation such as this, yet you assisted me although I was previously unknown to you. Quickly, you established a method to salvage my career. You did that for me as well as many others. I can not thank you enough for the work that you have accomplished.
  
  If I could reward you the Nobel Prize for humanitarianism… I would do so. There are many unsung heroes in this world. You are definitely one of them. A civil rights activist of sorts…. Leading the fight for those unjustly accused who have committed no crime except that of desiring quality. Unfortunately, the medical community has named the outspoken disruptive. Ironic, I think, in a land where speech is to be free. Is it really free if it costs one his/her career? I think not.
  
  I applaud your efforts and those of your hidden “band of brothers” who guide you along the way.
  May you continue to persevere for those of our medical family who are unjustly persecuted.
  Please continue your grass-roots efforts to inform the uninformed of the misnomer assigned to the phrase peer review.
  
  With heart-felt gratitude,
   
• December 5, 2007 6:07:10 AM
  Subject: RE: Orlando Medical News
  Fascinating, Rich.
   I have to say, when I read this, I felt a deep sense of pride & privilege. I wish my Mom had been alive to know what you¢re doing. She was like that; she'd stand up, and defend others, the weak, and those who've been given a raw deal. You ended up helping many, many others with their careers. This is not only cool, it¢s great. I¢m really impressed at the position you've established here. You¢re a f***** ghost buster!
   B. B.
   
• December 2007 - Follow Link for Orlando Medical News Article
  Sent: Tuesday, October 30, 2007 5:36:18 PM
  Subject: LOUISIANA MEDICAL NEWS
  DATE: October 30, 2007
  TO: Richard Wilner, DPM
  RE: LOUISIANA MEDICAL NEWS (follow link for full article)
  
  Rich:
  Congratulations! This is an excellent article. I applaud your accomplishments, and wish you continued success in the battle against the 'Whores of Healthcare'.
  
  Sincerely,
  M. P., M.D.
   
• Dr. Richard B. Willner’s crusade began seven years ago (2000) with an e-mail. In it, Dr. Brian Gale described his battle with the North Dakota Board of Podiatric Medical Examiners. Gale maintained the dispute began when he left another doctor’s practice to begin his own. That doctor sued Gale, and the board filed disciplinary charges against Gale. The resulting ordeal was at the eight-year mark when Willner got involved. By that time, Gale had run through seven attorneys and burned through more than $500,000 in legal fees, only to lose at the state Supreme Court.
  
  Dr. Richard Willner
  “I asked him to send me a copy of the source documents,” Willner said. “He sent me 29 pounds worth. I went through them. I saw he was 100 percent truthful, and I did not understand how a state board could terrorize a licensee. I volunteered to help him.” Three years later, every board member had resigned from the North Dakota board, Willner said.
  “You’ve got a guy, a middle-aged man who said, ‘You know, I don’t really want to do another hammer toe surgery again. I’ve had enough,’” Willner said. “I want to do something better. I want to do something dynamic.” He founded The Center for Peer Review Justice Inc. The center now has offices in Kenner and Dallas. Eventually Willner retired as a podiatrist.
  Source: Ted Griggs, Louisiana Medical News [10/25/07]
  September 24, 2007 7:19:29 PM
  Subject: Re: Holiday Season
  Rich,
  I too want to wish you and your family the happiest of holidays! I am still hopeful that all of your efforts will help to salvage the career my husband has worked so hard for, literally giving up everything to dedicate himself to the care of his patients. It is heartbreaking to watch such a truly gifted surgeon, who has made such a profound difference in the lives of so many, be literally robbed of his livelihood and his ability to provide for his own family -- unjustly, by others who feel threatened by his skill and compassion. For literally five years now I have watched the man I love suffer in a way I never knew possible...the collateral damage is unfathomable.
  If it weren't for your ongoing encouragement and support, I don't know what might have happened... you continue to be his beacon of light leading him out of the darkness. I too will never forget you and will forever be grateful for all that you have and continue to do to help him! You are an angel of mercy sent from heaven above to fight for the downtrodden when they have lost the will to fight for themselves. Words cannot express the gratitude I feel for all the support you continue to provide!
  Happy Hanukkah, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
  Pam
   
  Tuesday, September 18, 2007
  
  Richard all of you will be recognized for your good deeds. Since experiencing the process first hand the world seems a much more complex place than just a few months ago. I look around and every one is gunning for doctors. What is the point of all this schooling, training, experience and talent if groups want you obliterated on whim? Is this the price of physician existence constant? vigilance, preparation, and engagement? As an aside I remember Clarence Thomas during his nomination hearings refer to a "lynching" Justice Thomas has no clue what a real lynching is.
  
  Modern organized medicine is a joke. Physicians need to take some of that money they are throwing away and donate it to a group that can help them where the rubber meets the road.
  
  The "REAL" organized medicine is the CPRJ and its think tank.
  
  As Yom Kippur approaches:
  
  Gmar hatimah tovah
  
  Baruch atah adonai
  
  Peace, S.M., MD
  
  Sept 17, 2007
  My husband did not utilize Rich. He decided to continue it on his own. Rich will work very hard for you. I am familiar with the cases he has won and it's incredible actually. Rich is relentless & an amazing individual. Thank you and good luck.  I wish you the best. I was not prepared for the battle. It was relentless and shocking & so very unfair. My husband was my soul mate & best friend. He was a beautiful human being: Generous, kind, nurses referred to him as a gift to their hospital. It's important that you do not try to carry this all on your own. I trust that you have a tremendous support system.
  
  Candace (widow of obstetrician who committed suicide)
  
  August 7, 2007
  Dr. McKalip, the biggest risk to medical practice economic viability I have never heard mentioned at the FMA, AMA, or any county medical society meeting.
  
  Read this excellent article (link below) and the insert sections on peer review. As a 2 time FMA delegate who is just beginning to get a feel for the process, I may have simply missed resolutions on this issue. Ultimately the biggest imminent threat to your practice economic viability and your medical licensure comes not from insurance companies but from your fellow physicians and local hospital systems.
  
  http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/03299/234499.stm
  
  The 4 part series of articles was written in 2003 and I cannot believe I had no clue about their significance and content. There are few if any organizations that actually help physicians with this threat to their economic practice viability. It is quite literally the mucormycosis of your professional career. Like that disease it is rare, poorly recognized, and rapidly devastating with high degree of morbidity and mortality.
  
  I have no financial interest in the center for peer review justice except that I am a member.
  
  Sam MD
   
• Friday, July 28, 2006 5:44 PM
  
  Rich, like I said before, words from you give me additional energy to keep fighting the fight to get back to work. .... Thanks for the encouraging words and "Keep the faith!". I am glad you are out there doing what you do.
  
  Bernie
   
• September 2005
  Dear Rich,
  Thanks for being a light in the darkness. Losing my license because bad people did things in my office has been the pits. You have been a great encouragement to me; and helped me to reach out and do the right thing and the positive "makes a difference thing". You have given me worthwhile and supportive advice and helped me to get through these bad days. It has helped me to understand the people and power plays behind the injustice.
  You have helped me get to a positive outcome. I think you have a great grasp of the games being played .I just would like you to know that I count you among my friends. Sometimes you have to do what creates the best outcome, not what ever comes first to mind. I was really too mad and down to think straight.
  I would recommend your consulting for anyone that gets shot down by a very flawed system. Thank you from the bottom of my heart!
  
  Sincerely,
  Dr K.
   
• Sunday, September 04, 2005
  
  Dr. Willner,
  I want to thank you for your support throughout my dealings with peer review fraud since 2001. You have truly helped my family and I survive this crime.
  
  Your knowledge and expertise have proven to be invaluable in matters of peer review fraud. I would strongly recommend that anyone who thinks they may be involved in a medical staff conflict contact you immediately. To ignore this recommendation is foolhardy, and could mean the end of a career. Those of us who have been through these events know. You are truly an expert, if not the only expert, in this field.
  
  A physician may be represented by one of the best attorneys money can buy, but I guarantee they are still handicapped if they don't have your support. No affiliation with any physician group (AMA, TMA, etc.) is going to significantly help, either. Of all the money I have spent on defending myself, I have only seen returns on the investment in time and money I have made with you and your organization.
  
  In fact, I fear there is nobody who could continue the services that you and your organization provide should anything happen to you. So, you and your family are welcome to stay at my home anytime a hurricane threatens Louisiana again.
  
  I never knew such acts as peer review fraud were possible in the U.S. Fortunately, you have been helping victims of peer review fraud successfully fight this (type of crime) for years! Your organization is more valuable, both to the physician and the public, than the AMA.
  
  Sincerely,
  R. M.D.
  Chief, Dept. of Surgery-
  Diplomate, American Board of Surgery