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Residency Insight

So You’re JUST a Podiatrist…

The medical field is, of course, filled with plenty of ego and turf battles. Podiatrists are subjected to various levels of this throughout their careers – from the student in clinic to the seasoned practitioner. Some students are caught off-guard by this challenge and enter the specialty with the naïve belief that everyone in medicine works closely together for the common goal of good patient care. While the later part of this statement may be true most of the time, there are plenty of politics that can get in the way of you being able to deliver the patient care that you know is best.

The professional, educational, and political advances that we have seen take place in the Podiatric Profession over the past 25 years are outstandingly positive. We have achieved hospital privileges, affiliations, and leadership positions that many thought would never happen. However, there are still barriers to progress which are frequently based on ignorance, finances, and ego. In many circumstances (ie. large multi-specialty group practices and the Veteran’s Administration) the barriers suddenly disappear because the financial motives are removed from the situation…

When we face some of these political challenges ourselves, we tend to assume that it’s just Podiatry that has to deal with this type of scrutiny. This is very far from the truth. Medicine in general is filled with these types of grievances / competitive battles. As just one small example, the Vascular Surgeons and the Cardiovascular Surgeons are battling with the Interventional Radiologists over who has the domain and expertise to best deliver the new endovascular technologies which are rapidly emerging in lower extremity limb salvage.

The key to a successful resolution to whatever dilemma you may be faced with is to keep the patient’s interests at the center of the debate. If you know that you can best deliver a particular treatment to the patient then you should work to be able to do that without restriction. Most of the time, the best political successes come from a steady and consistent effort to provide the best possible patient care we know how. Sometimes these successes come in the form of a victory in a court battle such as what was seen this week in Texas Click here for story from APMA News…

Thanks again for all of the responses and please send in your story if you want to share it…!

John S. Steinberg, DPM
Editor, PRESENT

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APMA Daily eNews
Wednesday, August 24, 2005 (No. 1,905)

The Texas State Board of Podiatric Medical Examiners and the Texas Podiatric Medical Association (TxPMA) have received a positive final judgment in the lawsuit filed by the Texas Orthopaedic Association and the Texas Medical Association. The court ruled that the Texas State Board of Podiatric Medical Examiners was within its statutory authority to define the ankle as within the scope of practice law for podiatric physicians.

The court upheld the Texas State Board of Podiatric Medical Examiners' definition of the foot, "the tibia and fibula in their articulation with the talus, and all bones to the toes, inclusive of all soft tissues (muscles, nerves, vascular structures) that insert into the tibia and fibula in their articulation with the talus and all bones to the toes," stating that the Board's rule did not exceed its statutory authority.

TxPMA, an intervenor in the case, has expressed its appreciation to its witnesses, Drs. Bryan P. Bullard, Brian Carpenter, Steven Brancheau, Bruce A. Scudday, Matthew Cerniglia, J. Mark Bruyn, Lawrence B. Harkless, Thomas Zgonis, and Daniel Bareither.

"It has been a long, hard fight," said Don Canada, TxPMA executive director, "and will most probably be appealed. We are very fortunate to have the expertise of Mark Hanna and Jennifer Riggs as our legal team, and much of the credit needs to go to their legal strategy on our behalf."