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I am a whistleblower. For reasons you may understand, I must remain anonymous.
Mark Galen, MD is a pen name. In real life, Galen is doctor of pulmonary, critical care and sleep medicine. Galen's career has combined both writing and science, winning awards in as an essay writer, as a Merit scholar and as a Westinghouse science talent winner. After graduation with top honors from a six-year combined medical program at University of Michigan medical school, Galen did his residency in internal medicine at Parkland Hospital in Dallas Texas. He then subspecialized in pulmonary and critical care at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), where he also served as a staff scientist in molecular biology for five years. Later, he took the lead in the emerging field of Sleep Medicine.
In 1991, Galen became assistant professor at a medical school. He earned tenure in less than four years, and was awarded more than 2 million dollars in grants for innovative research, and was awarded three patents for DNA detection methods. Galen became a prolific writer, authoring more than 40 articles (in Journal of Biologic Chemistry, Biotechniques, Nucleic Acid Research), and contributed to books on more general medicine topics and on bioethics.
In recent years, Galen joined a coalition of doctors and citizens alarmed at the current healthcare crisis, especially as it effects indigent and working families at inner city public hospitals. This coalition joined in the general alarm regarding the emergence of large for profit healthcare chains, such as Columbia/HCA (this single healthcare chain was forced to admit to $780 million dollars of fraudulent claims- the single largest false claim case to be prosecuted in the United States). Perhaps predictably, many members of this coalition were severely retaliated against- and some were arrested. All were vindicated. The outcome of these investigations and healthcare scandals, coverups and reprisals have been reported regularly in diverse journals from the "New England Journal of Medicine" to "the Nation".
Galen continues to practice medicine, and devotes a substantial portion of his time to a company he formed to promote integrity in healthcare. His contact with this unusual group of concerned citizens- healthcare whistleblowers- forms the basis of his recent book that has been accepted for publication, and may be the basis for a movie soon..
SHARE Tuesday, September 13, 2011 Citizens United Demand Judicial Reform Now! Judges have gone wild against Whistleblowers
Regardless of laws passed, if courts are hostile to whistleblower rights, society suffers.Whistleblowers may be looking out for society, but who is looking out for whistleblowers? In the Godfather, Vito Corleone carried judges in his pockets "like so many nickels." What chance do average whistleblowers have when powerful corporations are pulling judicial puppet strings?
(4 comments) SHARE Monday, September 12, 2011 Doctors United Demand Integrity in Medicine! America Needs HR 2472
Medical truth-tellers must be protected so that the public can be confident in the integrity of hospitals. "Without truth tellers like Dr. Patrick Campbell of Redding California, no one would have ever known that Tenet HMO
was performing thousands of unnecessary heart surgeries. Tenet put profit before patients. Healthcare fraud costs this nation billions, and leads to loss of life. As a physician, I find this intolerable."
(3 comments) SHARE Friday, May 13, 2011 A book that can change your life: "The Whistleblowers Survival Guide"
Whistleblowers are a lot like submariners- we are a silent service. I would have been toast without it. Somehow, I bluffed my way into Devine's office as a desperate hail Mary,and he gave me the early survival guide. It told me exactly what to do, and how to survive. I walked out of his office and totallly turned the situation around, and achieved a victory.So,I can attest that his book saved at least one POC-whistleblower.