Meetings of state medical boards are public meetings (open to the public) and should be attended by

those people with a stake in health care. That's just about everyone, but it particularly applies to doctors
and elected officials (and their staff). Doctors and their patients are the ultimate stakeholders. Elected
officials should attend from time to time either in their roles as representatives of a constituent or in their
roles of providing oversight. Their obligations to constituents require the legislator to make sure the
process works as it is supposed to work. State agencies instruct legislators "not to interfere in a particular
case", but that's wrong. They must 'interfere' enough to ensure that the process is fair.

An elected legislator takes an oath to defend the Constitution, not a state agency. It's the Constitution
that protects the people from oppression by the state.

Those testifying before their state medical board will probably be asked to identify a topic in advance.
They should become familiar with the state's Medical Practice Act.

Elected legislators can assist in reporting violations of the open government laws of a state agency to the
Texas Attorney General. An expressed interest by your elected legislator can do wonders to improve
TMB compliance with the law.

The TMB is an agency of the Executive Branch, which is overseen by the governor. As part of the checks
and balances provided by our constitution and republican form of government, the TMB is also overseen
by the legislature.

Government employees frequently try to escape responsibility for doing their jobs by saying things like
"that's his job, not mine". They may direct you to someone else and then 'lose interest', particularly if they
were never interested in the first place.

Lawyers have convinced legislators and their staff falsely that once a lawyer is retained, the legislator is
somehow released of responsibility. This removes public oversight and is a major reason lawyers are so
crooked. The framers of the constitution had no intention of letting private lawyers with their own personal
agenda interfere with the workings of government. When have you ever seen a private attorney try to
facilitate the workings of government? Lawyers actually threaten legislators with prosecution for the
unauthorized practice of law for giving "legal advice". When it works to a lawyer's benefit, almost
anything is 'legal advice'; when it works against a lawyer's personal agenda, the same thing is not. Weigh
everything a lawyer says because they frequently mislead.

Without oversight of government functioning by elected representatives, we have taxation and other
government oppression without representation.

If the Texas Medical Board cared one whit about the public health, they would step in when another state
agency (in my case, the Texas Department of Public Safety and the Office of the Texas Attorney General,
through the Wharton County DA) starts beating up one of its licensee's. They should do this because they
care about the rights of the doctor, but even more because they care about the doctor's patients. The
failure of a state medical board in that regard should be called into account by the legislature, operating
through oversight committees, such as the Texas House Committee on Public Health and the Senate
Committee on Health and Human Services.

The average citizen should develop access to the oversight process through his own elected state
representative and senator. A senator or representative who is serious about his oath to defend the
constitution will facilitate citizen oversight of government. The senator or representative should NOT take
his directions from the executive branch (ie the state agency). His loyalty should be to his constituent. Any
other loyalties are a conflict of interest.

If a citizen is seeking protection from an oppressive or unresponsive state agency, he might look to any of
several sources:
1. The Texas Department of Public Safety is an agency of this state created to provide public safety
services to those people in the state of Texas by enforcing laws, administering regulatory programs,
managing records, educating the public, and managing emergencies, both directly and through
interaction with other agencies.

2. Direct contact with a board member of the agency. It is very difficult to contact a medical board
member in Texas, and this deprives Texans of a way to make government work.

3. Contact with his own elected legislator. The staff of elected officials don't know all the answers and
should be willing to learn along with the constituent. Their obligations and loyalties must always be to the
constituent. When a staff person doesn't know the answer or understand a process, the constituent
should be able to access the legislator himself. Be on guard that the staff person may be getting
directions from another staff person who is no more knowledgeable OR from the state agency itself which
has an inherent conflict of interest in hiding its oppression or unresponsiveness.

4. A citizen advocate or watchdog organization such as Texas Medical Board Watch.