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QUESTIONS I AM FREQUENTLY ASKED (A.K.A. FAQ):

I heard that you have an addiction and criminal history and you advocate for patients and physicians with addiction and criminal histories, including Dr. Larry Nassar. You also advocate against board exams. Are you yourself a real and fully licensed physician?

Yes, my name is Louis Joseph Riccardo. I am an osteopathic family medicine physician practicing as a hospitalist. I am a real physician proud to be licensed in the following states:

FLORIDA physician license: OS15368

TENNESSEE physician license: 267

MICHIGAN: OSTEOPATHIC PHYSICIAN license: 5101018897

If you could make some changes to the osteopathic profession, what would they be?

First, I would get rid of all board exams (step 1, step 2, step 3). Second, I would let family doctors (who ended up family doctors due to discrimination against people who fail board exams) do internal medicine fellowships such as cardiology. Third, I would ban drug testing and criminal history background checks as part of the admissions process for med school or residency. Fourth, I would undo all of Larry Nassar's convictions and set him free; this may seem controversial, but please see my reasoning below. Fifth, I would let doctors with criminal and addiction histories become members of state medical boards.

Why would you get rid of all board exams?

Medical school should be about bedside manner, not exam scores.

The osteopathic profession has made one small step in the right direction by refusing to replace the requirement to take COMLEX exams with requirement to take USMLE exams (that MD students take). After all, the COMLEX is easier than the USMLE since the questions on the COMLEX exams answers are essentially identical to the questions in question banks such as the COMBANK and COMQUEST. This is because some super-smart people who take the COMLEX exams memorize the questions from the actual exams and then create and contribute practice questions to question banks such as COMQUEST and COMBANK. So if you are a osteopathic student, then by all means do these question banks before taking the actual COMLEX tests.

But in my case, even with the question banks, I could not pass the COMLEX exams in the first attempt due to my bipolar depression. So in order to help people like me with depression, we need to do away with the COMLEX exams altogether; after all, depression is a major issue plaguing health care providers—some even go on to commit suicide like Dr. Lorna Breen (please see my Kevin MD articles regarding this). Now of course, the USMLE board has made some progress by changing USMLE step 1 from a numeric score to a pass/fail exam. But more progress needs to be made by abolishing all steps of COMLEX and USMLE exams and also abolishing specialty board exams.

I myself have a very good bedside manner whenever I am not having a mood episode. And regardless of how I am feeling/what mood I am in, I am always very nice to patients with addiction issues and criminal histories (please see my articles on Kevin MD).

Why do you want to let family doctors do internal medicine fellowships?

I ended up a becoming a family doctor due to discrimination against me. I have an addiction history, criminal history and I failed the COMLEX exams. Discrimination is not fair. If it weren’t for this discrimination and if it weren’t for specialty board exams, I could have easily done an internal medicine residency and cardiology fellowship.

Why do you want to set Larry Nassar free?

Just like Larry Nassar, I myself am a MSU statewide campus system residency program graduate. And I have a acquaintances who did rotations with him. If his patients did not consent, they would have gotten off the table and walked away. But they chose to sit and stay on his examination table. Legally if a patient chooses to remain on the table, she consents or at least assents to treatment by the doctor.

The only reason the so-called victims made such a fuss is to get attention and be in the spotlight and get money. I could not agree more with former Michigan governor and MSU president John Engler. He himself says that the so called victims are enjoying the attention—he says that they “enjoying” being in the “spotlight.”

I myself have been accused of sexual misconduct in the past for doing pelvic and breast exams on adults without female chaperones. But I got a good lawyer and fought off the accusations. As far as I am concerned: if an adult patient voluntarily sits on the exam table, she consents. This holds legally true as well.

Med school and residency are tough enough. It is not fair to make doctors lives tougher by criminalizing interactions with adult patients who voluntarily choose to sit on their examination tables.

If society wants to restrict Dr. Larry Nassar to only seeing (and doing pelvic exams and pelvic OMM) on adult patients and with gloves on, I understand that. But throwing him in jail is not fair. All of that medical knowledge he has is going waste. Why are the lawyers so incompetent that they could not get a NGRI (not guilty by reason of insanity) verdict, require him to take Depo Provera injections (to decrease his sexual attraction to children) and have him practice again—this time with gloves on and only on adults who voluntarily choose to sit on his exam table? And why does the media cater to the gymnasts' absurd attention seeking behavior?

Why do you want doctors with criminal and addiction histories to become members of state medical boards?

There is an epidemic of people with drug and alcohol problems and criminal histories who continue to use and do crimes respectively since they cannot get jobs due to discrimination. They have no one to advocate for them. If we can get doctors with similar histories (such as me) on the medical boards, they can advocate for such people.

How can you help me?

I offer scholarships to pre-medical students with drug and criminal histories who want to go to medical school. Hint: use this money to buy the COMQUEST and COMBANK question banks.

How can I help you?

Please contact the AOA (American Osteopathic Association) regarding abolishing the NBOME (national board of medical examiners) and all COMLEX exams.

312-202-8000

Please contact the American board of osteopathic internal medicine to do away with all specialty board exams.

312-202-8274

Please contact the state boards of the states I am licensed in asking them to let physicians with drug and alcohol issues and criminal histories serve on the board. This way, I can serve on their boards and help other physicians with similar issues.

FLORIDA MEDICAL BOARD

EMAIL: MQA@consumerservices@flhealth.gov

Floridahealth.gov/licensing-and-regulation

TENNESSEE medical board

800-852-2187

MICHIGAN: OSTEOPATHIC MEDICAL board

PHONE: 517-241-0199

EMAIL: BPLHELP@MICHIGAN.GOV

WEBSITE: Aca-prod.accela.com/MILARA/default.aspx

Please also tell the Michigan board to re-instate Dr Larry Nassar’s license so long as he agrees to only practice pelvic OMM on adults.

This will also help counteract any discriminatory complaints future patients make about me. After all, people unfairly try to discriminate against me due to my drug and alcohol issues and criminal history, even though ironically, these issues help me empathize with and treat patients with drug and alcohol issues and criminal histories better than other doctors can.