Dr. Anna Konopka practices medicine out of her 160-year-old clapboard house in New London, NH. That is to say, she did. New Hampshire's Board of Medicine has pulled her license to practice medicine because she doesn't own a computer and never bothered to learn how to use one.
The 84-year-old New Londoner who emigrated from Poland in 1961 practices alone and can't afford to hire an assistant. "I'm interested in helping people. I didn't go to medicine for money, and I didn't make money," she says. In fact, her fee for seeing someone without insurance is a mere $50.
She's stands accused of leaving prescription dosing levels up to the parents and, in one case, failing to treat a patient with daily inhaled steroids. The main issue at hand, however, is her inability to use the state's mandatory electronic drug monitoring program. Konopka's records are kept in manilla folders and organized in filing cabinets. Shelves of well-used medical books provide her with reference.
Her patients are a loyal bunch and now find themselves without a doctor. "It stinks, but you have to find a new doctor, and it's a rat race," said patient Stanley Wright while attending the hearing to show his support. "The doctor I had before was over-medicating me, and she gives me a lot of herbal stuff and I was doing a lot better. Now, I'm back to being screwed. I don't know what to do."
Assistant Attorney General Lyn Cusack wishes to shut down Konopka for good and is urging the board to deny any further appeals.
Source:
http://www.fox5ny.com/news/doctor-who-refuses-to-use-computers-loses-medical-license
