Richard Wright Lawsuit Message to PPSIG members: "Get off the curb!"

To: PPSIG Members From: Diana Godwin, PPSIG Executive Director and Legal Counsel

Re: Referral for Profit – Time to Step Up

Date: May 30, 2008

Let me open this memo with a favorite adage: “If you’re gonna fight in the street, ya gotta get off the curb.”

The Washington State Orthopaedic Association (WSOA), the Washington State Medical Association (WSMA), the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS), and the American Medical Association (AMA), and their individual members, have definitely stepped off the curb and are channeling significant contributions to support Benton Franklin Orthopedics in their effort to defeat PPSIG member Richard Wright’s legal challenge to their practice of employing physical therapists and referring patients to those employee PT’s.

As you may know, Richard initiated the lawsuit to determine whether Benton Franklin is violating Washington’s laws against hiring physical therapists and the anti-rebate laws. Let me quote to you a few passages from a letter from Benton Franklin Orthopedics in the March issue of the WSOA Newsletter discussing the lawsuit: “We are aggressively fighting this ridiculous lawsuit that Richard Wright and Columbia Physical Therapy have brought against us, we hope to preserve not only physician owned physical therapy, but also the right for doctors in general to employ dissimilar licensed professionals.” The letter goes on to repeat that what is at stake in the lawsuit is a physician’s “right to employ physical therapists.” This same March issue of the newsletter reports that WSOA has donated $36,500 to the effort to defeat Richard’s lawsuit, the AAOS has donated $30,000, the WSMA has pledged $20,000, plus legal assistance in the form of filing an amicus brief in support of the physicians, and WSMA is seeking additional support from the AMA. This was as of the date the March newsletter went to press; the amounts contributed since there could be just as substantial. The newsletter article goes on to say that WSOA wants to be able to provide “over $175,000” to defeat the lawsuit and it concludes with an appeal to “all orthopaedic groups to step up to the challenge and contribute $5,000 to $20,000.”

So, in the same spirit, and with just as much or more at stake for our profession, on behalf of PPSIG, let me close this memo with an equally urgent appeal to all private practice physical therapy clinics to contribute to Richard’s effort to stop the physician practice of referral for profit. They can do it…we can certainly do it. So, do it today. More than ever, It’s Your Move.

The latest update on Richard’s case is that the Appellate Court has declined to take discretionary review of the legal issues involved and therefore the case is heading for trial this Fall or Winter.

It takes real money to take a case through trial.

Please send your generous contribution today directly to Richard’s attorneys. Make your check to Stafford Frey Cooper and note on the check that it is for client #10268. Mail it to Stafford Frey Cooper at 601 Union St., Suite 3100, Seattle, WA 98101-1374.

Many thanks for your support of the private practice of physical therapy.

Diana E. Godwin PPSIG Executive Director and Legal Counsel

1500 NE Irving, Ste. 370 Portland, OR 97232 (503) 224-0019 (503) 229-0614 - FAX