Doctors Handing Out Phony Notes in Wisconsin Getting an Earful

No good deed goes unpunished:

Doctors who wrote medical notes over the weekend excusing protesters at the Wisconsin Capitol from work are getting slammed with angry phone calls and profane e-mails from people telling them they deserve to be thrown in jail, one doctor said Sunday.

The physicians wore lab coats Saturday as they stood on a street corner and offered medical notes to the tens of thousands of protesters who paraded past them. The protesters were rallying against a Republican-backed state bill that would eliminate collective bargaining rights for most state workers.

One of the doctors was Lou Sanner, 59, who practices family medicine at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health. Sanner said he gave out hundreds of notes and that many protesters with whom he spoke seemed to be suffering from stress.

"Some people think it's a nod-and-a-wink thing but it's not," he told The Associated Press on Sunday. "One of the biggest stresses in life is the threat of loss of income, loss of job, loss of health insurance. People have actually been getting ill from this, or they can't sleep."

Many of the protesters who chanted for lawmakers to "kill the bill" at the protests were teachers who missed classroom time during the week to attend the rallies. In some districts, teacher absences were so widespread that entire schools were shut down for as many as three days.

As faculty absences grew, districts warned that teachers who missed time without prior approval or a doctor's note could face disciplinary action, including docked pay for the days they were out.

Sanner and several of his colleagues from the university offered to sign doctors' notes that said, "To Whom It May Concern: This is to confirm I have seen and evaluated the above named patient. Please excuse from work/school due to a medical condition" followed by blanks for the dates and the physician's name, signature and medical license number.

It's not clear how well-received the notes will be.

Just watch what happens. Even though the names of the doctors are now known, and even though it's also known that these medical excuses are as phony as can be, don't look for any teachers to be punished even though they're effectively defrauding the state. The school districts won't dare challenge the teacher's unions.

The only way this fraud will get punished is if some local district attorney or perhaps the medical licensing board decides to get involved. I don't expect anything from the school districts, most of whom are run by former teachers and others with connections to the unions.