NEW LONDON, NH (WMUR/CNN) - An 85-year-old doctor in New Hampshire is fighting to keep her practice going. Dr. Anna Konopka's license was set to be suspended Friday, following allegations about some of her medical practices.
But the doctor says she is being penalized for not using a state drug-monitoring system. Konopka says she feels she is being forced out, but she is not going down without a fight and her patients are standing alongside her.
Several of them saying that if it wasn't for her, their lives would be different. "I wouldn't have my life without her," one woman said. The woman is one of the nearly 300 patients Konopka sees at her New London office.
A patient who feels she owes much to the elderly doctor. A victim of domestic violence, she suffered a stroke, and was confined to a wheelchair. "I lost every bit of will to live – without, within a month of her I was walking with a lot of help, able to speak some,” she said.
Konopka says she has many patients that thrive under her care, but that could change. The board of medicine is suspending her license, challenging her prescribing practices, medical decisions and record-keeping.
Konopka is fighting to keep her license. "This is my notes - of course it is not electronic, but I put everything, .... and I remember everything,” she said.
She doesn't use a computer, and therefore does not participate in the state-regulated prescription drug monitoring system. "If the patient was messing up with medications, believe me, I was called,” she said.
As far as medications, one patient said she actually made taking his medicine more manageable. "The other doctors just want to cram a bunch of pain medications down my throat,” he said. “I was up to seven medications, now I'm down to one and it's working."
“I'm not going to change. I'm not going to change my treatment and I told them, because I am not going to use medicine how they are using it,” the doctor said.
Despite that, she is hoping to stay in business. But without a court injunction her doors are supposed to close on Friday.
"If I don't fight - no hope for win, you see, if I'm fighting there's hope for win,” she said. Along with filing a complaint in court, Konopka has also written to the governor in hopes of getting help.
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