Patients Fighting For Their Lives, And Doctor

Fremont County – A group of chronically ill patients are fighting for their lives, as well as their doctor.

NEWSCHANNEL 13 was contacted by several of the patients who say their doctor; Michael Gehrke was ripped from their hands.

“I think the patients and the community should have the right to speak up and say I want our doctor back,” said Charlene Wright. Wright suffers from chronic pains; she received surgery from Dr. Gehrke the day before he was fired from St. Thomas More Hospital in Canon City.

For Charlene and hundreds of other patients, pain is an everyday occurrence. Some of them are terminally ill. But they all say Dr. Gehrke had a special touch.

“He was the only man to give us hope,” said Rosemary Roman. “There was hope at the end of the tunnel with him.” Rosemary’s daughter suffers from chronic pain.

But for many, that hope diminished the day they found out he had been fired from the St. Thomas More Hospital, and their pain clinic was temporarily suspended.

“That was the only man that has ever tried to help me, and then they get rid of him?” said Raquel Rosemary, one of Dr. Gehrke’s patients.

“They haven’t been honest with me, they haven’t been honest with my patients or my colleagues,” explained Gehrke.

NEWSCHANNEL 13 obtained his termination letter, which states that he was fired because his “medical records documentation is not sufficient.” Gehrke and his patients believe there are other reasons, but the hospital was unable to comment on any employment matters.

The patients are upset that they may have to travel out of town to get treatment but many of them say they aren’t supposed to ride in cars for a long period of time. Charlene says before seeing Dr. Gehrke, she would drive seven hours to New Mexico to get treatment.

Officials at St. Thomas More Hospital tell NEWSCHANNEL 13 that there is another doctor in Canon City that can help treat the patients. Officials also say they have been in constant contact with the patients to help them find alternative treatments.

“I don’t feel the hospital has let them down,” said Rick Kamerzell, the COO of St. Thomas More Hospital. “We are continuing to be on the telephone with them constantly, we are doing everything in our power to offer them alternatives and other physicians,” he explained. Kamerzell says they took out advertisements in the local paper, made phone calls and delivered letters to the hundreds of patients who were being treated by Dr. Gehrke.

Kamerzell also explained that even though Dr. Gehrke’s contract was terminated from the hospital, he can still treat patients at the hospital as a private practice, however the hospitals pain clinic has been temporarily suspended for review.

Still, the patients are unhappy. They say the hospital hasn’t done a sufficient job staying in contact with them and that their phone calls and letters to hospital officials have gone unanswered. Many of them say they don’t want to see another doctor, or have to travel out of town.

Kamerzell says they will continue to work to make sure the patients are given the proper treatment they need, but because they live in a small community it’s harder to find the specialized doctors to do it.

Patients who need information about where to turn for treatment are asked to call the main phone number at St. Thomas More Hospital at (719) 285-2900.

Stay tuned to NEWSCHANNEL 13 and KRDO.com for the latest updates on this story.