Short Version

1.  Yes, I can refer to myself as a Medical Doctor, as I earned a medical doctorate degree.   The titles “Dr.” and “M.D.” come with earning a medical doctorate, regardless of medical licensure status.
2. The Georgia Medical Board did not ask me to surrender, nor revoke or suspend my medical license.
3. In 2004, after retiring from medical practice, and the day before moving back to California, an uninformed agent of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation wrongfully demanded I surrender my medical license for phoning in a prescription for a family member.
4. I moved to California, and failed to address the inappropriately forced surrender of my license in a timely fashion.  I waited until 2008 to address it.
5. In 2008, the Georgia Medical Board members were surprised, and very unhappy with the agent for forcing me to surrender my license, and would have “never asked to surrender” my license over something all doctors do.   The agent was rebuked for her wrongful actions.
6. The Georgia Medical Board “would have given back” my medical license “on the spot,” had I gone before them “within 1 or 2 years since the unfortunate incident,” but given that it had been 5 years since I retired, they felt it was too long of a time to validate and license me for practicing medicine without further education/training.
7. Since I was not interested in returning to the practice of medicine, I did not seek additional expensive, and time-consuming training.  Besides, there is really no good way for doctors to re-enter medicine.
8. A medical license is not required to teach, write, or lecture.
9. Although I could have, I chose not to sue for the wrongful forced surrender of my medical license.

Long Version

You may not know me, but you apparently may want to know if I am legitimate and whether you should trust me enough to read my articles or follow the nutritional supplement protocols I have.  Maybe someone has suggested a quality supplement brand to you, and mentioned my name and this website, and you probably read something about me on some other website that gave you some concern or caused questions.  I understand.  That is why I wrote this; to clear up any doubt and confusion with honesty and perspective.

First, I wish to preface whatever you may conclude about me with this thought — no matter what you ultimately conclude about me, it has nothing to do with the science, nor the quality nutritional supplements that I support, as they have changed many people’s lives. Too many people have witnessed this, and this is undeniable.  And, the science is solid.

Regarding what you may have read about me on the Internet, I know you do NOT have the true story, and certainly not the complete story.  And it is only out of trust of the person who referred you that you are even reading this, and that’s okay.  I appreciate that.  At least you will know whom to trust when you are finished with my explanation.  All I ask is that you stay open to what I have written, and ask yourself if it rings true.

After all, what is the purpose of the female blogger trying to discredit me?  Is it her goal to serve and protect you, as a member of the general public?  Or could there be a more self-serving motive, in which information is twisted, and you are being misled?

Let’s begin …

Yes, I Am a Doctor, “M.D.”

Let me settle one thing up front–  I am indeed a medical doctor, and I can indeed call myself “doctor,” “Dr.” and “M.D.”  I earned that degree, and I can use it.  I just cannot use it to solicit patients, as I currently do not have a license.  However that does not take away the title of “doctor” or “M.D.”  For anyone to say otherwise is simply intentionally misleading or ignorant.

I graduated from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School at Dallas in 1989.  That is when I received my medical doctorate degree (M.D.).  Once a person has that, it is never taken away, and that doctor forever bears the title, “Dr.” and “M.D.”  There is no disputing that.  The fact that anyone would even challenge that is mind boggling.  Who would even believe such a thing?  Unfortunately people who are ignorant of what I just wrote.  Now you know.  (You can read more about my biography and background by CLICKING HERE. )

I did my residency in obstetrics and gynecology from The George Washington University Medical Center in Washington, D.C., with completion in 1993.  I became board certified in obstetrics and gynecology in 1995.  I received the best training in the world, and entered private practice in Atlanta, Georgia.

I held a license in the state of Georgia (1993 – 2004) and in Ohio (2002 – 2007). I completely retired from medicine in December 2003, and I am currently not licensed to practice medicine.

Were You Wanting to Make Me Your Doctor?  No?  Then There Is No Problem

I would like to preface what led up to the surrender of my medical license in 2004, and the fact that I am not currently licensed to practice medicine with this:

1. Unless someone was wanting to see me as a patient, it is not anyone’s concern as to whether I currently am licensed or not, as I have retired from practicing medicine; and a doctor only need be licensed if he is practicing medicine.  What is the concern if you are not seeing me as a patient?
2. I was not forced out of medical practice, but retired to move on to other activities.  I did nothing wrong, illegal, unethical, or immoral while practicing medicine, nor did I do anything wrong after retiring from medicine that caused me to surrender my medical license, despite what might have been implied by a certain blogger on the Internet.
3. All the events that led up to why you are reading about this issue now, including the surrender of my medical license, happened AFTER I retired from medical practice!
4. Ask yourself, WHY did a certain blogger decide to write about me, and why not blog about thousands of other doctors who have surrendered their licenses?  What was in it for her to come after me?   What is she trying to “save” you from?  From seeing me as a patient?  Well, I am not practicing medicine, so there is no chance of that.  So, what was her motive to spend even a minute writing about me?
5. In 2007, this blogger purposefully twisted the truth, and left out information, and presented other “facts” without context or clarity to confuse you, and make me look bad, all for a reason which was NOT about me.  I was not the real target.  I was only a means to a coordinated attack on a publicly-held company with which I am associated, and if she could make people lose confidence in me (along with a team of others she worked with; see below), along with all the other negative blogging that she and the team did about the company, products, and others associated with this company, then they could drive down the stock price (stock manipulation), and earn their financial backers big money.  This is exactly what happened, and people went to jail. However she escaped jail.  More of the story below.  Suffice it to say, she was not interested in the truth about me; she only wanted to make me look as bad as possible to drive down the stock price.  Her public blogging against me was NOT to protect you from me, my articles, or the protocols I have created.  It was not for your benefit at all.

The Story Begins AFTER I Retired From Medicine

I retired from medicine at the end of December, 2003, as a practicing board certified OB/GYN in Atlanta, Georgia.  The only state in which I actually practiced medicine was Georgia.  I held a license in the state of Ohio, but that was only a backup in case I decided to move there to be closer to my children.  I eventually had to surrender my Ohio license in 2007, ONLY because I had surrendered my Georgia medical license, not because I did anything wrong.

In October 2004, ten months after retiring from the practice of medicine, and one day before moving back to my hometown in California, I was confronted by a Georgia State investigating agent, who was called by a pharmacist about someone possibly impersonating me, who phoned in a prescription.  The pharmacist knew I was already retired, and thought I had already moved to California, so she called the investigator to check it out who was “pretending to be me.”  No one was, I just had not moved yet.

The investigating agent, a young woman possibly new at the job, met me in person and confirmed that there was no fraud, and that I was truly “Dr. McNamara,” and had legally phoned in the prescription.  All was well, until she asked me who the person was for whom I phoned in the prescription.  I informed her that she was my wife. That is when she said that I was not allowed to prescribe any medication for my wife, or any family member, …and for that matter, not even a friend!  I was incredulous because I had patients who were friends, and every doctor I knew phoned in prescriptions for family members and friends all the time.

I laughed and said, “That’s not true.  A lot of my patients have become friends, and a lot of my friends have seen me as patients.”  She told me that was all illegal.  I laughed at her, not so much for what she was saying, but for how upset she was about such a little thing.  She reminded me of the character, Deputy Barney Fife in the old TV show, Mayberry R.F.D., out to get the J-walking criminal.

I then asked her what she would say if I was the only doctor in a small Georgia town, and if everyone in town were my friends or extended family members, and the next doctor was over 200 miles away.  She said, “Each one of them would have to leave town to see another doctor.”  To that, I laughed even more, and told her that this was all just ridiculous.

She got very upset, and told me she was going to report me to the Georgia Medical Board, and that I would have to go before them.  I laughed and said, “Be my guest; there is nothing wrong with what I did. And it doesn’t matter anyway, as I am moving to California tomorrow.”

She clearly didn’t know what to do with that information, and didn’t want “the criminal” (me) to escape justice by “fleeing to another state.”  She demanded I surrender my license to her on the spot.  I laughed nervously and said, “No way. I am not giving you my medical license.”  She then got out a pair of handcuffs, and put her other hand on some pepper spray that was on her belt, and was ready to take me to jail if I resisted.  I immediately stopped laughing.

I thought to myself, “I have movers coming in the morning, my wife is at home packing, and this angry woman is ready to take me to jail.  I am retired from medicine, moving to California, and I am not even going to be needing my license as I will not be practicing.  I guess if I decide to practice medicine again I will take care of all this later.”

Here Is My Only Mistake

I WAS ABOUT TO MAKE MY BIGGEST MISTAKE–  WHICH THE GEORGIA MEDICAL BOARD AGREED WAS MY ONLY MISTAKE:  I surrendered my medical license to this overly-eager agent, when I should have sat in jail for the weekend and had it resolved the following week; and she would have been reprimanded.

So I ask you, is what happened to me with that agent the reason you should not trust me?  Is it the reason why you should not read any of my articles, or try the supplement protocols?  I am not asking you to see me as a patent, as I do not hold a medical license at this time. However if this is my “crime,” and you feel you cannot trust my speaking and writing because I made the mistake of being compliant to her WRONGFUL demand of surrendering my medical license, then yes, do not trust me, and therefore I would not be able to help you, and I wish you good luck.   

However if you have the ability to understand that an innocent person could get stuck in a bad situation, and if you are able to see how sad and silly all this is, then maybe that blogger is the one you should not trust.  And I will suggest more reasons that you should not trust her (below).  

However my thinking in the moment of being faced with jail was not clear.  It was a weekend, the Medical Board was not available to call, I had movers coming in the morning, and the thought of going to jail was not pleasant. I reluctantly decided to surrender my medical license so I could move to California the following day, and move on with my second career of educating, training, speaking, and writing.  I would no longer be practicing medicine and would not need a license to write health books and articles, speak on wellness, and conduct wellness seminars, etc. However it was painful to lose what I worked so hard to get.

“Your ONLY MISTAKE, Dr. McNamara, was surrendering your medical license to that agent.”

It is not just my opinion that the ONLY thing I did wrong was to surrender my medical license to that agent, it was actually told to me by the Georgia Medical Board in 2008, as I sat before them petitioning for the re-instatement of my license.  After hearing the story and reviewing the report from the investigating agent, the Chairman of the Georgia Medical Board said, “Your only mistake, Dr. McNamara, was that you surrendered your medical license to that agent.  She should have NEVER asked for your license, and you should have never given it to her.  Every doctor writes prescriptions for family and friends, and we have no problem with that.  We all do it.  This is a travesty, and this should have never happened to you. You should have gone to jail, and called us after the weekend, and we would have disciplined her.”

That is it; that is my “big crime.”  That is the whole reason that a certain blogger cast dispersions on my character!   Well that, and she was paid to do it by Barry Minkow, a known con man, who was paid by a hedge fund to short the stock of a publicly-held nutritional supplement company (USANA), that I am associated with.  So, the point is, I was merely a means to an end.  The more I, and others, could be torn down, the more the stock would fall, and the more money these criminals could make.

The Georgia Medical Board said they would have given me back my license right then and there if the time between my retirement and my request to get my license back had not been so long.  They said if it had been one or two years, then they would have given me my license back then and there, as they would have never taken it away in the first place!  (Did you catch that? They would have never taken it away over writing prescriptions for family and friends.)

But since it had been 5 years since I had last practiced medicine, it was just too long of a time period, and the Georgia Medical Board would be responsible for saying I was “fit to practice medicine.”  The Board agreed to give me back my license if I went back and got some training to make sure I was fit to practice medicine.  I was already a doctor, “M.D.,” etc., but they just wanted to make sure I was qualified to treat patients and perform surgery again.  That is reasonable.

As reasonable as it was to expect me to go back and spend months, if not a year, and tens of thousands of dollars to get tuned up to practice medicine, the fact remained, I was not intending to go back into medical practice!  So, I faced a problem.  How do I get a medical license back when I am not going into medical practice?  And, why spend all that money and time, taking away from my current life goals, to get a license to practice medicine when I was not going to practice medicine?  To make me a better writer?  To give me more knowledge?  To make other people more “comfortable?”  Would it even remove the negative information on the Internet that the blogger wrote about me?

I chose not to spend all that money and time to get my medical license back because I had a very busy life.  It would take away from my goals.  And it did nothing to remove the blogger’s negative writing about me, to say what?  That I am calling myself a doctor, when I am in fact a doctor?  Oh, the horrors!

Why Did the Blogger Blog About Me?

Who was I to this blogger who blogged negative things about me; supposedly “exposing the truth” about me in 2007; calling me a fraud because I did not have a current license to practice medicine, and I dare refer to myself as “doctor?”  Why was she so concerned about a doctor who had retired from medical practice in 2003, and surrendered his Georgia license in 2004?  That is also what a representative from the California Medical Board asked me in 2007 when I called the office after the blogger wrongfully claimed that I could not call myself a “doctor,” or use “Dr.” or “M.D.”

The blogger claimed that I could not call myself, “Dr.” or use “M.D.,” citing some California statute.  After the blogger made that claim against me, I called the California Medical Board and asked if I was doing something wrong in California by calling myself “Dr,” or use “M.D.” after my name and not having a medical license anymore. (Heck, even a Ph.D., who never held a medical license, can even call himself a “Dr.”)

The California Medical Board representative asked me if I have an office where I was trying to solicit patients or practice medicine. I answered, “of course not.” She looked at my website, and saw that I was only providing information.  She informed me that the California statute exists to give teeth to the California prosecutors to go after doctors without licenses who treat patients.  That unlicensed doctors are restricted from promoting themselves as medical doctors for the purpose of soliciting patients.  They are restricted from having a medical office with their name on the door as “M.D.,” which would cause people seeking medical care to enter.

There have been several deaths in the past in California from unlicensed doctors setting up offices and doing surgery in the “back room.”  California needed a way to protect against such fraud before patients got seen, and before they got hurt.

The representative from the California Medical Board said to me, “there is no problem in what you are doing.  Of course you can use “Dr.” and “M.D.,” Dr. McNamara, you earned that degree and title.”

The woman from the California Medical Board went on to say, that blogger called me two weeks ago, and tried to get me to go after you, and I told her the same thing, that there was nothing wrong with you using “Dr.” and “M.D., “so she knows that you are not a fraud, nor doing anything illegal.  I don’t know why she is writing all that about you on the Internet after what I told her.

The woman from the California Board asked, “what did you do to tick her (the blogger) off anyway?”  I answered that I didn’t do anything.  I am only associated with a company called USANA Health Sciences, that she and a man named Barry Minkow is going after to try and short the stock so they can make as much money as possible for themselves, and whomever else is funding them.  It is truly an evil, and illegal, scam of greed that hurts innocent people.

The Blogger Knew the Truth, But She Blogged About Me Anyway

Again, this female blogger knew that there was nothing wrong with me using “Dr.” or “M.D.,” but she blogged about it anyway, because it worked for her to try and discredit me. She made innuendos about me, and previously posed the question, “what could he have possibly done to lose his license?” And, I ask, what kind of person does this to another person?  So, whom would you tend to trust?

This blogger, and her partner, the thrice-convicted felon, Barry Minkow, worked together to try to defame and discredit USANA, and its founder, Dr. Myron Wentz, as well as other scientists at USANA, including Dr. Tim Wood, the author Denis Waitley, the author and researcher, Lyle MacWilliam, several other doctors involved with USANA, the quality of the products, and myself.

Barry Minkow and the “Fraud Investigating” Blogger Are the True Frauds

Barry Minkow and his team, along with the female blogger, and others, continued to churn out false claims, innuendos, and half-truths, all in an attempt to not only short the stock, but to put USANA out of business for good.  As it so happened, in 2007, the year of this attack, was one of USANA’s best years ever!

A few years later, Barry Minkow was convicted of the exact same stock manipulation of Lennar Construction, as well as many other crimes.  He was a repeat offender, and truly a man of low character and lies.  All the while, he was embezzling money from members of his church, where he was supposed their trustworthy and “reformed pastor.”

During the trial of Barry Minkow in the Lennar Construction case, it is reported that the female blogger who defamed me, was questioned during the prosecution as to her role (which was quite involved, as it was with the USANA attack).  However, apparently she claimed ignorance, and she escaped prosecution and jail time. However how could she be ignorant of the goal of stock manipulation of USANA and Lennar Construction? That is exactly what was happening, as they moved their attacks like locusts, from USANA to focus on Lennar Construction. The same tag-team blogging and “reporting,” to affect the stock price.  Should she be in jail like Barry Minkow?  If guilty, of course!

Whom Should You Trust in this Scenario?

For supposedly being a smart “fraud investigator,” she apparently was playing quite dumb when she was reportedly questioned about what was going on with their dealings with Lennar Construction.  Even the most dull person would have known what they were doing.   For not knowing what they were doing would have made her the world’s most incompetent self-proclaimed “forensic accountant” or guilty of perjury.  I would like to ask her which one is it?  For you, I would ask, would you trust such a person to tell you the truth, and the motive behind it?

If found guilty of stock manipulation, like Barry Minkow, this blogger would have gone to jail. Thus her need to plead ignorance.  In the settlement with USANA, Barry Minkow was court ordered to take down all his negative posts against USANA, the smears against others involved in USANA, including myself.  She was not under such a court order, and that is why you have read the “horrendous crimes” about me, like I am calling myself a “Dr.,” which I am, and that I surrendered my license, which I did.

Again I ask, what does that mean to you, and whom would you be more likely to trust now that you know more about what all happened, and who this self-proclaimed “forensic accountant and fraud investigator” is? 

The irony, the person calling me a fraud, and herself a “fraud investigator,” was involved in the fraudulent attack on USANA and Lennar Construction!  She should blog on her own apparent fraudulent activities.  Don’t we find that those who point fingers at others are usually the ones who are guilty most of all?

To answer the question as to WHY blog about me, and not hundreds (if not thousands) of other doctors who have either lost or surrendered their licenses, it was clearly to discredit USANA through me (and others).

A hedge fund paid Barry Minkow to short the stock of USANA.  That was it. Everything was done; and all stops were pulled out to short the stock. It didn’t matter who got hurt, as long as someone was getting rich.  It was never about me, per se.  It was not about protecting YOU from ME. It was only to enrich certain people. You and I were merely pawns.

I became a victim twice:  1) when the agent wrongfully forced me to surrender my license in 2004, and 2) again by Minkow and this female “fraud investigator” blogger, whose purpose it was to publicly try to discredit my character and reputation during the shorting of USANA’s stock in 2007.  I was a top speaker, and well known in USANA.  I was just one of Minkow’s and this blogger’s means to their ends of destroying USANA to enrich themselves and their backers. It did not work!

SO, What Can I Do From This Point?

The only thing I can do is fight back with the truth, as I have here.  I appreciate you reading this.  It is as frustrating and tedious to you as it is to me. The only thing I can do is continue on with my work of trying to help others in this current endeavor, and hope that people can see that unscrupulous people can hurt other people for their own personal gain with unethical agendas.

Fortunately, my friends, Dr. Wentz, USANA, and many other friends have stood by me; because they know the truth, and do not want to see me victimized more by Barry Minkow, or his former partner, the female “fraud investigator” blogger.

I hope you, who are reading this will not judge me too harshly.  If I was trying to practice medicine without a license, sure, then criticize me all you want. However, I am not practicing medicine.  If I was unethical, immoral, and did something illegal, sure, criticize me.  However, now that you know the truth, I hope you see me in a clear light, and take into account all I have to offer on this website, and elsewhere.

My mission is to make a difference in people’s lives.  I have a lot to offer with what I am doing now, and I hope that I can continue to serve as best I can, for as long as God allows me.  And most of all, trust the person that referred you to me, as their heart is in the right place.

Thank you,

Dr. Ladd

Ladd R. McNamara, M.D.