Plans to reorganize a local cancer treatment center under a new name, and with only one of the original partners, were ditched late Monday when the doctor learned he can’t get funding to operate the practice.
But Dr. Millard Ray Lamb and his office staff want their patients to know they aren’t being left to fend for themselves.
“We want to let all our patients know we have closed and we are making sure all of our patients are transferred to other doctors,” said an office spokesperson, who declined to be identified, on Tuesday.
She and a dozen or so other former employees were assisting patients Tuesday with getting medical records transferred to another oncology group.
The woman said she and her co-workers went to the office “voluntarily” on Tuesday and will continue to do so until all patients are transferred to other oncologists.
The tangled mess that led to McLeod Blood and Cancer Center, 310 W. State of Franklin Road, closing began with a federal investigation in February about medications ordered by one of the partners, Dr. William Kincaid, at different times during 2007, 2008 and 2009.
Ultimately, three of the four oncologists – including Kincaid – left the practice, the business manager pleaded guilty to federal charges of obtaining misbranded chemotherapy drugs and Lamb and the office staff were left to pick up the pieces.
When bank funding didn’t come through Lamb was forced to close, the office spokesperson said.
“We want to let all our patients know we have closed and we are making sure all of our patients are transferred to other doctors,” the woman said.
Patients who are getting chemotherapy treatments should contact the office immediately, she said, so their treatment can continue uninterrupted at another location.
“It’s unfair for the patients, for the employees and for Dr. Lamb,” she said.
The woman said reports that Lamb “abandoned” his patients is incorrect.
“We care about our patients. We’re staying here voluntarily until all of our patients are taken care of. We’re not getting paid,” she said.
Patients of Lamb, who also took on all of Kincaid’s patients, can sign a release to have their medical records transferred to another oncology group.
In federal court documents about the investigation, Lamb was not named as a participant in the purchase of “misbranded” chemotherapy drugs.