Prime Example

Prime Example Synopsis

"Prime Example" tells the story of the State of New York Department of Health versus Warren M Levin, MD. In the late 1980s the Commissioner of Health of New York was a very brilliant and morbidly depressed individual who suddenly got the idea to rid the state of all of those alternative doctors! He chose Warren Levin, a board-certified family doctor and the son of a doctor. Dr. Levin's practice had never received a complaint from any patient and he had never been sued on the day that the state served a small telephone book sized set of charges against him. Basically, they asserted that everything he did from morning till night in every day of his practice was unprofessional conduct. The state brought in a very, very zealous witness who had an MD and a JD and was a self-professed quack buster. He spent much of his time testifying against physicians and testified before many government bodies including the U.S. Congress where he specifically mentioned Dr. Levin as a quack on several occasions. The Levin defense brought in an extraordinary compliment of witnesses on his behalf. Among them was Linus Pauling, PhD, with almost 50 honorary MD’s and PhD's. He was at the time he testified and remains the only human being to have received two individual Nobel prizes. There were many others, many of them tops in their fields with hefty titles and accomplishments who testified for Levin and much of that testimony is referred to and/or excerpted in "Prime Example". Since the administrative law judge, the prosecutor and the three members of the panel sitting as a mini jury were more beholden to and selected by the Commissioner of Health. Levin knew that no matter what Harris did for him he was going to lose. His hope was that Harris would make a good record which could be presented to the Regents who usually saw the truth for what it was. In the end that's exactly the way it played out and Dr. Levin is still practicing medicine today for the lucky patients of northern Virginia. The state simply could not make him, it's "Prime Example".

About This Edition