Lee S. Anderson, M.D.
President, Texas State Board of Medical Examiners
P.O. Box 2018
Austin, TX 78768-2018


Dear Dr. Anderson,

My letter is offered to urge you to restore Dr. Leonard's license to
practice medicine in the State of Texas.  As you must be aware by this
date, Dr. Leonard was found Not Guilty of the allegations made by the
primary accuser against him; it stands to reason that the remaining cases
(all of which are much weaker than the first) will meet the verdict or be
dropped.  I have witnessed the his resoluteness of his claim of innocence
to the charges throughout his trial and the lack of press coverage to alert
the public of his innocence.  I have seen the tireless efforts that he has
made to clear his good name.  I believe that it is time to review and
reinstate his privilege to practice medicine.  You can help. 

I was stricken with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) while serving at Guantanamo
Bay, Cuba as the Joint Task Force - 160's Chief of Operations for the care
and management of the Cuban and Haitian Refugee program.  After being
diagnosed with MS, I was medically retired from the U.S. Army and began my
long struggle with the numerous and never ending maladies of this disease.

I became a patient of Dr. Leonard in early 1998, when a particularly bad
exacerbation manifested and lasted significantly longer than those
previously experienced.  As you on the Medical Review Board must know,
Multiple Sclerosis is an incurable and debilitating disease that strikes
each victim in both imprecise locations and changing intensity at different
times within the victim's central nervous system.  Medical care provided by
the Department of Defense (DoD) and Veterans? Administration (VA) did not
and still do not provide for the necessary individualized treatment for MS
patients.  Had it not been for Dr. Leonard's level of current medical
knowledge and experience with diagnosing and treating MS patients, my
recovery period would have been longer and left me with worsened health. 
He recognized the level of misery that I was suffering and initiated
treatment and medications that had not been provided DoD or VA.  I
responded quickly and positively to his therapy and recovered some sense of
normalcy.  On other occasions, Dr. Leonard was responsible for restoring
the full use of my left hand, reducing the intensity of my nearly constant
headaches and frequent migraines, increasing my everyday energy levels,
diagnosing and referring me for treatment of a spiral fracture of my left
femoral neck that resulted from a fall, and numerous other problems.  His
professional care and attention to identifying many unique problems
associated with MS has not only improved my physical health since but also
greatly improved my mental health.

Dr. Philip J. Leonard is among the finest and most professional individuals
within the medical profession.  Since my first meeting, I have been
thoroughly impressed by his expanding range of specific medical knowledge
and expertise.  I am continually amazed by the breadth of his knowledge and
interest in world history, current events, politics, and nearly every
subject that we have discussed.  What I am attempting to state is that Dr.
Leonard has always taken the time necessary to extract enough relevant
information to allow him to make correct diagnoses and practice good
medicine.  He has always exuded professional and personal confidence
increasing my comfort level that I am in trustworthy hands.  One of my
wife's female friends is also a patient of Dr. Leonard; she has stated to
my wife that her experiences with him has always been at the highest
professional level and cannot believe any truth to the accusations brought
against him.  He is a genuine humanitarian; I wish that more doctors would
be like him.  Our world would be a better place with less individual
suffering and greater understanding between the doctor/patient relationship.

Please understand that I was thoroughly pleased with the care and
association with the good Dr. Leonard.  I consider his judgment and
examination methodologies to be unquestionable and are within the highest
standards of medical ethics.  More doctors of his caliber are desperately
needed by us; unfortunately, there are too few.  It is my sincerest hope
that Dr. Philip J. Leonard be allowed the privilege to again practice
medicine within the critical specialty of neurology and associated injuries
and diseases.

Since his temporary suspension from practicing medicine, I have gone
largely untreated by another doctor.  Yes, I am retired military and have
access to Departments of Defense and Veteran's Affairs.  The former is over
committed with care of our wounded; the latter is full of interns and
English-is-a-distance-second-language doctors.  In any event, none that can
rise to the competency of Dr. Leonard.  My purpose for writing is not to be
confrontational.  It is out of respect for Dr. Leonard that I am writing
instead of demonstrating.  I am not one to make empty promises.  And if it
takes organizing Austin's MS and other sick patients to demonstrate outside
your offices, I will.  Imagine what a large and loud group of cripples
would sound like on television and pictures in the press - not a very
positive image of the Board in the public eye.  This is how strongly I
feel about getting a fine doctor back into practice.  I am fast running our
of time.  My health continues to decline; you can help by restoring his
license to practice.
                                            

Sincerely,

Rod Rawlings
rodrawlings@earthlink.net