Richard Semelka, MD vs UNC, Chapel Hill. The Crossing the Rubicon letter. The fight to protect patients and health care workers.

You may ask, why should I care about some sucker, Richard Semelka, MD, who was foolish enough to report serious misconduct to senior administration at University of North Carolina, at Chapel Hill? Well you are right, why should you care about some dope. But the story is not just that, it is the universal and timeless story of the small presence of Altruism standing up to the larger presence of Self-Interest and Self-Protection; and the larger presence of Corruption won this contest. What is important is turning the table on that most common circumstance. This is a much bigger fight and much bigger problem than just me vs UNC, and I am prepared to take that fight for everyone at every university and medical center.

I will write a series of blogs documenting the reporting by myself, Richard Semelka, MD, of misconduct at UNC School of Medicine and the subsequent retaliation. This first blog represents the first major email I sent describing the misconducts that had gone on at UNC. This posting is a print out of the actual original email I sent to Carol Folt, Chancellor of UNC Chapel Hill at the time, Jan 2016. I have blacked out the names of a number of the major conspirators in the retaliation. I have left in names of individuals who can serve as references to the veracity of the claims. This print out has a somewhat espionage document look to it as I present it, which may serve to reflect my emotional turmoil at the time.

This letter represents the Crossing of the Rubicon moment. I reported the risk of one radiologist, who I termed the mass-murderer-in-waiting, Al Parker, MD, represented to the Radiology residents at the time of late 2014, and also that another radiologist, an interventional radiologist Paul Jacques, had been allowed to operate drunk for the years I estimate at least 1988- 2008, with senior administration aware that he was drunk.

I will save my commentary on this letter in a follow up blog. One could wonder why I waited 9.5 years for beginning this more full expose. The explanation also appears in SE 1, Ep 6, of a very good murder mystery, Fool Me Once. For those not wanting to wait till they watch the series. I was waiting for the mass-murderer-in-waiting to die, which he did on June 11, 2025. He posed a serious risk to enact vengeance while living. I did not want the epitaph on my tombstone to read "Well, what do you know. Turns out he was right to worry about Al. Who would have guessed?"

This letter revealed to senior administration at UNC, that I represented a dangerous apostate. I was eventually dismissed for dishonesty. My opinion, I was dismissed for reporting horrific misconduct, perhaps the worst ever in an American University setting. By extension the most egregious cover-up.

I will editorialize these letters in subsequent postings. I intend to release the account in serial form, which is how Charles Dickens released a number of his books.

This letter is the Crossing the Rubicon letter.

The next posting will be the response, written by the Provost of UNC Chapel Hill I term. "tugging on the Forelocks response"

The next will be the letter of termination, written by the Provost of UNC Chapel Hill.I term

"the poisoned pen of dismissal".

The next in the series will be my full letter to the Board of Governors, I call this the 95 theses (an homage to Martin Luther).

I will allow the readers to decide what they think has gone on at first.

I will then write a series of chapters in chronological order describing the true events. The saga begun Nov 23, 2014.. The letter is long, and perhaps too long for many to want to read. Here is the synopsis: I reported to the Chancellor that Al Parker, a faculty radiologist with hostile personality disorder and a huge gun collection, threatened all our Radiology residents (radiologists-in-training), which to me as Vice Chair of Quality and Safety of the Dept of Radiology, and one of the leading figures in the world on Radiology Safety, 28 potential murders. I had studied Al's character and aberrant behavior for 23 years. And another faculty member, , an interventional radiologist Paul Jacques, had been allowed to operate drunk for atleast 2 decades..... Misconduct does not get worse than that.

Richard Semelka, MD

Folt letter 2016_250916_165444.pdf

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