8.
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Thursday, December 14, 1967
Law nabs 'Dr. Brown' but...
Town wants quack back
DALLAS — (UPI) — The benign stranger passing through the small lumbering and farming community of Groveton, Tex., paused long enough to treat an injured boy.
He won the hearts of the townsfolk.
Now they want him back again as their country doctor.
But first, Freddie Brant will have to answer charges of falsely testifying he was a physician.
Brant, 43, an ex-convict who doctored at Groveton under the name Reid Brown, was freed on $10,000 bond Tuesday on the false testimony charge and a charge of forgery.
Brant had impressive credentials as the small town's only doctor. Before arriving in Groveton, he served three years as a "psychiatric resident" at the Terrell, Tex., state hospital.
The word must have gotten around, because, said Brant, "in a few weeks, people were coming from Trinity, Corrigan, Apple Springs, Crockett and other places, leaving their physicians and coming to see me."
"I did my job well. Every patient was an individual and received a complete workup—not only physical and mental, but family, social, environmental—the works," he said, speaking of Groveton.
Masters doctor's skills
Brant told how he "mastered the art of performing the female examination, delivering babies and reading X-rays."
Brant cleaned out an old clinic. He was given staff privileges at the county hospital. Health officers asked him to assist in a measles vaccination drive.
"I worked night and day, holidays, weekends. The never-ending line of patients continued," Brant said.
There is a real Dr. Reid Brown, of Chattanooga, Tenn. Brant worked for Brown in 1958 as a technician.
The real Dr. Brown permitted him to assist with deliveries, surgery and examinations.
"Dr. Brown once told me that I would be a good doctor. I felt competent and confident," Brant said.
So confident did Brant feel that when Terrell State Hospital advertised for psychologists and medical doctors, he wrote to the Texas State Board of Medical Examiners.
Brant wrote the board as "Dr. Brown," who had recently moved from Tennessee. The board granted him a license to practice in Texas.
He never told the board his formal education ended in the fifth grade until he received a high school diploma from the Army and later attended night school at the University of Tennessee.
Things were looking pretty good. Groveton began plans to build a hospital. A reporter was to write a feature story about the Groveton medical clinic, Brant said.
Trouble arises
But Brant had overextended himself.
He put in an order for drugs at the same Louisiana pharmaceutical company as the real Dr. Brown.
The firm called Dr. Brown to clarify billings for the drugs. Dr.Brown called medical authorities in Texas. They contacted legal authorities.
Brant's dream was over.
Groveton wants Brant back. Residents circulated petitions asking that his good works there be taken into consideration by the courts.
And Brant wants to go back.
"After things have settled down we will return. They still need a doctor there and doctors need technicians," he said.
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