Opinion: Madness, Exhibit A -- prison doctor’s pay

The man who was the highest-paid California state employee not working for a public university answered his own phone on the first ring, and was more than happy to tell me his side of the story. Dr. Jeffrey Rohlfing is a physician at High Desert State Prison in Susanville, who has been getting lots of attention, none of it good. The Los Angeles Times introduced him with this blunt opening paragraph: "The highest-paid state employee in California last year, a prison surgeon who took home $777,423, has a history of mental illness, was fired once for alleged incompetence and has not been allowed to treat an inmate for six years because medical supervisors don't trust his clinical skills." "If you like fiction, it is great," Rohlfing said of what he has been reading about himself in publications and blogs from Germany to Redding.