When Your Doctor Is Drunk
Why It’s So Hard for Doctors to Report Colleagues for Substance Abuse—and for Physicians Who Are Addicts to Get Help
Larry was a doctor trainee at a hospital where I taught in Burbank. I recommended that he not pass, due to very poor preparation and work habits. But he did, and set up practice nearby. He had trouble with general practice and drifted into addiction medicine over time (he was said to have had a cocaine problem in his past). He moved outside the immediate area, but word was that he was one of the local “go-to” guys for getting prescription narcotics, and people who encountered him thought he might …
