Tag Archives: impaired physician

Podcast on KevinMD: What doctors need to know about state Physician Health Programs given their power and potential dangers, along with an inability to appeal their demands and recommendations

Physician health programs (PHPs) have way more power than most MDs know and physicians who are referred to PHPs usually have to do anything and everything PHPs tell them if they want to continue to practice medicine. MDs who object … Continue reading

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Doctors Pay up or Else Can’t Work

My latest on Psychology Today is here about the coercion and extortion many doctors face if they want to be able to continue practicing medicine.

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Why MDs Who Need Psychiatric Care Often are Told to Go to Kansas (Spoiler Alert: It’s About Money!)

Why are physicians referred to Kansas for psychological assessments, even when excellent facilities exist in their home states? Read here from Psychology Today to find out!

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Investigative Journalism Story about Physician Health Programs (PHPs)

PHPs are rife with conflicts of interest. They often operate with very little scrutiny or oversight, and the only folks who complain about their practices are often physicians who’ve been referred to them (because most don’t know how they operate, … Continue reading

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Doctors Who Use Weed Off-Duty Are Getting Their Licenses Suspended Even in states where cannabis is legal

Awesome piece at Vice news by Ankita Rao here. It is appalling that any entity would refer a physician to a state physician health program for an evaluation–that can cost $6000, and that’s before physicians are told to stay for 30 … Continue reading

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Don’t Trust Data and Statistics about PHP Success Rates

Nicholas Lawson, fellow physician and incoming Georgetown Law student, and I penned this letter in General Hospital Psychiatry Lawson Boyd Letter Gen Hosp Psych on PHPs which makes clear the myriad reasons why the success and satisfaction rates that Physician Health … Continue reading

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BMJ highlights problems in physician health programs

The British Medical Journal (BMJ) recently printed a piece highlighting many of the problems with state Physician Health Programs (PHPs) that I have been writing about for several years. You can find the BMJ piece here: http://bit.ly/29dtSFC I am so … Continue reading

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Deciding Whether To Refer a Colleague to a Physician Health Program

I have a new piece out in the AMA Journal of Ethics about physician health programs.  You can find it here.

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Help for Physicians who have Substance Use Disorders

Most states have physician health programs (PHPs), and physicians who are referred to them are generally bound to do whatever the PHP tells them in order to continue practicing medicine.   Thus, PHPs wield a lot of power.  The problem … Continue reading

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Doctors with Substance Use Disorders

See an article here about physicians who have substance use disorders.  I was quoted in US News and World Report, saying that the reasons that physicians use drugs are largely the same reasons why everyone else does so.

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