Addicted Doctors Are Allowed to Practice

December 19th, 2007 in Medicine & Health / Other
Addicted Doctors Are Allowed to Practice (AP)

Dr. Jason Giles poses for a photo in Malibu, Calif., Tuesday, Dec. 4, 2007. Troubling cases in which doctors were accused of botching operations while undergoing treatment for drugs or alcohol are bringing new scrutiny to rehab programs that allow thousands of U.S. physicians to keep their addictions hidden from their patients. Dr. Giles, a Malibu physician, completed California's program in 2004 after five years in treatment for alcoholism and addiction to prescription drugs. "I was never intoxicated taking care of patients. It didn't get to that -- but would have if I didn't avail myself of that rope dropped from the helicopter," he said. His experience in rehab was so transformative, he said, that he quit practicing anesthesiology and opened the drug treatment center he now runs. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

(AP) -- Troubling cases in which doctors were accused of botching operations while undergoing treatment for drugs or alcohol have led to criticism of rehab programs that allow thousands of U.S. physicians to keep their addictions hidden from their patients.

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