Back from the brink: How three physicians re-entered the medical world

Regaining your medical license following a suspension or revocation for misconduct is no simple task, but it can be done.

By Damon Adams, AMNews staff. Dec. 22/29, 2003.

Having a license suspended or revoked is one of the most devastating blows to a physician.

When it happens, some doctors decide to fight the state medical board's decision. Others choose to admit to wrongdoing, agree to correct their behavior and set out to return to medicine.

Coming back is never easy. Physicians must overcome addictions, endure months of treatment and counseling, and prove that they have changed their ways.

But there are those who make it back successfully. AMNews interviewed three doctors who returned to practice after having their licenses revoked or suspended. They spoke on condition of anonymity, so pseudonyms are being used to protect their identities.

Here are their stories.

Because of his lust for cocaine, Dr. Jones went from practicing family medicine to working in a wine warehouse.

A self-described hippy from San Francisco who started smoking pot in 1967, Dr. Jones took a steady fall into drug abuse. During medical school, he lit up a few nights a week and smoked about 10 joints on weekends. By residency, he was snorting lines of cocaine on weekends. His drug habits continued when he started practicing medicine in Arizona in 1977.

"After work, I'd go over to a friend's house and do a few lines of cocaine," he said.

He first got into trouble with Arizona's medical board in late 1979, when he was caught overprescribing pain pills. His license was suspended for 60 days. But that didn't stop his drug use. As his interest in drugs rose, his interest in medicine declined.