Bill would create program for doctors with substance use, other disorders

Imagine if it was your mother father brother sister daughter son or grandchild would you want them to be operated on by a medical professional in a secret rehabilitation effort That s the provocative question Tina Minasian wants the California State Senate to consider before voting on AB a bill from Peninsula Democratic Assemblyman Marc Berman that would allow the Therapeutic Board of California to create a diversion and therapy campaign for practicing doctors grappling with a range of substance use disorders and other issues The proposal passed the State Assembly in late May with no opposition It s a question she didn t have the chance to answer for herself before undergoing abdominal surgery in The Roseville resident had no way of knowing her surgeon was in a diversion effort at the time for alcoholism and she is dealing with the physical consequences of his actions still two decades later The bill sponsored by the California Diagnostic Board would allow the regulatory agency to once again establish a diversion and medicine campaign for doctors with a wide range of mental medical conditions substance use disorders and disabilities A similar operation ran for over years until Plenty of research shows substance use is prevalent among doctors who also have a high suicide rate But what to do about it is a hot potato that must balance addressing the struggles various doctors face with the harm that can come to patients when such problems are ignored The unfortunate reality is that there are physicians practicing in the modern day who are unsafe and we don t find out about them until we receive a complaint or we read about their arrest in the news declared Kristina Lawson president of the Curative Board of California California is as of now one of just several states in the country without such a initiative for physicians When the previous effort was advancing between to licensed doctors participated at any one time But after several audits discovered problems it failed so miserably that the therapeutic board itself shut it down mentioned Carmen Balber the executive director of Consumer Watchdog a Los Angeles-based nonprofit that has publicly opposed the new statute There were several high-profile cases of doctors relapsing while in the campaign There is a fundamental conflict when individual safety and expert rehab clash and a diversion scheme at specific point puts medical practitioner rehab first and that s not good for patients Balber commented Those advocating for the initiative readily admit the first effort did not go well but insist this time will be different I want to acknowledge that the prior undertaking did fail Lawson announced It failed in part because it was significantly underfunded and it also just wasn t managed well While funding for the new initiative has yet to be resolved in the years since the old operation was shut down the board has laid the groundwork to reinstate a new version with more success she disclosed This law came out of a quite lengthy process understanding best practices meeting with achieving programs from across the country Lawson declared The California Health Board abolished the prior operation in after Minasian and other patients went residents with their experiences sharing large photos at physiological board meetings of injuries they sustained Unknown to her at the time Minasian s healthcare provider was a participant in the previous diversion scheme Years later after multiple acts of dishonesty according to the curative board and two convictions of driving under the influence of alcohol his license was suspended and ultimately revoked Complications from the surgery led her on a decades-long road of organizing and advocacy In May she was back at the board s meeting nearly years later once again testifying about the methods in which she and others were harmed Minasian worries this new bill would exempt the diversion project from the standards she and other advocates helped develop that require certain disciplinary actions to be shared to the residents Lawson acknowledges the bill would exempt a few doctors from population disclosure who are referred to the activity but the board would be prohibited from referring a licensee into the campaign if there have been charges of individual harm or sexual misconduct The bill passed through the California State Assembly on a - vote with the backing of numerous organizations including the California Curative Association SEIU California which represents numerous robustness care workers and the Drug Strategy Alliance a nonprofit that promotes drug plan reforms The opposition including the Consumer Protection Strategy Center at the University of San Diego is mostly concerned with whether the bill would put patients at vulnerability by allowing doctors to continue treating people while in rehabilitation and while keeping it a secret from the general But there are other concerns as well Members of the Stanford Medicine Alliance for Disability Inclusion and Equity testified about how they think the wording of the bill could lead to doctors with physical disabilities or degenerative disorders being treated the same as those in developing addiction Others question the diagnostic and scientific justification for re-instating such a controversial initiative Related Articles NASA-inspired low-vibration belt lowers bone fracture peril How to be proactive about your bone healthcare RFK Jr says healthy pregnant women don t need Covid boosters Science says threat still meaningful Rampant drug use at California addiction rehabs led to deaths complaints claim San Jose professional in spicy Dragon Balls lawsuit against Los Gatos Thai restaurant drops lawyer represents self The studies that they cite as their own best evidence of effectiveness are all very old often to years old and the methodology is not adequate noted Kay Funk a retired expert who practiced in Yakima Washington for decades and now lives in San Mateo County She has been following the bill closely and testified against it The previous initiative cost about a person according to a estimate Lawson revealed funding for the new iteration will get settled if and when the board contracts with a third party to administer the scheme We really do believe that there s an opportunity to rehabilitate certain physicians in order to protect the inhabitants she revealed