I just want to talk about Amy Winehouse. What the hell's up with her? Not getting your visa straight is one thing but fixing your boyfriend's jury is some pretty out of control shit...I hope I get her CD for christmas, tho. Or maybe that other brit girl singer, the one that sings about tesco and her brother smoking pot.

It is easy to buy small plaster models of what you think life is like.

The West example seems a little misleading.  West doesn't appear to have been in any rehab program at the time he made the original bad surgery, which was before his DUI accident.  If anything, West is an is an argument that the law should be even more accommodating towards doctors, but in a way that encourages them to seek therapy rather than hiding it until things get out of hand.  On the other hand, I as a patient don't want let Dr. Feelgood anywhere near my body (unless it's to write some prescriptions).  What if refusal to enter a rehab program was treated as a demerit against the physician and logged in their public record?  Was that already what was happening?

(is 3fingerspointback)

I think I need to know more about how this program works before I pass judgment. I have no real problem with a first time offender who shows that they have done a complete 180 after voluntarily taking the initiative to get clean to go back to work with the slate wiped clean. But, the whole 'working while in rehab' thing kind of gets me worrying. Does that mean Dr. Crack McPipe can just say "Oh, I have a problem" right before the DEA shows up at his house and start treatment the next day at one of those white collar resort rehabs? The next day, he's back at work with a glimmer in his eye and dimples in his face trying to save lives while hiding the shakes and DTs from Dr. Gillespie.  You don't want that.

Also, I'd really like to believe the articles when they said that physicians tend to complete rehab at a higher success rate than us mere mortals. But, knowing the overall dismal rates rehab seems to have I wonder if these folks are just really good at hiding it. Most physicians I have met either charismatic people, or can at least turn the charm and authority on when they need to and so I imagine they would be able to hide their ongoing problems. Especially when you consider that the people reviewing their progress in fighting the dragon are probably their peers who strongly want to believe and not see all that talent and medical school loans go to waste.

I agree that voluntary programs are a good idea. If there is no way for people to voluntarily get treatment without being stigmatized the problem will get worse. The only thing is that it has to be monitored and managed appropriately so it ends up doing more good than harm. The last thing anybody needs is a strung out Quincy doing autopsies and hindering police investigations.

Also, what is up with that doctor from the links? Is it possible for him to look more like a jackass?

Well, I work in a hospital, so let me just point out the following. Doctors are usually drug/alcohol tested before they're allowed privileges in a facility. They're also usually tested by the group they belong to (there's a lot of outsourcing in the medical field, too. Only about a third (or less) of the doctors on staff belong to the Medical Group). We do a pretty extensive background check before they're privileged, to include queries from the AMA, the Federation of States' Medical Boards, their insurance company, the National Practitioners Data Bank, the state Medical Board, the state Board of Pharmacy, and the DEA. We also request Peer Reviews from at least 4 doctors who know them, and we query any hospital where they've had privileges in the last 8 years. (I should also mention the Monitored Treatment Program, which is a voluntary opportunity to seek help, operated by the state.) So it isn't like these people are operating with no constraints. With the hospital just as liable as the doctor's behavior these days, we're pretty careful.

It's like "Night of the Living Republican." The idiots are right outside, and they want to eat your brain.