Stories of doctors/lawyers/CPA/stock brokers losing their licenses?

Fascinating

R1 is the prostitute lawyer attractive? Why did he throw his career away? Just for the thrill?

give us a few years and we can add:

Rudy Giuliani

Sydney Powell

who should also lose their licenses:

Dr. Scott Atlas

Dr. Mehmet Oz

Dr. Drew Pinsky

Why do you want to know OP? Are you up before your state's board of professional conduct?

R2 Attractive. Needed money for steroids so he sold himself.

R4 no just thought about this guy and wondered what riches-to-rags stories others know about

People go on about losing medical, law, nursing or other licenses as if it happens all the time. If you examine public discipline records for various state licensing boards you'd see it takes quite a lot for someone to lose their license.

Something like this, and note doctor in question has not lost her license to practice (yet).

I used to babysit for a family whose father/husband was a psychiatrist, who lost his license after having an affair (during sessions) with a psychoanalytic patient. In addition to having sex with her "on the couch," he told her that he himself felt suicidal about the affair because of her.

Anyway, he lost his license and the hospital that employed him (a pioneering, well-known and very storied Midwestern psych hospital) had to pay the woman a huge out-of-court settlement.

This guy used to be such an unbelievable fucking creep to me when I babysat for the family, used to make kind of snide references to how poor my family was. I feel badly for the woman he abused and for the destructive effect of his actions on his family, but that asshole got what was coming to him. No one to blame but himself.

I know an acquaintance who almost lost his medical license because he was a meth addict and spending all his time in bathhouses (while married to a woman, btw). He was missing work and showing up high.

Instead of losing his license, he was allowed to go rehab. Although I’ve moved away from the area, my friends told me that now, about 10 years later, he’s back in meth and in the bathhouse constantly. Apparently, he’s stricter about his use and the licensing board hasn’t figured it out yet

R5 a gay prostitute? Is he gay or gay for pay? Does he make enough money now without the law career to keep a nice lifestyle and the constant steroids?

One of the more famous cases of a physician losing his medical license. Also note just because one or more states take away a doctor's (or any other licensed professional's license), it often isn't end of things.

There are fifty states, each has their own licensing board for various professions. Often doctors, nurses, and others simply move about and hang up their shingle elsewhere.

Thanks to modern technology verifying credentials is a rather simple and quick affair nowadays. But places or people desperate or whatever enough will still turn to those who have lost their license for cause.

R9 he's a gay prostitute. I think it's kind of a wash now of sex-for-steroids.

Famous case of a prominent HIV doc in NYC losing his license after becoming addicted to meth. I actually knew him--so charismatic. Vey sad case that was detailed in this infamous article in NY Magazine.

R12, Harrowing tale that shocked so many people in NYC at the time.

Thankfully, a 2018 follow up, 10 years later, showed Dr Torres doing much better as he rebuilt his life.

I know the movie Dead Ringers with Jeremy Irons was based on a real life story.

Wealthy and aristocratic twin doctor brothers end up spiraling out of control because they both get addicted to drugs.

I know two dentists who did hard time for insurance fraud: one lost his license to practice, the other didn't.

I worked in very large law firms for over 40 years. I know several attorneys who were disbarred - always for financial fraud/theft. Sometimes from clients, sometimes from the law firms. These were men making millions of dollars a year, but apparently that isn’t enough. They want more. They didn’t steal huge amounts either. That’s what makes it so hard to understand.

Did you live in Topeka, R7?

R16 were they hot?

I think the lawyer prostitute is now a paralegal or something

Not one of the professions the OP listed but back in the late 60s I and 3 of my friends caught 2 of our male HS teachers in a car in a parking lot in Piedmont Park (Atlanta) doing the nasty. We'd been playing tennis and were walking through the lot to get to one of my friend's house just across from the park. As we got close to the car we could see a man's head bobbing up and down while the other guy sat in the passenger side. The teachers noticed us, and recognized us, and rapidly got themselves together. One of them got out and VERY nervously told us they were there to scout out a good area of the park to have an Easter egg hunt for kids at their church (uh huh). My friends and I just moved on. About a month later both teachers had resigned (one took a job in Maryland and the other one went to work as an over the road salesman). Turned out there were rumors about them long before we saw what we saw. They knew they were about to be let go.

Is the lawyer/prostitute the one who did a scene with Musclematt?

I read an article a few years back that make it obvious that a very uncomfortable percentage of doctors are big time drug takers, and that hospitals have a problem with drug thefts from their pharmacies by doctors on staff.

I know the former brother in law (an osteopath) of a friend of mine was a major drug dealer and was under investigation for years by the police. When their investigation got too close to home for him he up and divorced his wife and left town.

[R18]. One of them was stunning. He was the golden child of the firm. Everyone expected him to eventually be head of the firm someday. The rest were fat, out of shape, older partners. Greed knows no boundaries.

R22 link? Firm? City? lol

Nurses and physicians (and by extension hospitals and healthcare facilities) have struggled with one or both and illicit drug use/addiction not long after opiates made their way to Europe and North America from Asia.

Problem of course often starts with access, which by nature of their profession nurses and doctors have.

Also by nature of their education doctors and nurses often do a pretty good job of hiding their addiction, well as being downright sneaky about getting their fix.

A local well known, loved and trusted anesthesiologist was found dead in a hospital bed. All sorts of rumors flew around but no one wanted to believe it was what it was, and OD. When ME finally confirmed that fact wife and family went ballistic.

About 15 years ago, a doctor in my hometown was arrested when it was discovered that his pain management clinic was nothing more that a pill mill. He was caught because all he did was prescribe opioids. Nobody got physical therapy, or prescribed anything else. They just got oxy.

He committed suicide before his trial. Good riddance.

My parent’s old CPA was sentenced to prison and lost his license for stealing from clients. This was about 13 years ago. Thankfully, my folks had changed accountants a few years earlier and weren’t victims of his crimes.

A dentist I knew developed cervical spine problems . She wrote herself prescriptions for pain pills and became addicted. She could no longer manage her practice, making such a mess of the finances that she was suspended. She later had cervical spine fusion and was disabled from working again as a dentist. She went through rehab and worked as a business manager for a couple that wanted to retire. I gather she was good at that when sober.

^parents’

R25

That story has become so common (doctors operating pill mills) it is bordering on medical cliché

Those sort of things are reason why legit physicians, dentists and others with script writing powers won't give anything stronger than a few Vicodin. Write too many scripts for opiates or some other drugs and either state, FDA or some other LE sends notice they want to examine your records. Heaven help you if cannot justify writing those scripts.

The scenario I've seen most often with physician self-destruction involves getting fired from residency. This could be due to alcoholism or untreated psychosis but drug abuse is usually the culprit. The most egregious case was an anesthesiology resident caught dipping into the hospital supply while on call.

They might find a way to hang a shingle somewhere and promote themselves as "licensed physicians" if they held onto the license, but lack of board certification considerably narrows your employment prospects and you're still saddled with massive student loans. Some end up feeling so trapped or humiliated they commit suicide.

I worked with two nurses at UWMC, one of whom I was friendly with. The other one was batshit cray. Both were fired for taking drugs meant for patients. At the end of a procedure, a med check is done. If the counts are off, there's an investigation. Both of them went to rehab, returned to their positions, and both were fired for repeating the offence a second time.

OP, is your attorney/prostitute DL fave Nick German?

About 25 years ago while still in school, I worked holidays and an as needed basis at a family friends' boutique law firm that represented professionals in danger of losing their licenses. He had previously been on the other side with the state board regulating professionals. The medical personnel caught self-prescribing or stealing was kind of run of the mill. And the insurance fraudsters.

Two cases stick out in my mind. One was a shitty vet who, among other things, left it a thermometer in a dog's anus.

The other was a doctor who performed plastic surgery on his wife and prescribed and kept prescribing pain killers, getting her hooked. The adult kids from her first marriage got her into rehab where it all came out and he was reported. Here's the clincher. It became increasingly clear after a few meetings that the doctor who was in his late 60s had signs of incipient, premorbid dementia. The lawyer's father had also had it, so he was attuned to the signs. Glen began gently steering him into giving his license up voluntarily, but he was resistant, even though he was having trouble contributing to his defense. It was clear he wouldn't hold up before questioning, but he insisted

At a hearing, the doctor, Glen, and state's counsel were sitting before the board when the room started to smell very bad. Doc had pooped his pants and wasn't wearing Depends. Pretty much sealed his fate. The proceedings were over and they headed to the bathroom for clean up. I heard the story when he got back to the office. We were laughing so hard, we cried. At least the guy probably forgot his humiliation by the evening.

Easiest way round med counts for restricted drugs is via diversion. Nurse simply charts med as given, but takes it her or his self.

So you have a patient who is in pain (often obviously), but nurses notes state he or she had their med on time and isn't due for another until "X". So either dosage needs to be increased or something is up.

Classic way to sort this out is to transfer nurse in question to another unit or something. If same sort of situation follows, and or at least stops where it was once happening, then you can surely smell a rat.

Places can insist on a drug test, but nurse can a also refuse and just quit. Sadly thanks to various laws and fear of lawsuits hospitals often are loathe to report such things when giving references, at least via official channels. So nurse is once again lose to start all over again at another facility.

Since nurses administer bulk of meds in healthcare facilities they are the weakest link so to speak. Nursing med errors kill hundreds each year in USA alone. Many state BONs are starting or have taken a very hard line. As they rightfully should, people are dying from mistakes that shouldn't happen.

r33 here. I forgot to mentiont the attorney said, hands down, chiropractors are the most overrepresented of the health professionals who face regulatory board scrutiny or consequences. Which is quite interesting considering they can't prescribe or perform surgical procedures. This based on 20+ years experience in both sides.

Tragic sad ending of another gay doctor from NYC who faced issues.

Had friends who were patients of Dr. Schooler when he had a practice in Chelsea. By all accounts he seemed like a competent physician and one of few in city at that time who welcomed large LGBT practice.

Then shit hit the fan and that was that.

Good doctor lost his license, became a corrections officer, left that career.....

BIg Dentist case in NYC:

Dentist's Boasts About Bestiality Orgies & Spreading HIV Were Just The Meth Talking, Lawyer Claims

R37, Follow up to the case--he was sentenced to 10 years in prison in 2019. He's likely out now but will never be able to practice dentistry again

The law firm partner I worked for in Chicago went from making over $2 million a year to unemployed with his license suspended because he was falsifying cab receipts but actually driving to work, and pocketing the cab money. It was peanuts next to what he was making.

My young gorgeous doctor went from a great practice to being a hotel concierge. I was never sure of the details but heard it was drug related. It's a shame, because he was a fantastic doctor.

R39 that's terrible. which hotel is he at?

R40, I'll respect his privacy and not mention where. Hope you'll understand.

My old psych was banging some of his frau patients and got the boot.

R17, yes.

There have been many complaints about the Menninger "clinic" and its abuses over the years, despite relying on their game.

R30 doctors in general are miserable and have the highest rate of suicide among al professions. Every day at least 2 doctors in the US commit suicide.

I deeply regret my decision to go to medical school. I was an art history major and my professors wanted me to go to grad school (this was at Berkeley).

But I joined Peace Corps, and after living in Africa, I felt I should become a doctor 'to help'

How after art history does one deal with the biological sciences and the MCATS?

R45, you would currently be starving to death if you went to art history grad school. At least you’re making good money now

R45, do you work as a doctor now?

And are you in a hospital setting dealing with Covid? I always wonder and worry about how you all are doing.

A lot of docs with these problems end up working in prisons, rural hospitals, or Native American reservations where they'll take anyone.

R45, a morbid ritual of mine when my wife's med school alumni magazine arrives is to see how many young physicians who "died suddenly" appear in the obits. Those are often suicides. She was friends with one who marked graduation from a long and grueling residency from a top program that way.

I know this guy since before he became a judge. He’s a cockroach.

R50, do they tend to come from certain specialties? (The suicides?)

The claims that certain professions have abnormally high rates of suicide are usually based on nothing. There are no good data sources for collecting these kinds of data nationally. Death certificates are notoriously unreliable sources of information.

R14. Dead Ringers was not based on a true story.

It was based on a novel that was clearly inspired by a real life case. But it was fiction--as was the film.

R52, historically it was common to see surgery, anesthesiology and psychiatry singled out, but I'm not sure if rising burnout rates across specialties has changed that. As R53 notes, the data has its limitations.

The stigma of mental illness prevents too many doctors from seeking help before it's too late. If they have a substance use disorder, as many suicides do, it's even worse because they're afraid of impaired physician programs.

Addiction takes out a lot of lawyers. Especially gambling addiction. One thing the Bar doesn't forgive is the misuse of client funds. Lawyers usually hold significant sums of money in client trust accounts. Gamble that away and you're out.

Sending you healing vibes, R45. I became a nurse as a second career (applied but didn’t get into med school first admission cycle and decided I didn’t have the stamina and drive to make it through med school anyway) and I could kick myself for not choosing engineering instead. Working in healthcare as the system exists today is just miserable. I hope you can take comfort in the fact that the work you do does matter, and that you do truly help others. Take care.

Suicide is one of the top causes of death for doctors. In fact, I believe two graduating classes per year just go to replace the number of doctors who have committed suicide that year

Gambling is the addiction that most often results in suicide.

Interesting there is a strong link between gambling addicting and coke addiction

I'm sure every state has a similar website, OP. This is New York State. It doesn't go into a lot of detail about the offenses but it is still interesting.

I know of two. One is a friend who almost lost her nursing license for stealing pills. I don't know how she managed to eke out of punishment (I know she was stealing and high out of her mind which led to a lot of ethics issues). She is incredibly lucky to still have a license. However, her roommate, also a nurse at the same facility, told me that her superiors watch her like a hawk due to her past. So that's gotta suck. The other was a classmate of mine who was disbarred and served time for embezzling client funds in trust (a big no no). I believe the underlying reason was drugs which really sucked because he was actually a really good, nice guy who did well in school. I was saddened to see that happen.

This story is sad

A guy I went to law school with "voluntarily surrendered" his law license instead of being disbarred. This was after he was sentenced to 20 years for child porn. I guess he thinks he can practice again after he gets out?

The doctor that Anissa Jones got a lot of her pills from was one of the most notorious pill mill doctors in California history. He has his own pharmacy in his office and there was a huge line of people waiting to get pills at his office.

He was terminally ill and turned his office into a pill mill the last years of his life to provide a nest egg for his family. Anissa died in August 1976, the doctor died in December 1976.

R45, why not just turn to becoming a research doctor or a teaching doctor if you no longer want to deal with patients?

[quote]I also heard of a 31 year old male coach who was fucking a 16 year old student.

Did he lose his teaching license?

I had a good friend whose coke use spiraled completely out of control in her last semester of law school and while studying for the California bar the summer right after graduating. Her parents on the East Coast put up the dough for rehab at what was then "the" best facility, someplace in Colorado. She got to the front door, turned around and left. She was brilliant and went into solo practice out of her San Francisco flat, this was pre-tech-invasion SF. Took a tenants-side case representing poor Asian tenants against a slumlord and won a huge settlement. She blew up a giant photo of the check for her cut and framed it, also snorted all of it away in a couple of months, from there descending into shooting up, speedballs, Tenderloin dealers in and out of the apartment, collapse on the steps of the civil courthouse, rushed to the hospital, diagnosed with endocarditis from shooting up, heart surgery, suspension from the Bar for dipping into client monies. Never appeared for the Bar proceedings, disbarment soon followed. In and out of rehab and menial jobs for years, picked up felony possession charges about ten years ago that were dealt down to a misdemeanor, four years ago picked up same again, pled to a felony with rehab program conditions and fees never completed, final docket entry a year ago was, cased closed due to death of defendant per government agency data. I assume it was an OD, assuming she got into opiods/fentanyl but don't know.

Dang.

An acquaintance in California was a doctor with his own practice in a rural area. I forget his specialty but a latino immigrant was lying on his examination table and was told to pull his pants down. The doctor out of the blue started to blow him. The latino jumped up and fled. The doctor was arrested and he was aqquited by a jury. However he still lost his license. Last I heard the doctor was thinking of going back to his native country in the third world where he could still supposedly practice.

Good grief @r67.

R51, sounds like a real prize. What is the other tea?

An acquaintance lost his medical license - I think it was sexual misconduct related. Years earlier he had been dishonorably discharged from the military, which had actually paid for him to go to medical school, because of sexual conduct with a minor. Now he works in a large e-retailer warehouse.

Despite all that, he was the most boring person I’ve ever met in my life.

My aunt was the head nurse in an ICU unit at a top tier hospital. She started stealing drugs and was eventually caught. The hospital paid for her to go to rehab and gave her a second chance. She did it again a few years later, lost her license, and overdosed on heroin. I worry a lot about getting into an accident and having an addicted nurse who steals my pain meds. It would be hell.

R51, he looks like like an absolute sleaze:

You don't know the half of it, R74. He totally fucked up his career. When he got bounced from the bench he was something like 1 year from retirement which would have meant a lifetime retirement at his full FEDERAL judge salary. It took him about a year to get that mediation shit to happen. I happened to work at the firm who represented him when all the fallout from the whore mongering was going down. He'd show up at the office out of the blue to talk to his attorney and we knew to look at the news the next day because it was clear something was about to hit the fan.

[quote]He'd show up at the office out of the blue to talk to his attorney and we knew to look at the news the next day because it was clear something was about to hit the fan.

This just made me laugh.

Addiction to drugs or alcohol is seen both in nursing and medical profession as a disease. Thus (believe it or not), goal often is treatment and rehabilitation with often goal of returning said affected practitioner to work.

"Health care facilities and schools of nursing adopt alternative-to-discipline (ATD) approaches to treating nurses and nursing students with substance use disorders, with stated goals of retention, rehabilitation, and re-entry into safe, professional practice."

"Drug diversion, in the context of personal use, is viewed primarily as a symptom of a serious and treatable disease, and not exclusively as a crime."

I was fired for being a lesbian.

Sex, Money, Drugs...

One or all will get you every time.

One my my bosses at that same firm was a partner, who at the time was probably early 40s. He basically pulled down a partner salary and draws by working part time and he was cool. I didn't know he was an alkie. I found out by accident that he had gotten a DUI. The bar made him go into a diversion program and enter AA.

At some point he talked to me about it and he stayed sober for a while. Everything went to hell when he went to a client meet and greet at one of the boutique hotel nearby. It had an open bar and buffet. I remember him telling me he was concerned about there being booze and whether he'd be able to stay sober. He wound up getting so drunk he had to be carried to someone's car who then drove him home.

The next morning the managing partner make him come to the office and they fired him. I lost touch with him for a long time but he eventually became an in house attorney for a construction company. Last I heard he moved to a smaller town and works for the city government or something.

Believe me when I tell you the old way of dealing with things (termination and or loss of license) isn't way things have been for some years now. While some may lament "more is the pity", drug and alcohol abuse among nurses and physicians is seen first as a treatable disease. So you have an entire woke response today surrounding the issue.

Can someone lose their license? Yes, of course. But circumstances vary by situation.

Piled onto this are federal and local laws along with various court rulings that pretty much state, and reinforce inability to take away/prevent someone from earning livelihood if they are "ill'.

At other end of things you have same prevailing thought train with alcohol/drug abuse as malpractice. If answer to a doctor or nurse coming forward and reporting is loss of income and possible license suspension if not revoking, then people won't come forward and seek assistance.

This one. She wasn't so much lost her license, she basically blew it up herself.

She slowly started to poison her husband. Then set her home on fire with her children inside.

If you want to go down a rabbit hole of crazy, and I know some of you do. You can start here. I know there were at least a couple of shows made about her.

Knew a young, VGL male nurse several years ago. Would see him out at clubs/bars, hanging out in Central Park, and around general UES neighborhood. One day got a one of those "girl, did you hear the news..." telephone calls. Said nurse was found in stairwell of hospital we worked, dead of OD.

We had ANOTHER attorney at that firm in his late 40s who got a DUI. This guy is a dick and nobody liked him, the staff mostly because he treated us like we were his slaves. He thought that when he needed something filed or mailed or whatever that he could use whichever secretary he happened to see when his own secretary wasn't available, and he didn't care what you'd be doing at the time, he wanted something done NOW. He'd do that even though management told him to stop.

He was so sure he was on the partner track that he had announcement cards made up that he was going to send out to colleagues and clients at a moment's notice along with a bottle of champagne. He did that even though he'd never been told he'd make partner. He didn't make partner and he took the champagne home and shoved the announcement cards onto a shelf in the back of the file room.

He also got a DUI. We found out because he got a fax from the lab reminding him of his urinalysis appointment and giving him the results of the previous one. It referenced a criminal court case number so we looked it up and that's how we found out about the DUI. He was driving home drunk and rolled his truck going down a mountain road. He had mentioned once rolling the truck and being in an accident but that was all we knew.

I took a copy of that UA appointment and talked to my boss about it (ironically, the one who got the other DUI but this was way before his). I asked my boss if "Eric" had mentioned to the partnership that he had gotten this DUI and my boss said no. So my boss talked to the managing partner about it and management didn't know about it NOR did the state bar. His license got suspended for like 90 days or something and he was told to find another firm to practice at.

Gotta be honest, R51's law firm sounds fun.

It actually was, R85. I loved working at that one and thought I was going to retire from it but the firm lost a good part of its client base starting in 2009 after eight years of Bush fucking up the country and I got laid off. It took me 8 years to find a firm that I wanted to stay at like I did with the first one. Those lost years still piss me off.

R86 were you a secretary?

The secretaries know EVERYTHING about their bosses and the clients. Never be mean to the secretaries.

R57 Thanks for your kind word (R45 here) I have been working part time for the past few years, which has helped decrease the stress and misery. I gave up my apartment in the West Village and moved upstate, to a nice Hudson valley town. I simplified my life and realized I didn't need to work so much and could make it living more simply. I do miss my trips to Europe. But I do not miss being in the Bellevue ICU after a suicide attempts by overdose (luckily I didn't use barbs or opiates so I survived).

I had a patient commit suicide a few months ago and that was it for me (and my father died). I realized I couldn't go on in this way, sacrificing my well being for others. My father left me some money and I hired a medical writing consultant/career coach who works with MDs/PhDs wanting to get into medical communications/writing. I start in the new year and am really excited.

Imagine going to school for years to become a doctor/lawyer/stockbroker/CPA to only self destruct.

You get stuck with those student loans and make $30,000 a year. Your life is over. You are trapped. I hope the drugs/sex/alcohol/extra money was worth it at the time.

I guess I am a little Machiavellian, in a way I find it a little hot. (I was never a risk taker. I always cared to much about my reputation).

If you are in those professions, you do not end up with a $30K a year job. A doctor would work for a pharmaceutical company and a lawyer could go into any number of business positions.

You go into a related profession and make not as much....but still okay.

R90 what about the two doctors discussed? One is a hotel concierge and the other a warehouse worker?

R91, if you are talking about sex with a minor and drug charges, they are just lucky to not be in prison.

But most people who lose their licenses do so for less egregious actions. And they end up fine.

R88, seriously, medical writers are among the nicest people you will ever meet.

I know a man from Houston. He started as a CPA for an oil company, went to law school in his late twenties, and became very successful ( he even argued in front of the Supreme Court at least twice). However, he ended up stealing money from his firm.

He now works at a car wash in Abilene or Amarillo.

I don't understand greed. I've never understood it coming from people making a lot of money who still want the pocket change out of a homeless guy if they can get it. Like Trump. Worth millions and still uses every loophole to get a few hundred dollars.

It isn't always about greed. Some people simply have something wrong with them mentally that cause them to do things they shouldn't.

Though a tired cliché it is never the less true, scores of wealthy women shoplift. They easily can afford whatever it is they steal, but just cannot help themselves. This or they make up some reason to justify their actions in their own minds.

Start of one semester at college went to bookstore with some friends to load up on required materials. One guy took a huge text book and stuffed it into has backpack. I was aghast, but before could say anything guy said "only because I just spent $$$ in this store..."

Now this guy's parents were very well off, and more to point were footing much of his college bills including a credit card. There was no need for him to steal, and that episode dropped him down a few pegs on my esteem list.

In my meth days, I met an inordinate number of gay lawyers and dentists in particular, who were also fucking regularly on meth.

They often had really nice NYC apartments. Quite a few were into leather.

Thankfully, I was able to get off the stuff after about 2 years of using it at least once a month. I hope theyre off it too.

R97 do you know what they are doing now?

My husband’s father is an anesthesiologist. We were visiting them in Hawaii and they introduced us to another couple and we would go listen to bands and party. At the time of meeting the man, another anesthesiologist, I knew something was very off. Fast forward to six months later, my Father In Law called and stated his friend was found passed out in the hospital closet with a needle sticking out of his arm. It appears he was severely addicted and ended up losing his high paying job, even after going to rehab. We lost contact with him, but last I knew he was still a junkie. What a waste.

I did know an anesthesiologist who turned out to be severely addicted and either OD’d or committed suicide, depending on the person telling the story

R98, probably still meth. It’s a very tough drug to stop particularly because the sex is so intense.

R101 yeah, cocaine is pretty addicting too.

R98

During your meth days, did you ever meet a certain black cardiologist by Central Park North?

R103, no, actually. I did constant meet a married white Long Island cardiologist on meth at the bathhouse. Also met a midtown dentist with a sling in his bedroom. Met a village dentist with a huge cock who could go all night but then, when he’d lose his hardon, he knew he was done for the night, and would just get up and leave.

Addiction is a common problem and I would separate physicians with drug/EtOH problems from doctors who are sociopathic/criminal minded. The process is straight forward in most states. In NY, first you hit up "the Farm", firemen get sent there too (maybe cops, can't remember). I thinks it's in PA. The stay is 30-90 days. Insurance won't cover it and this begins the completion of financial breakdown. Usually, depending on the substance use, regular drug screening and required counseling. Most doctors enrolled in such programs do eventually get their license back, sometimes it will be limited. I know a doctor who sold opiates, and was able to eventually get his medical license back, but he can never get a DEA license and therefore never dispense controlled substances.

I know a medical director at a big pharma company who was a drug addict in the streets, lost everything, and then found AA and sky man (anything that helps I suppose). Rebuilt his life. When I did a rotation at "Betty" (Betty Ford Rehab out in the desert), pretty much all the staff were in recovery. One doctor was pretty sleazy, like a used car sales man. But he was charismatic and had latched on to the 12 Step with such gusto and verve, well I was suspicious of him. He had licenses in many states and was up to no good before he found the light.

It's one thing to come in hungover and not all there, but another to molest a patient (including children), steal drugs from suffering people, commit crimes against children, and engage in other violent crime. Medicare and Medicaid fraud will get you banned for life, no one will hire you with that on your record.

I knew a fireman who got addicted to meth. Hot little fucker who made the rounds in NYC. Have no idea if he faced any professional consequences.

I also had a wonderful FB lawyer who also took up meth. He was and remained a very kind person throughout the time I knew him. He remains with his law firm even now (according to Google) so he never dealt with any consequences—and I first met him about 10 years ago.

[quote] Imagine going to school for years to become a doctor/lawyer/stockbroker/CPA to only self destruct

It’s why this thread fascinates me. I’m a teacher, and had to jump through plenty of hoops to get my license, but it was nothing compared to a doctor. What do you even think about in the quiet hours when you’ve derailed your life like this?

Addiction is an awful disease. It’s not a moral problem.

It’s like asking don’t you feel bad that cancer derailed your career?

Recap of thread:

Lawyers- alcoholics

Stockbrokers- cocaine addicts

Doctors- meth addicts

CPA's- gamblers

Jim Blackburn, the lead prosecutor in the Jeffery MacDonald-Fatal Vision murder case, left the federal prosecutor’s office and entered private practice in Raleigh and built a successful career. To cover a small mistake he forged documents and spent trust account funds and eventually was disbarred and served a little less than a year in jail.

After release he started waiting tables at a popular lawyer hang-out and later moved up to host. I think he’s now teaching ethics in a local law school.

What do you think is the root of the problem? Why do successful people self-destruct?

R111 I feel that people who choose these high powered positions are stimulated by a high drive to succeed. Sometimes, their determination and drive to reach the ultimate success stems from bipolar or personality disorders. No matter how educated they may be the effects of mental illness is insidious and will always manifest itself in their world. Drug addiction is used to mask mental illness.

[quote] Addiction is an awful disease. It’s not a moral problem. It’s like asking don’t you feel bad that cancer derailed your career?

i was thinking more about the lawyer who billed his company for cabs while driving himself. There’s an interesting mentality at work there.

R113 I did not see that post.

Aaron Shock did the same thing--billing his constituents for driving he didn't do.

Some people are just assholes.

[quote] I feel that people who choose these high powered positions are stimulated by a high drive to succeed.

Though, CEOs of companies--and anyone operating at the "C" level--rarely kill themselves.

The doctor specialties more inclined to suicide (as the poster above told us about) are all hospital setting doctors. I think the stress comes from working in a highly regulated industry, in a strict of hierarchy of rules, without enough free time away. Lawyers work like 60-80 hours per week (in a corporate law firm).

Not so much, R116. Suicide rate is fairly high in family medicine docs as well as surgeons - and not as high as hospitalists. Over the past 20 years, care in hospitals has changed dramatically for MDs. Hospitalists who work day and evening shifts now manage patients on the floors - not outside physicians rounding before a day of clinic work. ER work is absolutely shift work, and some love it for that. So there is a lot of shift work with normalized hours, but getting notes done and filling out insurance paperwork can take a lot of time (that can be done remotely online, working after your shift has ended).

It is the entire profession that has become toxic - with loss of autonomy and respect. NYT famously called medicine the "falling down" profession. I remember reading this over 10 years ago and thinking oh no what have I gotten myself into.

oops here's the link

[quote] Drug addiction is used to mask mental illness.

That’s not always true R112. I know a lot of sloppy narcissists who think they can handle partying with drugs and they get deeper and deeper into that world. If you try telling these people how dangerous their behavior is, they defend themselves and call you judgmental. I would bet many big cities are similar, but go to any big gay party in NYC or the Pines and you’ll see a lot of sloppy middle aged (or OLD) gays with good jobs doing drugs. They’re gross and pathetic.

r37 & r38, Doctor Wolfe was my dentist when I lived in NYC , I went to him for at least 10 years and he really was a good dentist.

The priest at my parish was sent to some sort of sex rehab for coming on to a male in a counseling session. The guy wrote the bishop and the priest was immediately dismissed. (Like in mid-week, he was called in on a Tuesday and admitted he'd "made a mistake in judgment" and was told to pack his bags immediately.

Surprising thing it was handled so quickly. Unsurprisingly I read a year later his superiors had decided he was "rehabilitated" and was assigned to a retreat center in another state. This was a few years ago. I hope he's only leading retreats for little old ladies.

R117, that's an interesting post. I am going to read up on the "falling down" article from the NYT (but I have to run to my living room office right now).

Thank you for the thoughtful response.

I wonder why lawyers in particular have the reputations that they do. It's a profession that is both impressive and met with disdain.

DVMs--Veterinarians--are another "falling down" profession with crisis-level addiction and suicide/death-by-OD rates.

All the trauma of putting Spot down, R124?

[quote] Over the past 20 years, care in hospitals has changed dramatically for MDs.

Suicide has been a huge problem for doctors longer than 20 years

Not r124, but it's a good question. Sophia Yin, who wrote the 7 Days to a Perfect Puppy, is an interesting case study. Vet, world renowned animal behaviorist - an enviable career.

[Quote]After graduation, she worked in private practice, where she realized that more pets were euthanized due to behavioral problems than medical issues.[4] This inspired Yin to return to university to study animal behavior,[4] and in 2001, she returned to UC Davis to obtain her Master's in Animal Science under the supervision of Dr. Edward Price, completing her thesis on vocal communication in dogs.[

I read after her suicide that she would constantly get calls from desperate dog owners at wits end with their dogs. It's got to knaw away at you.

This article addresses possible reasons for vet suicide

R127, I’ve always heard the vets kill themselves quite often and other vets comment that it’s the only “medical” profession in which you’re expected to routinely kill your patients after treatments have bot worked or worse, rules too expensive.

*not worked

Ive also heard that veterinarians are very frustrated that the high loans they take out for school aren't matched at all by the low incomes they get when practicing

All I know about vets comes from All Things Great and Small.

The younger brother was handsome.

[quote] I wonder why lawyers in particular have the reputations that they do. It's a profession that is both impressive and met with disdain.

They're liars.

My best friend used to date a family-medicine doctor (DO) who lost his license in the late '90s for prescribing pain meds "for no known medical reason" to undercover agents. Somehow he got his license back and he's currently practicing.

I used to have a lawyer FB who would be fucking me (while both of us high on meth) and he would stop to take a phone call from a work colleague, I’d be in the sling or on my knees sucking him, while he sounded completely professional on the phone. Once he hung up, he’d start dirty talking to me again within a second. He was a hot little fucker.

He did tell me something interesting. He said, in his family tree, there were a number of suicides because of depression. I’m sure he likely had it too but was self medicating with drugs.

I was able to get off meth without any ill effects (although I do remember the crazy sex I had on it). I think about him and some of the other guys I met up with and wonder how they’re doing.

R126 We were discussing medical specialties and suicide rates. You clearly didn't follow the posts and did not understand this.

Of course suicide as been a serious issue for physicians since the days of Galen.

Until you need one, right R132?

R134 have you tried to look him up?

R134, yes, he's a partner at a law firm but he's moved back to his home state. I've thought about reaching out but I'm not sure he wants to hear from anyone of his meth past. Very pleasant guy, actually. Someone who under normal circumstances would have made a great bf,

I met a guy once online who turned out to be a psychiatrist. We chatted several times on the phone and all seemed well and we made plans to go to dinner. We did and met and suddenly, he lost his verbal skills. Dinner took 45 minutes and I probably talked for forty of them. I was devastated. We had got on so well on the phone and I thought I must be repulsive, I must be awful... every doubt you could summon, I felt. At the end of the meal, oddly, he's like 'Well, see you again soon!'

About a year later I picked up the Sunday paper and there was a small squib talking about a psychiatrist who lost his license for sexually abusing patients in therapy session. So I guess he had nothing to say to someone who wasn't fucked up that he could fuck over. A GP friend of mine said later: If you want to marry an asshole, marry a surgeon. If you want to marry a crazy person, marry a shrink. One of those conversations you wish had happened much earlier than it did.

R108 that is a dumbass statement ! Last i heard no one had a CHOICE about getting cancer. Addiction is a CHOICE.

R135, yes, but the post was blaming changes in healthcare over the last 20 years. I just pointed out that suicides have been a big problem for doctors for much longer than 20 years so you can't just point to that and call it a day.

[quote] that is a dumbass statement ! Last i heard no one had a CHOICE about getting cancer. Addiction is a CHOICE.

Actually, addiction is not a choice. A doctor gives you an opioid to stop pain after surgery and you get addicted. You don't know beforehand if your body would get addicted to the medicine. You trust your doctor will give you something that won't hurt you.

And, if you're going to look at choice--there are many choices that cause cancer--smoking, eating meat, living in a polluted area, and on and on and on.

[quote] that is a dumbass statement ! Last i heard no one had a CHOICE about getting cancer. Addiction is a CHOICE.

Wow, such ignorance. This is why we don't look at mental and behavioral health as being on par with physical health. We'd be alot better off if we started seeing addiction for what it is--a medical problem, not a moral problem

A lot of doctors will tell you addiction changes the brain permanently, not just in terms of addictive impulse but the function of it.

Started an additional thread about people on drugs

R140 Addiction is not a choice. We are hardwired to be powerless over physically and mentally obtaining oblivion. It’s how humans are. The poor nor the rich can escape the hold it has over us, objectively, as this thread proves.

Dr. Carlton Cash is sad

I knew a doctor and lawyer gay couple. I am pretty sure the doctor was a cocaine addict and the lawyer was an alcoholic. They are both good at their jobs and hosted great dinner parties with very distinguished guests.

Just fascinating

bump

Anymore stories?

Actually, Yes, r150. I used to work for a big firm (for my flyover area, anyway) and the star of the associates was a cat named Eric Norton (google his name + disciplinary). He just got popped trying to bring meth into the Cuyahoga County Jail (Cleveland, Ohio). He was caught and they took his cell phone into evidence (I guess to see if he was illegally conveying drugs into the jail for his clients?). Anyhow, they found tons of child porn on his phone and now he is in a shit ton of trouble, the FBI is involved and he's going down for a long time. I thought he was hot back in those days at the firm and never know he was a pedo meth freak. Good thing we now know he's straight, I thought otherwise at the time.

^ knew (please forgive me).

R151 his bond was set at $5,000. I bet he will get off light and be practicing law again soon.

[quote] Addiction is not a choice.

But doing recreational drugs in the first place, is.

I can see it happening if someone is on prescription pain medication or something like that, though. Different situation.

It's like smoking. The best way to quit is to never start.