Physician accused of impairment puts resident in tough spot

By: Julie McCoy July 31st, 2008

There’s no question that physician impairment is a serious matter. It’s been on my mind a lot lately because WCVB Channel 5 news here in Boston is reporting that patients are suing a plastic surgeon at a large hospital near Boston because he allegedly fell asleep during a surgery. According to the story, the surgical resident had to wake him up.

In addition to these allegations, The Boston Globe reports that after being asked to take a drug test, the physician asked a resident to supply him with urine because he knew he would not otherwise pass.

If these allegations are true, it is a horrible position for this physician to put a resident in.

Although it seems like the associate chief of surgery was on top of this situation, I’m wondering what kind of mechanisms you guys have in place in case a resident notices something like this and wants to report it.

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Julie McCoy



Julie McCoy is the associate editor for the residency market at HCPro, Inc.

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Julie has written 192 posts.

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