SAN DIEGO, Calif. — A controversial bill that would allow doctors with drug and alcohol issues to enter a secret treatment program is heading to a key vote before state senators.
“We are hoping senators give it a closer look and put some real scrutiny on the patient impact of this bill,” said Consumer Watchdog executive director Carmen Balber in an interview from Los Angeles.
Balber fears the public is about to lose transparency if the Senate Business and Professions Committee votes to approve AB 408 on Monday.
The bill would let the Medical Board of California create a secret rehab program for doctors struggling with addiction.
It would overhaul California’s current physician health and wellness program with the goal of getting doctors into treatment who may not be coming forward now.
“This is about patient safety for us. Any opportunity that the board has to bring those people into treatment sooner rather than later potentially serves to prevent patient harm from occurring in the future,” said board president Kristina Lawson in an interview last year.
Balber disagrees and said the program threatens patient safety by allowing doctors to enter confidential treatment even if they’ve been impaired on the job.
“We're concerned patients will die if this bill passes because they died in the past and this bill repeats all of the mistakes of the past failed program.”
Medical board records reviewed by Team 10 show right now in San Diego County physicians are on probation for self-prescribing dangerous drugs, DUI arrest and even using meth.
The information is available on the medical board’s website for the public to see while those doctors continue to practice under probation.
If this bill moves forward, the mandated public disclosure will disappear. It would also exempt doctors from uniform standards required for all other licensed health care professionals in California.
“If a doctor has a problem with illegal substances, and this bill passes, the medical board could send them to private treatment, and patients would be none the wiser and that's really outrageous,” said Balber, who is trying to raise awareness about the proposal, which she said “sailed” through the assembly.
Lawson said last year that California was one of the last states in the country without a physician wellness program like the one proposed.
“We view substance abuse, other health conditions, other mental health conditions as conditions where there can be rehabilitation.”
Balber said if the bill makes its way past the senate committee on Monday, it will still need to clear three more votes. She believes it could land on the governor’s desk in September and become law next year.
“Patients will die because this program is allowing doctors to continue using substances while practicing and that's outrageous,” she warned.
