Substance abuse in the medical profession

If you follow my Twitter feed, you know I have more than just a passing fascination with a show called "Intervention" which airs on A&E. It is a show about people with addictions of various colors. They are filmed in the throws of their addiction, while their loved ones plan an intervention, and then the intervention is filmed. Oh, and the things the addicts do are just plain horrible sometimes — using toilet water in your syringe comes to mind. (Hope you are not reading this on your lunch break!). Most of the time, the person agrees to go to rehab, but their long-term success is variable, as is common with all forms of addiction.

I don't know what it is about substance abuse (and other forms of addiction, like eating disorders) that I find so fascinating. Maybe it is that I have been so fortunate in my life to not have any direct experience with anyone who has had this kind of trouble, so there is the novelty factor of the whole thing. Physicians, as it turns out, have relatively high rates of substance abuse, (see here) and there are many specialized rehab centers just for physicians, but relapse is still not uncommon.

Among the medical specialties, anesthesiologists have particularly high rates of substance abuse. Although some argue this is from exposure to the gases used to put people under, others think it is an "easy access" issue. Recently a fascinating and heartbreaking article was published about the case of a young anesthesiologist who died of his addiction to opioids and benzodiazepines but not before losing his license and his coveted job at Beth Israel. If that weren't shocking enough, at one point he was breaking into hospitals, stealing drugs and injecting them directly into his femoral ARTERY in the hospital bathroom. It gives me shivers just to type it.