A teacher is one who makes himself progressively unnecessary. ~Thomas Carruthers
A doctor in Canada has had his medical license suspended because he was treating patients while under the influence of drugs. Thomas Crawford lost his license for the third time in 13 years because of his addiction to Dilaudid and cocaine. He was suspended before Christmas but the decision by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Nova Scotia was only made public this week.
Crawford came to Nova Scotia in 1996 from New Brunswick, where the College of Physicians and Surgeons New Brunswick suspended his license after a substance abuse complaint. He resigned his practice after receiving treatment for drug addiction.
When Crawford arrived in Nova Scotia, he received a medical license on the condition that he not prescribe any narcotics. In 1997, someone complained that Crawford was impaired while on duty, according to the report. The College then began an investigation of Crawford.
“The college learned that contrary to information previously provided by Dr. Crawford, he had retained his prescribing privileges and had accessed narcotics for his self-use through such privileges,” the report says.
Crawford went into treatment and surrendered his prescribing privileges. The random testing ended in 2003. His license was suspended again in April 2008. He was hospitalized in August and was prescribed narcotics for pain. In November he was back in a treatment program and was once again prescribed narcotics. He stopped using drugs in December of 2008.
Crawford may get his license back if he stays clean of all narcotics. If his license is reinstated, he will never be able to prescribe narcotics again.
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Kevin Kline
Director of Admissions
The Treatment Center
877-392-3342