Prevention Better Than Cure
The Sunday Age
Sunday January 30, 2000
Five years ago Dr ``Robert Brown", a senior specialist in a Melbourne hospital, woke up in a detox unit.
He was brought in, unconscious and vomiting blood, after a ``God-almighty binge" of alcohol, benzodiazepines, pethidine and other narcotics.
He doesn't remember what triggered this particular binge but in a way, it saved his life.
He spent a month in detox and has been clean since.
He is ecstatic that the Australian Medical Association and the Medical Practitioners Board of Victoria are setting up Australia's first formal early intervention program for doctors in crisis.
He says it's long overdue and comes at a time when doctors, like the rest of the community, are under increasing pressures.
``It's not only humane but cost-effective to get these people better rather than put them on the scrap heap (by deregistering them) or leaving them to die," Dr Brown said. Eleven of his medical friends and colleagues have died, through accidental overdose or suicide, after becoming drug or alcohol dependent.
One young specialist was found in his car in the car park of a major Melbourne hospital.
The most recent death was 12 months ago. A young doctor in his 30s who had struggled on and off with drugs was found dead of overdose.
``He was a guy who ... may have been helped by a specialised medical program like the one the AMA and the Medical Board are implementing. It may have been able to help this bloke ... It may not have been able to help him, but then we would have known that we'd given it the best shot."
In 1996 Dr Brown was a founding member of Australian Doctors in Recovery, a support group that meets regularly in Melbourne and Sydney and has an annual convention.
The group hopes it will make the issue of impaired practitioners more visible and encourage doctors to get help early. Dr Brown said he never harmed a patient because he always took extra care when he knew he was doped up, but he knew his actions were wrong.
``Any doctor knows that this sort of behavior is hazardous, damaging and ultimately it brings shame, embarrassment and humiliation even if nobody knows about it."
Only one colleague raised the issue with him. It was about a year into his 18 months of mixing pills and narcotics before his final binge.
``One very astute clinician raised it. He approached me and of course I denied it. I felt terrible. It brings down all the shame and guilt. Everything he was saying, it was all true and here I was lying about it.
``I made up my mind to stop but you can't - that what's drug dependency is all about."
Dr Brown said about 8 per cent of the medical profession would have some sort of problem with alcohol or drugs, about the same as the community as a whole.
``That's not to say your local family doctor is a junkie or an alcoholic ... but the pressures have always been great on doctors and are greater now."
The doctor's name and some minor details have been changed to protect his privacy.
Australian Doctors in Recovery can be contacted on 0418 546 654 or 0412 405 751.
© 2000 The Sunday Age