| For Licensed Professionals | | Licensed professionals are not immune to addiction. | The stress that comes with decision making, the compulsion to project success and hide failures, the inability to accept and share true feelings, makes professionals especially vulnerable to addiction. Professionals have a reputation to maintain, an image to project, a license to keep, and so they may hide their addiction.
Society places licensed professionals on a pedestal by virtue of their education and training, and our need to completely rely on them. They are expected to be highly self-disciplined. They are expected to be above all moral weakness and failings. They are expected to know better, and not use drugs or alcohol. It is unrealistic, and some will fail.
You do not have to live in fear or suffer; help is available from a doctor’s office, it is private and confidential.
Not dealing with the problem has too high a price. Do not allow the problem to get out of hand, seek treatment voluntarily before the licensing authorities force it on you.
We have excellent medications available that prevent withdrawal and assist in treatment of opioid addiction. These medications are available to you for as long as you need it, and the results are positive.
This treatment is available as an outpatient, from a doctor’s office in your community, there is no disruption of your professional practice, and no significant side effects that could interfere with your work.
Addiction is not cured by a pill. You will also have to work with a counselor or behavioral therapist to make permanent changes, so that you no longer have to depend on chemicals to handle the stress and strain of your personal life and your profession.
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| | Is the treatment completely private and confidential? |
Your medical records are private and are not released without your authorization.
However, medical providers and pharmacists do have record keeping requirements imposed by State law, so your treatment does leave a trail, especially when your treatment involves the prescription of controlled substances.
These prescriptions are automatically reported by the dispensing pharmacist to the State Board of Pharmacy, which maintains a database, spanning several years, and it is now shared with other states. Medical providers do have access to this data, however they are required to keep it private, and use it only for the delivery of health care. Your privacy is assured under State and Federal regulations with certain exceptions that are designed to facilitate exchange of medical information between health care providers.
If you use insurance to pay for your treatment or medications, then they need to know your diagnosis. Your prescription is specific to you and carries your personal information. Your pharmacist knows what this medication is for. All this is still private but it does leave a trail.
In this age of being connected, nothing is completely private. Any mishap can lead to public disclosure or worse. If you seek treatment now, then you will have better odds of keeping it private.
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| | Self-reporting and peer reporting requirements | Licensed professionals, especially medical professionals have self-reporting requirements. Your application for privileges requires you to make statements about your mental health and substance use, hospital admissions, legal actions, etc. Providing false information on the application is generally grounds for disciplinary action.
For medical professionals any suspension of privileges of more than 30 days requires to be reported to National Practitioner Data Bank.
Fellow professionals are also required to report other professionals that may be under the influence while providing a service; this requirement is imposed to protect the society. This is another thing that people holding professional licenses have to worry about; the person reporting you may not have your welfare in mind.
You have worked hard to get this professional license do not throw it away. Seeking treatment voluntarily before something happens will help you avoid disciplinary action, and prevent tainting your reputation.
If your substance use is discovered following a mishap or complaint, then a disciplinary action gets triggered automatically with very serious consequences. You will be required to be in treatment, prohibited from working, and when allowed to return to work, you may be placed under supervision and probation. This process is very cumbersome and expensive, and may stretch to several months and even years.
Why not seek treatment now? The medical treatment is private and confidential. The information is not disclosed to anyone without your authorization.
Many licensing boards have designed parallel programs to help professionals that suffer from substance use disorders. Your conversations with such programs are completely confidential and is not supposed to be shared with licensing authorities. Individuals running those programs are generally licensed professionals who have recovered from similar disorders and are well positioned to help you
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| | This page was last updated on September 29, 2020 |
| | Mark A. Seldes, MD | | Dr. Seldes is a board-certified family physician, He is experienced with OWCP medical reports and performing Impairment Rating examinations. Dr. Seldes and his qualified staff, assist in obtaining compensation and medical treatment after a work-related injury. | | We perform both In-person examinations and Telehealth visits for our Florida residents who are already established patients. depending on the patient's needs. |
Contact Us Today! | | Phone: 813-328-4120, We are Open Monday-Friday, From 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM EST. (We are Currently Accepting New Patients) |
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Phone: (813)-328-4120 Fax: (813)-328-4003 Email: emergencemat2021@gmail.com
5471 West Waters Avenue, Unit 300, Tampa, FL 33634