The Disrupted Physician

In November 2015, a personal tragedy shattered Dr Ann Phelan-Adams, leading to months of grief, trauma, and a toxic mix of alcohol, antidepressants, and sedatives. With the support of family, friends, and therapists, she slowly recovered, but her medical board accused her of being impaired due to substance abuse and mental illness, threatening her license if she didn’t undergo treatment. Choosing life over license, her medical license was revoked, and her story of grief was publicly distorted. Feeling deep shame, she later found solace in Dr. Michael Langan’s blog, discovering others like her who had faced similar bureaucratic injustices. In March 2018, Dr Phelan-Adams broke her silence by writing an essay, which sparked widespread response and led to her involvement in a movement advocating for health professionals wronged by the regulatory system. This experience inspired “The Disrupted Physician” – a story about a physician who unwittingly developed an opiate use disorder following post-herpetic neuralgia – and highlighting Dr. Langan’s struggle and the broader issue of professionals silenced by shame and pain of the medical regulatory therapeutic complex.

Though this is a story about a physician it equally applies to all allied health professionals – including dentists and dental hygienists – and illustrates the regulatory drag-net which ensnares those who so unsuspectingly and unwittingly reach out for help only to find themselves deprived of choice and bodily autonomy.

The question we should all be asking ourselves is why are we obligated to respect a patient’s right to choice and bodily autonomy but we ourselves are not afforded the same at the hands of our own peers?

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