Assembly Committee Votes to Expose Patients to Doctor Substance Abuse; Advances Bill to Overturn Law Requiring Medical Board Act When Doctors Fail Drug Test

Sacramento, CA – AB 408 by Assemblymember Berman to create a secret Medical Board program that will place patients at risk of harm at the hands of doctors abusing drugs or alcohol passed out of the Assembly Business & Professions Committee yesterday.
 
The bill, AB 408 (Berman), would recreate a failed Medical Board “diversion” program that allowed doctors under investigation by the Board because of substance abuse to evade discipline by entering the program. That program was shut down for putting patients at risk after failing five state audits and two reports by a Legislatively-appointed Enforcement Monitor. 
 
Consumer Watchdog testified in opposition to the bill in Sacramento on Tuesday. 
 
“The bill would eliminate a basic patient safety responsibility of the Medical Board: that the Board investigate and act if it refers a doctor to treatment and that doctor fails a drug test,” testified Consumer Watchdog executive director Carmen Balber at the Tuesday hearing.
 
The Legislature and the Board addressed the failures of the past diversion program by shutting that program down, and putting in place standards for monitoring doctors in diversion, a report to Medical Board enforcement staff, and consequences if a doctor referred to a diversion program fails a drug test or other program requirements.  AB 408 does away with those protections.
 
“While keeping a failed drug test secret may be good for the doctor, it isn’t good for patients being treated by that doctor,” said Balber. “This isn’t about doctors who voluntarily seek treatment; it would keep information secret about doctors who are already a clear and present danger to patients. If the board knows of a doctor’s substance abuse, sends them to treatment, and then they fail a drug test, that fact can’t be kept secret from the Board.”
 
Read Consumer Watchdog’s letter of opposition to AB 408.
 
Tina Minasian, an advocate for patient rights in California, suffers lifelong injuries inflicted by a substance-abusing surgeon who was a participant in the former confidential physician diversion program. Tina, along with other harmed patients, played a pivotal role in advocating for the closure of the prior failed Diversion Program. 
 
“I can’t believe that eighteen years later I have to take on this fight again on behalf of all Californians,” stated Minasian. “We gained too many protections in the past fifteen years to give them up. I lost everything when I was harmed and cannot allow another Californian to endure what I did.”  
 
The History of the Medical Board and Physician Diversion
 
The former confidential physician diversion program was subjected to a critical sunset review in 2007 after five failed audits by the state and a critical report from an Enforcement Monitor revealed significant failures in drug testing and oversight. In response, patients bravely stepped forward to share their harrowing stories of harm and loss due to the negligence of substance-abusing physicians. The Medical Board of California recognized the severity of these revelations and terminated the program in 2008. That same year, a pivotal hearing on the diversion program was convened at the state Capitol. Following, the chair of the joint committee announced the authorship of SB 1441, legislation designed to establish Uniform Standards for Substance-Abusing Health Care Professionals in California. Passed into law in 2008, SB 1441 was a vital step toward rectifying the failures of the previous diversion program. It empowered the Medical Board with essential tools to monitor substance-abusing licensees and enforce meaningful consequences for offending physicians, prioritizing the protection of patients and fostering a culture of accountability among healthcare providers. In 2016, SB 1177 was enacted, which allowed the Medical Board of California to recreate a new physician diversion program that adhered to the Uniform Standards. 
 
AB 408 discards those consumer protections and reconfigures any future program in the image of the failed diversion program.