Addiction in Health Professionals
Going to see a doctor is an essential part of any modern day lifestyle. Over the past 100 years because of advances in modern medicine the average lifespan has drastically increased. So naturally it follows that people would trust that their doctors and other medical professionals are going to do the right thing to treat any medical conditions. Would patients still choose the doctor if they knew their doctor had an active addiction problem that could put their health and diagnoses in jeopardy?
Addiction
Addiction affects about 10 to 15% of the general population (Melemis, 2015). The definition for addiction is “Addiction is a primary, chronic disease of brain reward, motivation, memory and related circuitry. …show more content…
Addiction can happen to anybody, it does not discriminate against anyone, anyone can be a victim to addiction even health professionals. It is a disease of the wiring of the brain. If the brain is wired for addiction then the typical use of a substance will feel entirely different, or even more intense, than the feeling to someone whose brain is not wired for addiction (Melemis, 2015). People without addiction will not be able to understand what the addict is feeling, the thoughts, or rationality that an addict has. As previously stated addiction is a disease of the wiring of the brain and like any other disease, for example heart disease or liver disease. It can be treated but is still something that is a part of the person as the color of their skin so it can’t be cured but can be managed. (Melemis, 2015) The feeling the addicts gets when under the influence will always be there and will never change. The only way to cope with the addiction is to be entirely abstinent from it. Unfortunately for health professionals when they have an addiction issue managing and or recovery is a much more difficult task then to just abstain from it. * Health professionals are surrounded by temptation. If it is the prescriptions the provide to ill patients, the pain killers they inject in patients suffering, patients that come into a hospital that are addicts have access to connections for …show more content…
For example, William Stewart Halsted was a professor at Johns Hopkins University and is credited to being the founding father of modern surgery technics (Reese, 2014). He established treatments for breast cancer, hernias and gallstones, and with all that he contributed to the medical world, he also had a very active addiction to cocaine and tried to treat that addiction with morphine which creating a double addiction for him (ZUGER, 2010). As of 2014 there were more than 916,264 physicians holding an active license to practice medicine in the United States (Aaron & J. Chaudhry, DO, 2015). According to the Federation of State Medical Boards, of those approximate 916,000 physicians about 10 to 15 percent of them are reported to of abused or misused some type of substance during their career, whether it be a legal or illegal substance (Baldisseri, 2007).These statistic are very similar to those for the general public. Physician have access to a much more addictive variety. It is often a subject to opposing opinion to which is worse of an addiction those that are legal, for example alcohol or those that are illegal or illegally taken as in opioids. A physician is just as likely to abuse alcohol and illegal drugs as the general public, but they are more likely to abuse prescription narcotics.
Going to see a doctor is an essential part of any modern day lifestyle. Over the past 100 years because of advances in modern medicine the average lifespan has drastically increased. So naturally it follows that people would trust that their doctors and other medical professionals are going to do the right thing to treat any medical conditions. Would patients still choose the doctor if they knew their doctor had an active addiction problem that could put their health and diagnoses in jeopardy?
Addiction
Addiction affects about 10 to 15% of the general population (Melemis, 2015). The definition for addiction is “Addiction is a primary, chronic disease of brain reward, motivation, memory and related circuitry. …show more content…
Addiction can happen to anybody, it does not discriminate against anyone, anyone can be a victim to addiction even health professionals. It is a disease of the wiring of the brain. If the brain is wired for addiction then the typical use of a substance will feel entirely different, or even more intense, than the feeling to someone whose brain is not wired for addiction (Melemis, 2015). People without addiction will not be able to understand what the addict is feeling, the thoughts, or rationality that an addict has. As previously stated addiction is a disease of the wiring of the brain and like any other disease, for example heart disease or liver disease. It can be treated but is still something that is a part of the person as the color of their skin so it can’t be cured but can be managed. (Melemis, 2015) The feeling the addicts gets when under the influence will always be there and will never change. The only way to cope with the addiction is to be entirely abstinent from it. Unfortunately for health professionals when they have an addiction issue managing and or recovery is a much more difficult task then to just abstain from it. * Health professionals are surrounded by temptation. If it is the prescriptions the provide to ill patients, the pain killers they inject in patients suffering, patients that come into a hospital that are addicts have access to connections for …show more content…
For example, William Stewart Halsted was a professor at Johns Hopkins University and is credited to being the founding father of modern surgery technics (Reese, 2014). He established treatments for breast cancer, hernias and gallstones, and with all that he contributed to the medical world, he also had a very active addiction to cocaine and tried to treat that addiction with morphine which creating a double addiction for him (ZUGER, 2010). As of 2014 there were more than 916,264 physicians holding an active license to practice medicine in the United States (Aaron & J. Chaudhry, DO, 2015). According to the Federation of State Medical Boards, of those approximate 916,000 physicians about 10 to 15 percent of them are reported to of abused or misused some type of substance during their career, whether it be a legal or illegal substance (Baldisseri, 2007).These statistic are very similar to those for the general public. Physician have access to a much more addictive variety. It is often a subject to opposing opinion to which is worse of an addiction those that are legal, for example alcohol or those that are illegal or illegally taken as in opioids. A physician is just as likely to abuse alcohol and illegal drugs as the general public, but they are more likely to abuse prescription narcotics.