The California Medical Board recently took action against the licenses of two Central Coast doctors.
Board members suspended a San Luis Obispo doctor and publicly reprimanded a Santa Maria doctor.
Dr. Eric Jeffrey Schultz, a pulmonologist in San Luis Obispo, went before the board January 30 to ask that his license be reinstated.
He surrendered it in 2012 after he was caught self-prescribing hydrocodone - or vicodin - for 11 years.
The deputy attorney general, John Gatschet, assigned to the case asked the board to deny Schultz's request. "He has not embraced sober life from the sense of full sobriety. Yes, he hasn't taken norco because he hasn't had the ability to self prescribe to himself or steal someone else's prescription while he doesn't have a license, but he is still drinking," said Gatschet.
While Dr. Schultz pleaded with the board for another chance. "I will do anything, anything that the board feels I need to do to demonstrate that I am capable and responsible and trust worthy to practice medicine."
The board reinstated Schultz's license, but then suspended it for one year. After the suspension, he will be on six years probation.
Three days earlier on January 27, the board publicly reprimanded Dr. Ilona Ann Baran, an OBGYN out of Santa Maria.
She's accused of negligence for allowing a patient to leave her office with the wrong diaphragm and prescribing the wrong drug to a patient with uterine bleeding. She's also accused of unprofessional conduct for prescribing Xanax to a family member.
Dr. Baran must also take classes on professionalism, prescribing and medical record keeping.
Dr. Schultz must stay alcohol and drug free and submit to testing.
