Hospital security found Dr. Savage asleep in his car, and woke him up as he was due to start seeing patients. According to security Dr. Savage looked and smelled intoxicated on September 13, 2012, and security prevented him from seeing any patients due to his intoxicated state. A blood test showed that Savage had a blood alcohol level of 0.186, which is more than double the legal limit for driving purposes.
Alex Walker, who is the general counsel for the Catholic Medical Center, stated “Upon learning of this particular incident, we took immediate steps to ensure Dr. Savage would not see any patients that day or execute privileges at CMC prior to the outcome of the Board of Medicine process or our own credentialing process. ” According to the local paper this is not the first time that Savage has had a problem with alcohol, and the physician was being monitored for previous problems with alcohol by the New Hampshire Professionals’ Health Program. The Board Of Medicine will determine on October 3 whether Dr. Savage will continue to have his license suspended or not. Unfortunately Dr. Savage is not the only US physician who needs substance abuse treatment, medical professionals have a higher than average rate of alcohol and drug addiction just like legal professionals do. Excessive stress in the medical field has been called a contributing factor for the high rate of drug and alcohol abuse by doctors, nurses, lawyers, and certain other professions.
