Illegally writing prescriptions to himself: An impaired physician in long-term recovery

He had five knee operations, and by the late 1970s he was treating his constant pain by illegally writing prescriptions to himself. Dr. Michael Palmer became hooked on painkillers and was drinking heavily. In 1978 he was arrested for writing false prescriptions, was put on probation, and had to surrender his right to prescribe narcotics for two years. For nearly a year, he didn't work at all.

Then, he says, "a group of doctors with problems similar to mine mentored me and helped me. By the end of the 1970s I was in solid recovery, and by 1981 I began to reach out to find doctors I could help. It coincided with the beginning of writing [novels]. In retrospect, having a book to write was one of the things that kept me sane."

After his first novel was published, he left private practice to serve in the Emergency Room at the Falmouth Hospital, where he worked for the next ten years. He volunteered to work with the "Impaired Physicians Committee" of the Massachusetts Medical Society. In 1993, around the time its name was changed to Physician Health Services, he left the E.R. and began to work with troubled doctors nearly full-time.

He explains, "It seemed to me that I was put on earth to take care of people. This is what I should be doing, and I never got tired of it."

Advice to people struggling with tough health or personal problems: See if writing, and helping others who have your problems, helps in your own long-term recovery, as it has for Dr. Palmer.

Browse for similar stories in our index at the very bottom of this page, or read another impaired physician story.

Thanks to David Mehegan for the source story in the Feb. 23 issue of the Boston Globe.