My drug conviction was expunged from my record
Dr. James Brockenbrough is candid about his past use of drugs and his conviction, but says that under California State law, no one should have ever heard about it.
?What is ironic is there was a Bermudian physician at King Edward who was taking drugs. In fact, he was caught red handed mentally incapacitated by them while he was providing critical care to a patient,? Dr. Brockenbrough continued.
?If this had not been detected by chance, serious harm could have come to the patient. Another colleague took over from him and the doctor was tested and had his privileges withdrawn when the tests came back positive.
?He was then allowed to depart Bermuda and move back to the US ? where he has citizenship ? and resume a practice here. Rumours started to circulate that the physician in question was me and a local TV anchor raised this issue with hospital officials.?
Dr. Brockenbrough says he was assured by the KEMH CEO and the chief of staff at the time that there was no question in their minds that that he was not involved in drugs but had to ask him directly.
?I told them ? truthfully ? that I did not and confident in the knowledge that I was drug free, volunteered to take any test to prove it,? he said. ?They told me this was unnecessary, but I insisted in order to restore my reputation and that of the hospital.
?This was a mistake. It never occurred to me that there might be other ways I could have a positive drug test.?
Turning to the conviction, Dr. Brockenbrough said in the 1990s after a difficult divorce, he was briefly involved with a partner who was a user.
One night she repeatedly induced him to join her. They were arrested when Police responded to a complaint about noise.
?That was the last time I ever took drugs. The result was a blot on my record as a doctor in California which, since it had never happened before and it did not involve patient care, I took part in a first offender programme to qualify for a conditional discharge.
?I successfully completed the programme, and the conviction was expunged from my record. I have no criminal conviction on my record.?
?The Medical Board of California has an administrative process that I could not fully participate in because by then I was living in Bermuda.
?There was a mix-up with the service of documents from the Medical Board of California (MBC), and I never received them,? he continued. ?As a result, a default judgment was entered against me by the MBC, which I subsequently successfully challenged when I learned what had happened.?
The California Medical Board ultimately put him on five years? probation ? to kick in whenever he returned to the state.
When asked that if the record should never have seen the light of day and if hair follicle testing is fallible, should the hospital have taken the course it has, Dr. Brockenbrough said: ?They should not have taken the action.
?I should have had a private meeting with the Chief of Staff and/or my chief of service to discuss the issues.
?If they were concerned about patient safety, they would have put me on a monitoring programme, two times a week urine testing while we worked through it,? he concluded.
?I think if I was white or Bermudian this would probably have happened.?