SUBSTANCE ABUSE CONUNDRUMS

Alan Bloom, General Counsel (CA RIHC)

Care1st Health Plan

Highly educated and intelligent people, like us, can destroy themselves.

•This is often about being in the wrong place at the wrong

time.

•Take one Ambien and go to sleep. FINE.

•Take one Ambien, drive and get stopped. DRUG ABUSE.

•Boston Legal ends with 2 lawyers drinking alcohol and

talking. SWEET ENDING.

•Groping an associate after a few drinks. ALCOHOL ABUSE.

Results of Abuse

•Public humiliation

•Fines, court costs

•Imprisonment

•Loss of licenses (driving, law)

•Loss of job

•Destruction of career

•Financial (legal fees, civil judgments, higher

insurance premiums)

•Injuring other people

•Injuring or killing yourself

In Re Kelly, 52 Cal.3d 487 (1990): Public reprimand and

3 years probation.

Reported in the Metropolitan News-Enterprise on March

14, 2000 and still on the web in 2012. A life sentence.

People v. Komatsu, 212 Cal.App.3d Suppl (1989):

affirmed DWI conviction of a man found at night,

sleeping and intoxicated, in the passenger seat of a car.

Is handling a case under the influence of alcohol or drugs

malpractice?