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Puliafito EOD (7/24)
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Doctors and drug abuse: Why addictions can be so difficult
Jul 24, 2017 | LA Times
By Soumya Karlamangla
Allegations that Dr. Carmen A. Puliafito used methamphetamine and ecstasy while he was dean of USC’s medical school have opened a window into the pervasiveness of drug use and addiction among physicians and the challenges they face when confronting it. -
USC fires ex-medical school dean over allegations he led a double life doing drugs and partying with prostitutes and criminals (UPDATE-3)
Jul 24, 2017 | Associated Press
The University of Southern California has announced it will fire its former medical school dean over allegations that he abused meth and ecstasy while partying with young criminals. -
USC initiates termination proceedings to fire former Keck medical school dean Dr. Carmen Puliafito after drug allegations
Jul 24, 2017 | Becker's Hospital Review
By Alyssa Rege
Los Angeles-based University of Southern California officials said the university has "initiated the process to terminate" Carmen Puliafito, MD, former dean of the USC Keck School of Medicine, according to The New York Times. -
Drug abuse plagues administrative offices
Jul 24, 2017 | Education Dive
By Pat Donachie
The University of Southern California announced that it was seeking to fire former medical school dean Dr. Carmen Puliafito, who had been accused of using drugs during his appointment, according to The New York Times, while The Chronicle of Higher Education notes Puliafito's story is sparking conversations about how to deal with alcohol and substance abuse among faculty and administrators. -
USC to fire former dean over allegations of drug abuse
Jul 24, 2017 | Newburgh Gazette
By Dwayne Harmon
"We have initiated the required process to terminate Dr. Puliafito's employment at USC and strip him of his faculty tenure", said Quick in another Friday letter to the campus. -
USC to Fire Former Medical School Dean
Jul 24, 2017 | TheScientist
By Diana Kwon
During his tenure as dean of the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California (USC), Carmen Puliafito was a respected eye surgeon and professor as well as a highly successful fundraiser. He regularly attended national conventions and training seminars, and coauthored more than 60 journal articles. But he also had other pastimes. -
On the heels of USC's med school dean resignation, will the university's brand hold up?
Jul 24, 2017 | 89.3 KPCC
By Larry Mantle
Last week, the LA Times broke a story about the clandestine exploits of USC’s former medical school dean, Dr. Carmen A. Puliafito. Audio Links: https://app.criticalmention.com/app/#/clip/public/5b80ad16-9e62-445b-95cc-f8c4aaf47223 https://app.criticalmention.com/app/#/clip/public/71f5af2f-1ab8-471e-a25a-9c2dadab374d -
USC fires Dr. Puliafito, launches external investigation (AUDIO)
Jul 24, 2017 | 89.3 KPCC
By A. Martinez
A week ago today, the Los Angeles Times published an investigative story about the former dean of USC's Keck School of Medicine. It presented evidence that Carmen Puliafito had engaged in a pattern of illegal drug use and sometimes partied with a group of drug users in his USC offices. Audio Link: http://www.scpr.org/programs/take-two/2017/07/24/58137/usc-fires-dr-puliafito-launches-external-investiga/
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Doctors and drug abuse: Why addictions can be so difficult
Jul 24, 2017 | LA Times
By Soumya Karlamangla
Allegations that Dr. Carmen A. Puliafito used methamphetamine and ecstasy while he was dean of USC’s medical school have opened a window into the pervasiveness of drug use and addiction among physicians and the challenges they face when confronting it.
Experts say physicians become substance abusers at about the same rate as the general population. But they are often reluctant to seek treatment out of fear of losing their medical licenses and livelihoods.
They also know the signs of drug use — and how to hide them — better than others, allowing them to evade notice and their addiction to escalate, experts say.
“There’s an invulnerability: ‘Well, I’ll just do this the right way, and it’ll never be a problem. I’ll just do this the right way and I’ll never overdose,’ ” said Dr. Marvin Seppala, addiction expert and chief medical officer at the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation. “Somehow they believe their knowledge is going to be more powerful than addiction.”
Some experts say physicians in California are less likely to address their addictions than those elsewhere. A decade ago the state ended its rehab program that allowed them to seek treatment without putting their licenses at risk. The vast majority of states still offer such programs.
The Times reported Monday that Puliafito, a renowned eye surgeon, had used drugs extensively while serving as dean of the USC Keck School of Medicine. He stepped down in March 2016, three weeks after a 21-year-old woman with whom he had been partying overdosed in a Pasadena hotel room, but had still been seeing patients as of earlier this month.
USC officials have not said how much they knew about Puliafito’s situation before the story ran. On Monday, they said he was no longer seeing patients.
“We are concerned about Dr. Puliafito and his family and hope that, if the article’s assertions are true, he receives the help and treatment he may need for a full recovery,” USC president C.L. Max Nikias said in a statement released Tuesday. “Reports of high-powered executives, doctors, and others with substance abuse issues have become all too common — individuals who function in their workplace but have serious issues affecting their private lives.”
By Friday, the university was taking a decidedly harder line, announcing it had hired a former federal prosecutor to investigate.
“We are outraged and disgusted by this individual’s behavior,” Nikias wrote Friday in a letter to the university.
Officials said they had begun the process to strip Puliafito of his faculty tenure and terminate him. Moveover, Puliafito was now “barred from our campuses and any association with USC, including attending or participating in university events.”
Many questions remain about the dean’s conduct and how USC responded to it.
How doctors hide their addictions
Between 8% and 12% of people — whether they are doctors or not — will develop a substance abuse problem at some point in their lives, said Dr. Lisa Merlo, a psychiatry professor at the University of Florida College of Medicine who studies addiction among healthcare professionals.
As with most addicts, doctors are most commonly addicted to alcohol, followed by opiates.
The physicians with the most addiction problems tend to be anesthesiologists, emergency room doctors and psychiatrists; men are more likely to be referred for treatment than women, she said. Physicians who are stressed and working long hours may turn to drugs as a coping strategy, experts say.
“You’re on a pedestal as a physician, and you’ve got all these societal expectations ... in some ways it’s harder to ask for help because nobody expects you to want or need help,” said Dr. Peter Grinspoon, a physician in Boston who was addicted to Vicodin for years.
Seppala, with the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation, said a doctor’s marriage might fall apart, his personal life in shambles, but signs of distress won’t always appear at work.
If doctors are injecting drugs, they remember to wear long-sleeved shirts in the operating room, he said. They know which eye drops will make their pupils appear normal. Seppala said an emergency room physician from California who became addicted to methamphetamine worked up to the day he was admitted to rehab.
“That’s where the risk lies, because these people are really bright, and because they know illnesses and do all these things to try and hide it ... the obvious things are always really late,” Seppala said.
Money also comes into play.
Nurses who work for alcoholic doctors might not report them out of fear of losing their job. Hospitals could lose revenue if their star doctors go on leave for treatment or lose their licenses, he said.
“A neurosurgeon or something that’s a big income producer for the hospital, they may be really resistant to putting that person in treatment,” Seppala said. “You’ve got some perverse incentives.”
The challenge of getting doctors into treatment
Many state medical boards run special rehab programs for physicians. If doctors are reported because of a drug problem and they complete the state program, the medical board won’t go after their license.
The philosophy behind these so-called physician health programs is that doctors will come forward earlier for help if they know it won’t endanger their career. Many programs are also confidential, so patients can’t find out if their doctors were treated for abuse.
California ran such a program until 2008, but several state audits found it was failing. Physicians weren’t always forced to temporarily stop practicing after testing positive for a drug and entering into rehab, and one audit found one-quarter of scheduled drug tests were not administered.
“It was all just very inefficient and frankly, a fraud,” said Julianne D'Angelo Fellmeth with the Center for Public Interest Law, who closely evaluated the program before it was scrapped.
Only a small fraction of the state’s doctors participated. The program had an average of 250 doctors enrolled out of the 125,000 doctors licensed in California in 2008, according to state data.
Still, advocates for physician health programs say California’s closure has led to fewer physicians seeking treatment. The state enacted a law last year to create a new physician health program, but the details are still being worked out.
Without the program, employers and hospitals might be more reluctant to report doctors they suspect of having a problem, some say. Before, they could push them into treatment without endangering their medical license, but now, reporting them to the board could result in disciplinary action.
“Now people are more inclined to say, ‘I don’t want this guy to lose his license, and I think ignore it or underplay it,” said Francine Farrell, who founded the Pacific Assistance Group, a rehabilitation program for healthcare professionals, after the state shut down its program in 2008.
The medical board took action against 43 physicians for drug or alcohol abuse in the 2015-16 fiscal year, including some whose licenses were revoked or suspended, according to the board’s latest annual report.
Merlo said doctors typically benefit from being in a treatment program with other health professionals so they don’t assume a doctor role and start treating other participants like their patients.
Studies have found that recovery rates among doctors are higher than in the general population. Many physicians are highly motivated to return to their careers, experts say. The five-year recovery rate for addicts who participate in physician health programs is 80%, said Merlo, compared with 40% after one year in the general population.
Grinspoon, the primary care doctor in Boston, completed rehab through his state’s physician health program and now sees patients at Massachusetts General Hospital. But he said taboos around addiction still keep people from seeking treatment, and many are fearful they’ll lose patients if they find out about a substance abuse problem.
“What we end up doing is pretending these problems don’t exist,” he said. “But what’s really unsafe is a physician that nobody knows is addicted … it’s the untreated physician who’s really dangerous.”
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Jul 24, 2017 | Associated Press
The University of Southern California has announced it will fire its former medical school dean over allegations that he abused meth and ecstasy while partying with young criminals.
The school started the process of terminating Dr Carmen Puliafito from the faculty and stripping him of tenure on Friday.
USC Provost Michael W. Quick said in a letter to the faculty that Puliafito was immediately suspended and barred from the campus and from any association with USC including attending or taking part in university events.
The action came after USC received information of 'egregious behavior' concerning substance abuse.
'This was the first time we saw such information first-hand,' Quick wrote. 'It is extremely troubling and we need to take serious action.'
'We certainly understand that substance abuse is a tragic and devastating disease. But we are also bound to our responsibilities as a university to take the necessary actions concerning Dr Puliafito's status.'
The announcement came the same day that USC said it had hired a former judge and federal prosecutor to head an investigation into allegations, first reported in the Los Angeles Times, that Puliafito was seen on video apparently smoking meth and consorting with addicts and criminals.
Debra Wong Yang, a former member of the Los Angeles Police Commission, Superior Court judge and federal prosecutor in Los Angeles, will present her findings to a committee of the USC board of trustees.
'We are outraged and disgusted by this individual's behavior,' USC President C.L. Max Nikias said in a letter announcing the investigation and urging colleagues to cooperate fully.
Puliafito, 66, is a renowned eye surgeon. He led the Keck School of Medicine for nearly a decade before resigning his $1.1 million-a-year post in 2016. However, he remained on the Keck faculty and continued to represent the university at public events as recently as last weekend.
Repeated attempts by The Associated Press and the Times to reach Puliafito have been unsuccessful and he has not publicly commented on the allegations raised by the Times investigation.
His resignation came three weeks after a 21-year-old woman overdosed in his presence in a Pasadena hotel room.
The woman, named as Sarah Warren, was rushed to a hospital, where she recovered. Police found methamphetamine in the hotel room, according to a police report, but made no arrests.
Puliafito's secret life was chronicled in photos and video shot between 2015 and 2016 by his drug-related friends.
The footage, reviewed by the Times, allegedly showed him taking pills and smoking from glass meth pipes.
It also showed Puliafito partying with others in hotel rooms, cars and even the dean's office at USC.
He was filmed once showing an orange pill on his tongue before he swallowed it and said: 'Thought I'd take an ecstasy before the ball.'
The surgeon was also filmed heating a glass meth pipe, inhaling and blowing out white smoke.
Warren said she met Puliafito while working as a prostitute in 2015. They saw each other regularly and she claims they would often spend the night together in hotel rooms he paid for.
When she overdosed, Puliafito told the 911 operator he was a doctor.
'My girlfriend here had a bunch of drinks and she's sleeping,' he told the dispatcher. When asked if the woman had taken anything else, he replied: 'I think just the alcohol.'
Several men, most with criminal convictions, said Warren had introduced them to Puliafito. They claimed he had given them drugs like meth while they partied.
Puliafito, who is married with three children, oversaw hundreds of medical students, professors and research grants as dean of USC's med school.
He was also heavily involved in fundraising and attended star-studded USC galas where he would pose behind celebrities, including Jay Leno, Gwyneth Paltrow and Pierce Brosnan.
When he resigned from his $1.1 million job, the Harvard graduate said it was to explore outside opportunities.
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Jul 24, 2017 | Becker's Hospital Review
By Alyssa Rege
Los Angeles-based University of Southern California officials said the university has "initiated the process to terminate" Carmen Puliafito, MD, former dean of the USC Keck School of Medicine, according to The New York Times.
USC Provost and Senior Vice President of Academic Affairs Michael W. Quick, PhD, said in a statement the university "[was] provided access to information of egregious behavior" on the part of Dr. Puliafito, 66, July 21. Dr. Quick called the information "extremely troubling" and said it required officials to take "serious action."
It was the first time university officials received first-hand information concerning Dr. Puliafito's alleged substance misuse activities with people unaffiliated with the university, the statement read.
"We certainly understand that substance abuse is a tragic and devastating disease," Dr. Quick said in the statement. "But we are also bound to our responsibilities as a university to take the necessary actions concerning Dr. Puliafito's status."
The statement also said Dr. Puliafito is "under immediate suspension from the university and is barred from our campuses and any association with USC, including attending or participating in university events" during the termination process.
USC officials announced their decision July 21 to hire a partner from Los Angeles-based law firm Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher to investigate Dr. Puliafito's conduct and the university's response, the report states.
"Our priority now is to obtain a clear picture of exactly what happened and to ensure the well-being and trust of our students at USC, the patients at the Keck School and our entire university community," USC officials said in an emailed statement to The New York Times July 22.
Allegations of Dr. Puliafito's substance misuse and associations with drug misusers and criminals surfaced July 17 in a report by The Los Angeles Times. One woman — who worked as a prostitute, according to The New York Times — said Dr. Puliafito was with her at the time of her drug overdose in 2016. The Pasadena Police Union said July 21 it was investigating the police's handling of the overdose incident.
Dr. Puliafito resigned from his position as dean in March 2016, less than one month after the alleged incident, according to The New York Times. He continued to accept new patients and remained a part of the Keck faculty following his resignation.
The day after The Los Angeles Times published its investigation, USC President C.L. Max Nikias, PhD, wrote an open letter to the campus community stating Dr. Puliafito had been placed on leave and was no longer seeing patients.
The Medical Board of California is also investigating the allegations against Dr. Puliafito.
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Drug abuse plagues administrative offices
Jul 24, 2017 | Education Dive
By Pat Donachie
The University of Southern California announced that it was seeking to fire former medical school dean Dr. Carmen Puliafito, who had been accused of using drugs during his appointment, according to The New York Times, while The Chronicle of Higher Education notes Puliafito's story is sparking conversations about how to deal with alcohol and substance abuse among faculty and administrators.
Previous reports said a woman had overdosed while in the company of Puliafito, and he resigned from the dean post shortly thereafter — but college administrators and professors note higher ed could be a challenging profession for alcohol and/or substance abusers due to high-pressure environments and the easy accessibility of alcohol at events and functions.
The accomplished professional career of esteemed administrators like Puliafito can often mask personal struggles and challenges with addiction or other matters, and George Washington University President Emeritus Stephen Joel Trachtenberg said it can be difficult to tell when individuals are suffering from addiction if they remain productive in work.Dive Insight:
Colleges and universities continue to face a crisis with offering the amount of mental health counseling needed for students. Throughout the country, there have been spikes in interest and requests for appointments for students to seek such counseling.
Institutions are responding in a variety of manners, including the creation of remote counseling locations to meet the burgeoning need, but the crushing weight of student interest may also be leaving professors and administrators without much recourse if they require mental health or substance abuse assistance. Professors reported in a recent survey that while they would confide in a colleague about mental health issues, they didn't feel that there was administrative support in terms of assisting their struggles, with many concerned about stigma.
Alcoholism and substance abuse can carry their own severe stigmas, which makes it all the more important for college and K-12 administrators alike to encourage a culture that would embolden individuals struggling with dependence issues to feel that they can seek assistance and counsel within the institution without fear of repercussion. Administrators could partner with interested students and faculty to become advisors and sounding boards for peers if affected individuals do not feel comfortable with immediately accessing institutional support. Leaders should also perform more outreach to alert students and teachers to their legal rights and protections against any form of discrimination in situations where they disclose concerns about dependence issues.
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USC to fire former dean over allegations of drug abuse
Jul 24, 2017 | Newburgh Gazette
By Dwayne Harmon
"We have initiated the required process to terminate Dr. Puliafito's employment at USC and strip him of his faculty tenure", said Quick in another Friday letter to the campus.
The University of Southern California is taking steps to cut ties with its former medical school dean after a Los Angeles Times investigation documented not only his alleged heavy drug use, but also his alleged enabling of other addicts with whom he socialized.
Puliafito has been suspended and is barred from campus and all USC-affiliated activities, Quick said in his statement.
The announcement came after the school said it was hiring a former judge and federal prosecutor to head an investigation into Los Angeles Times (http://lat.ms/2tOJ4j6 ) reports that Puliafito was seen on video apparently smoking methamphetamine and consorting with addicts and criminals.
The Daily Caller News Foundation reached out to USC and Puliafito for comment, but received none in time for press.
The school president said that USC hired Debra Wong Yang, a partner of the Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher law firm, to investigate Puliafito. Yang will present her findings to a committee of the USC board of trustees. In the letter Nikias said he was "outraged" and "disgusted" by Puliafito's behavior while at USC.
Nikias said the USC community must "cooperate fully and swiftly" with the investigation, and that the administration aims to understand what happened to prevent it from happening again.
"It runs counter to our values and everything for which our university stands". USC announced Monday that former Keck Dean Carmen Puliafito was no longer seeing patients.
The Times made repeated inquiries about Puliafito over the course of 15 months, which USC officials never responded to before the July 17 story broke.
The University has not confirmed the existence of this phone call, but Quick said in Friday's letter that the administration "needed actual facts" and would not act on "allegations and hearsay".
He stepped down as dean of the Keck School of Medicine a year ago.
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USC to Fire Former Medical School Dean
Jul 24, 2017 | TheScientist
By Diana Kwon
During his tenure as dean of the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California (USC), Carmen Puliafito was a respected eye surgeon and professor as well as a highly successful fundraiser. He regularly attended national conventions and training seminars, and coauthored more than 60 journal articles. But he also had other pastimes.
Last Monday (July 17), an investigation by the Los Angeles Times revealed that the doctor led a double life, keeping the company of criminals at drug-fueled parties where he took methamphetamine and other illicit substances. The report described details of photos and videos of Puliafito taking drugs and partying with much younger acquaintances in hotels rooms, cars, and the dean’s office at USC.
In March 2016, Puliafito was present in a hotel room where a 21-year-old woman overdosed on the date-rape drug, gamma-hydroxybutyrate. According to the Times, an anonymous witness phoned USC president Max Nikias’s office a week after this event and told two employees about the incident.
Puliafito resigned his position as dean a week and a half later, but stayed on as USC faculty. Mark Borchert, a professor at the medical school and practicing eye doctor, tells USA TODAY College that that he and many others at Keck were “surprised” when Puliafito resigned. “His behavior showed that he had many activities he wanted to accomplish over the next few years, so it was out of the blue,” Borchert adds.
Last Friday (July 21), USC Provost Michael Quick announced in a letter to the faculty that the university had initiated the process of firing Puliafito and banned him from campus. “Today, we were provided access to information of egregious behavior on the part of the former dean concerning substance abuse with people who aren’t affiliated with USC,” Quick wrote. “This was the first time we saw such information first hand.”
The school also hired Debra Wong Yang, a partner at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher and former U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California, to conduct an investigation into the former dean’s behavior and USC’s response. According to the Times, Yang represented USC in 2012 when it faced a wrongful death lawsuit after two graduate students were murdered off campus.
The California state medical board is currently reviewing Puliafito’s medical license.
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On the heels of USC's med school dean resignation, will the university's brand hold up?
Jul 24, 2017 | 89.3 KPCC
By Larry Mantle
Last week, the LA Times broke a story about the clandestine exploits of USC’s former medical school dean, Dr. Carmen A. Puliafito.
Four days later, USC announced its plans to fire Puliafito for his conduct, which allegedly included methamphetamine use while overseeing medical students, professors and clinicians, according to the Times investigation. He was also a prolific fundraiser for the university, with estimated donations totaling more than $1 billion. Arguably one of the most egregious allegations against Puliafito is his presence with a 21-year-old woman who overdosed in a Pasadena hotel room. She later recovered.
The L.A. Times said in a recent article that they had reached out to USC repeatedly over the course of the last 15 months. The university never responded to the Times’ inquiries. It’s unclear whether the Times investigation led to the end of Puliafito’s role as dean.
So what do you think of USC’s handling of Puliafito’s conduct? Will this hurt USC’s brand in the future?
We reached out to USC’s Office of the President, as well as their media relations office. They were unable to join us on-air, but provided the following statement:
The University of Southern California (USC) believes it is imperative to let the inquiry by Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher run its course so as to not impede its progress or cloud the recollections of those who may have information to share. Our priority now is to obtain a clear picture of exactly what happened and to ensure the well-being and trust of our students at USC, the patients at the Keck School and our entire university community.Guests:
Paul Pringle, Los Angeles times investigative reporter; he is the lead reporter on this story; he tweets at @PringleLATimes
Simon Barker, managing partner at Blue Moon Consulting Group, crisis management firm based in Denver; he focuses on crisis management and reputational risk in higher education
Ann Fromholz, a Pasadena-based employment lawyer who has conducted hundreds of workplace investigations; she is also a USC law school alumna.
Audio Links:
https://app.criticalmention.com/app/#/clip/public/5b80ad16-9e62-445b-95cc-f8c4aaf47223
https://app.criticalmention.com/app/#/clip/public/71f5af2f-1ab8-471e-a25a-9c2dadab374d
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USC fires Dr. Puliafito, launches external investigation (AUDIO)
Jul 24, 2017 | 89.3 KPCC
By A. Martinez
A week ago today, the Los Angeles Times published an investigative story about the former dean of USC's Keck School of Medicine.
It presented evidence that Carmen Puliafito had engaged in a pattern of illegal drug use and sometimes partied with a group of drug users in his USC offices.
The Times says it began sending questions about him USC officials more than a year ago - and says administrators never responded.
Then, this weekend, the University finally acted. It fired Puliafito and banned him from campus, and hired a law firm to investigate.
But there are questions about why USC took so long to act.
Take Two spoke with Robert Tranquada, who served as Dean of the Keck school from 1986 until 1991.
"I had no clue to any of this going on… I just was totally, totally surprised. I really cannot believe that something like this could happen."
Dr. Tranquada says he hopes the investigation results in more information.
"I think we really do need to know the details of what transpired during this time. And I must say from what i have read… I can’t tell with any precision as to who knew what when, and I really think we need to know that before any judgements [on other USC officials] can be considered."
Listen to the full segment: http://www.scpr.org/programs/take-two/2017/07/24/58137/usc-fires-dr-puliafito-launches-external-investiga/
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