Jofm5: "
If you have ever been into theatre the last thing on your mind is to ask if the surgeon operating is to ask if they are a recovering alcoholic. The main reason being is that you place trust in all the checks and controls that surround that situation, you rely on the medical authority to grant and check the license of the person(s) performing the procedure and you place your life in their hands."
The analogy here would be if an assistant in the OR noticed alcohol on the breath of the surgeon and insisted on an evaluation of his condition before the operation commenced. The doc was then found to be breathalyzer positive, and later found to have a high BAC (in the view of the regulators, see below). I would indeed insist on being operated on by another surgeon, probably at a later date after my heart rate went down a bit ..
, and
I would report the matter to the relevant State Medical regulatory board and would await their findings with interest - let the blasted hospital do what it likes to the guy (not pretty, probably), I would want to hear what the medical regulators had to say.
This would be one surgeon in very serious trouble indeed, and one surgeon I would never allow near me with a knife in his hand ......
