Tulsa World: One doctor has been given one last chance by the board

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One doctor has been given one last chance by the board

Dr. Lynn Baggett, medical director of Catalyst Behavioral Services, has been disciplined by the state numerous times for alcohol and substance abuse, but he now works at an Oklahoma City treatment center. His license was reinstated last year. Brett Deering / for the tulsa World

By KIM ARCHER World Staff Writer
Published: 11/22/2009 3:36 AM
Last Modified: 11/23/2009 1:00 PM

Related Story: Higher standards

Search a Tulsa World database of disciplined doctors from 2000 through 2009.

It is his last chance to remain a physician, and Dr. Lynn Baggett is grabbing it.

“I’m a physician, but I’m also a human being. I’m as susceptible to the human condition as anyone else,” he said.

Dogged by alcohol and substance abuse for years, the Oklahoma doctor has one of the longest disciplinary records in the state.

“It’s always been for substance abuse. It’s not for practicing medicine,” Baggett said. It’s a startling statement for someone who this year was named medical director for Catalyst, an Oklahoma substance abuse center.

His license was first suspended for alcohol and substance abuse in 1989. And he has a string of suspensions and probation actions nearly every year or two since.

“I just couldn’t stop using drugs or alcohol. It wasn’t that I would come to work high,” Baggett said.

While fewer physicians use illegal drugs than in the general public, prescription abuse is five times higher among physicians, according to an article last year in the Harvard Review of Psychiatry.

“Physicians get into trouble because of access,” Baggett said. Stress and lack of early detection also play a part, according to the article’s authors. Baggett lost his family, his dignity and nearly his entire career because of his addiction.

“I would do well for a period of time and I would go ask for another chance,” he said. “Then I would fall off the wagon and get caught in one of these drug screens.”

The random drug tests were among the requirements placed on Baggett by the medical licensure board during his probation.

He went through four drug rehabilitation programs in four states.

“It started off with opiates and just spiraled from there,” Baggett said.

Finally, he started working at a drug recovery program called Catalyst Behavioral Services in Oklahoma City, but not as a doctor. Instead, he worked for five years with perpetrators of domestic violence to help them change their destructive behaviors.

Last November, Baggett went before the board again to ask that his license be reinstated because he said he has stayed clean since his license was last revoked in 2003.

“I wanted to try to do some good and told them I wanted the opportunity,” he said. It wasn’t unanimous.

Still, the board said, “We’ll give you one more chance. But if you mess up, don’t come back,” Baggett said.

He said he has found a new partner in life and made amends with his former wife. His children have begun coming around again. And he now has a relationship with a grandson he hadn’t seen since the boy’s birth 10 years earlier.

“It affects everybody around you,” Baggett said.

He lauds the state medical board and how it is proactive in protecting the people of Oklahoma. He said the board acts quickly and efficiently.

“A physician cannot hide. You’re going to get caught,” he said.

In July, Baggett was named medical director at Catalyst. He is now working toward being certified in addiction medicine next summer.

He was placed on five years’ probation and must call in daily to the physician’s health program. The board’s compliance officers make surprise visits frequently and conduct drug screenings.

He now gives physicals to addicts who are in recovery at Catalyst, and he treats their addiction.

On Thursday, Baggett went before the board requesting permission to prescribe Suboxone and another drug used to treat opiate addiction in his patients. He also asked to prescribe Schedule 3 drugs in his hospital work, which include narcotics such as codeine and hydrocodone.

The board allowed the opiate addiction drugs. But it flatly refused his request to prescribe Schedule 3 drugs, noting that could jeopardize his sobriety.

Said one member, “You are the poster child for recovery.” Said another, “And this is your last chance.” Baggett said he is grateful the board has allowed him to practice again as a doctor.

“They decided to let me practice with ‘my people,’ ” he said. “I, above all people, understand them. Addiction is a brain disease.”

Kim Archer 581-8315
kim.archer@tulsaworld.com

By KIM ARCHER World Staff Writer

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	Report Comment gba, (11/22/2009 4:49:10 AM) good for you doc. as a recovering alcoholic/addict I understand,sounds like you are working a good program,keep it up,you will be able to understand as few others will
	Report Comment jess, (11/22/2009 7:52:12 AM) Think I would want a doctor who I knew was clean and sober.
	Report Comment SUNNY8663, (11/22/2009 8:33:30 AM) I am all for giving a person another chance, but this doctor is not to be believed. He says he didn't go to work under the influence. Yeah, right. Doesn't sound like he is ready yet to really change if he still can't admit to himself how far his problem went.
	Report Comment jonas x3, Tulsa (11/22/2009 9:09:33 AM) WOW!
	Report Comment Ignatz, A nice place where Democrats hold every office in the County. (11/22/2009 9:14:50 AM) How many times did he show up to render professional medical treatment while hung-over or otherwise strung out? Probably every day. "Tort Reform" would protect him from any harm he did to patients, lower his malpractice premiums and increase insurance company profits. Obviously that's what we need to help out the good doctor and his drug addled buddies.
	Report Comment FUTURE WORLD, Tulsa (11/22/2009 9:40:49 AM) And our conservative legislatures are screaming for medicl tort reform. Are they kidding? Great comment Ignantz.
	Report Comment mayor_maynot, Tulsa (11/22/2009 10:05:45 AM) One thing about it he probably does understand the addict better than someone who has never experienced addiction. I wouldn't allow him to write prescriptions any more. But he could be effective in counseling.
	Report Comment Few Clothes, America (11/22/2009 10:59:14 AM) Everyone should use a marker to write "This one" on the leg or arm that this character is supposed to operate on.
	Report Comment emotional_sting, tulsa - (11/22/2009 11:16:25 AM) looks like an honest and hard working person.
	Report Comment smith, (11/22/2009 11:22:15 AM) 23 yrs ago you helped deliver my son and now you are in my prayers
	Report Comment fredsdad, Tulsa, OK (11/22/2009 11:39:58 AM) Screw recovery! Let's sue the bas****! There is money to be made! Business a little slow, Ig?
	Report Comment sirwinston, (11/22/2009 12:10:29 PM) Wow. I admire this guy. He has an incredible gift that he went to school for years and he's finally getting his life on track and helping people again. Doctors and Attorneys both fall through the cracks. They are indeed human and they make mistakes like everyone else. If I lived in OKC I would without a doubt want this man to be my doctor. I admire him because I myself have made many mistakes, not drug or addiction related, but I've been given a second chance by life many times. I hope he remembers where he came from. Can you believe Oprah is going off air? I know, unrelated but he should go on Oprah.
	Report Comment Bl. Collar, (11/22/2009 12:26:39 PM) Those who have been burnt make best firemen.
	Report Comment fredsdad, Tulsa, OK (11/22/2009 12:28:40 PM) Sirwinston, On Oprah? I haven't had a drink for over 29 years, and if I were forced to be on Oprah, I would go screaming from the studio to the nearest liquor store! He would be better left to Ignatz' tender mercies.
	Report Comment Jinxed, CA (11/22/2009 12:30:56 PM) Now we know who NOT TO EVER SEE.
	Report Comment Ignatz, A nice place where Democrats hold every office in the County. (11/22/2009 12:42:01 PM) fredsdad, and if the good drunken doctor were to drop a scalpel in one of your eyes you believe it more important for his insurance company to avoid paying for his error than for him to be held responsible for his incompetence?
	Report Comment Few Clothes, America (11/22/2009 3:00:54 PM) fredsdad. Congratulations on 29 years! I only wish I had that much instead of 8.
	Report Comment Lucky Ed, Tulsa (11/22/2009 3:53:16 PM) It takes one to know one!
	Report Comment okie ridgerunner, Small Country Town State Line (11/22/2009 5:42:56 PM) Every one deserves another chance. but he has had several second chances. I would not trust him.yes he is only human. so are the rest of us. most of us would not get that many chances.
	Report Comment tiara, (11/22/2009 5:56:58 PM) why wouldn't you trust a man who has come out in the open and said, yes, i am human. I have made mistakes. And I am now open for scrutiny. THAT is the man i would trust above all others...
	Report Comment fredsdad, Tulsa, OK (11/22/2009 6:33:36 PM) Ig, Who is responsible? Him or the insurance company? I'm supposed to get mad at him and take it out on the insurance company? Would you recommend I pursue this action pro se? You could be my consultant, just as a favor based on our long friendship. I suspect that I would be compensated for the loss of my eye. I only hope it would be for more than the eye is worth, as mine don't work that well and I'd like to get a new pair of jeans out of the deal. Besides, as I enter my late, late youth, I find that what I can imagine I am looking at usually beats what I am actually looking at every time.
	Report Comment Elusive, Owasso (11/22/2009 10:18:17 PM) He is director of a substance abuse center? wow.
	Report Comment davfromm, Tulsa (11/23/2009 7:34:39 AM) fredsdad, Tulsa, OK (11/22/2009 6:33:36 PM): "Besides, as I enter my late, late youth, I find that what I can imagine I am looking at usually beats what I am actually looking at every time." H-E-doublesticks has finally frozen over. I can't believe I agree with fredsdad about something...
	Report Comment tallgirle, tulsa (11/23/2009 10:51:20 AM) He was a really good doctor back in the day.......side effect of the profession
	Report Comment Serenity, Tulsa (11/23/2009 11:47:20 AM) I hope he won't waste his last chance and who else can understand addicts that somebody who has been in the same situation? Good luck to him.

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