A Villages doctor showed up for work at the hospital legally drunk, state says
The license of a Villages doctor is restricted from use after she refused to treat her diagnosed alcohol use disorder, the Florida Department of Health says.
Dr. Lora Thaxton, 53, has been licensed in many states, but her Florida license is only 15 months old.
According to the April 16 emergency restriction order, Thaxton’s problem came to the state’s attention after it came to a nurse’s attention at UF Health The Villages in December.
The nurse told staff Thaxton “appeared impaired while at work.” The hospital supervisor had Thaxton take a breath test, and she blew a 0.1. Under Florida law, a person testing at 0.08 is legally drunk.
“Dr. Thaxton admitted to drinking a bottle of wine by herself the night prior to the Breathalyzer,” the restriction order said.
On Dec. 6, Thaxton self-reported the breath-test results to the Professionals Resource Network, which monitors impaired doctors. PRN sent Thaxton to Dr. Michael Strolla for evaluation. Strolla did a PEth Blood Spot test on Thaxton.
The restriction order said 100 ng/ml “most likely indicates repeated binge drinking.” Thaxton tested at 187.
After Strolla diagnosed her with moderate-to-severe alcohol use disorder and gave an opinion that Thaxton couldn’t practice medicine “with reasonable skill and safety,” he recommended the doctor enter a program that hospitalized her part of the time.
The Emergency Restriction Order said Thaxton said forthcoming medical treatments would delay entering such a program. PRN asked for documentation of Thaxton’s medical treatments so it could work on scheduling program entry.
But on March 12, Thaxton said she wouldn’t give up any more documentation and wouldn’t participate in PRN. So the Florida Surgeon General restricted her license until PRN or a PRN-approved evaluator judges she’s well enough to practice medicine safely.
This story was originally published April 28, 2020 at 6:36 AM with the headline "A Villages doctor showed up for work at the hospital legally drunk, state says."
