It is easy for doctors to get access to the medications that they prescribe to their patients. If you are suffering from addiction, however, having access to opioids puts you in a troubling position that involves stealing which can cause you to lose your medical license. Dr. Brandon Ross was a doctor who was able to work hard at achieving sobriety which got him back the medical license he lost.
What Was Addiction Like for Dr. Ross?
Ross’s addiction started in his 30s. Ross would prescribe Vicodin to his patients after receiving hair transplants and then take dozens of pills himself at home. He would also take Vicodin with alcohol and abuse other drugs like cocaine. Ross would wait until he came home to start abusing drugs and would experience blackouts.
How Did Addiction Ruin Dr. Ross’s Life?
In October 2011, Ross’s ex-wife called 911 that Ross threatened to kill himself. Officers found a loaded gun and extra ammunition in the passenger seat of Ross’s car. In the trunk was a backpack filled with $25,000 in cash, four pills containing Hydrocodone, and hypodermic syringes with needles. This led the medical board to file an accusation against Ross’s medical license. Ross admitted that the night before, he consumed two bottles of wine, grams of cocaine, and two bottles of wine earlier that afternoon as well as ordering 7,000 doses of Vicodin.
In August 2012, Ross’s license was suspended for four months and was on probation for 10 years. He also surrendered his DEA permit and agreed to abstain drugs as well as submitting to a drug and alcohol test. In October 2013, Ross failed to take a substance abuse test and admitted to drinking again. The medical board revoked his probation and was ordered to stop treating patients. He surrendered his license the following month.
How Did Dr. Ross’s Achieve Sobriety?
Ross says that his three young sons are the reason he decided to clean up his act. He started law school thinking he had to follow a different path. He still asked the medical board to reinstate his license. After submitting to a drug and alcohol test several times a month without failing, he was given another chance in September 2018. Ross is not allowed to prescribe painkillers again, but he is still a doctor today and proved that working hard towards his sobriety turned his life around again.
Located in Georgetown, Texas, Alta Loma is a transformative living center to help those struggling in early recovery to transition out of our Psychiatric and Substance Abuse inpatient center. Alta Loma believes that addiction is born from an untreated mental illness in which our facility is here to help you. Our facility offers residency, medication management education, individualized treatment, life skills education, 12-step support, and more tools to bring patients the confidence to be able to live an independent life. For more information, please call us at 866-457-3843.
