Surgeon Arrested For Allegedly Showing Up Drunk To Operate

A plastic surgeon from Kentucky was arrested Monday after allegedly showing up drunk to perform a surgery.

Dr. Theodore Gerstle, a plastic surgeon, was taken into custody on public intoxication charges, CBS affiliate WKYT-TV reported. He allegedly arrived around noon on Jan. 15 at the Baptist Health Lexington hospital in Lexington to perform the only surgery on his schedule that day.

According to the hospital spokesperson Ruth Ann Childers, the staff there reported Gerstle was intoxicated. Following the complaint, the chief medical officer followed policy and went to speak with Gerstle, who had left facility before he could be confronted.

The surgeon was not an employee of Baptist Health Lexington but had staff privileges and could perform procedures at the hospital, Childers said. The privileges were suspended following the incident. Hospital staff reported the incident to police after which Gerstle was taken into custody near the hospital on Shady Lane.

“Patient safety is always our number one concern, every day,” Childers said in a statement, WKYT reported. “We take these things very seriously and it will be thoroughly investigated.”

The surgeon was also working at Lexington Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery and specialized in the treatment of migraine headaches, according to the establishment’s website. He also performed facial rejuvenation surgeries, body contouring and other reconstructive surgeries.

The website also stated he was a native of New York and was previously in the military. He received his Bachelors of Science in Engineering Management at the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York.

After graduation from the University of Louisville’s School of Medicine, he trained in the Harvard Combined Plastic Surgery Residency program in Boston. According to the Daily Mail, his license status remained active in the Kentucky Board of Medical Licensure's database, but substance abuse was considered a violation of the state's Medical Malpractice Act, and called for “discipline.”

This is not the first time a surgeon was reported to have shown up drunk to work. In May last year, a doctor practicing in The Woodlands, Texas, and in Montgomery, Alabama, was suspended after it was found he was treating patients while under the influence of alcohol.

A panel by the Texas Medical Board determined Dr. Gregory Gibbons, a licensed emergency room physician, constituted a threat to the welfare of the public if he were to continue practicing medicine, ABC affiliate KTRK-TV reported.

According to the board, Gibbons acted strangely April. 19, while working a day shift at CHI St. Luke's Emergency Center in Montgomery. Documents stated he showed signs of intoxication, and was found passed out in a room designated for doctors to sleep. Records said he was evaluated and the results of a blood test showed the doctor had a blood alcohol concentration of 0.293.

The hospital in statement at the time said: “While we do not discuss any specific medical staff or credentialing status matters, we do have policies and procedures in place to ensure that medical staff review committees take appropriate action when dealing with concerns effecting the care provided to patients.”