Opioid-addicted doctor gets five years of probation

The Medical Board of California has put Kathryn Papier Hirst, M.D., on five years of probation. Following surgery, she became addicted to hydrocodone, and at one point was taking 30 to 40 tablets a day.

On February 7, 2014, she admitted to the Drug Enforcement Administration that she had been addicted to opioids for five and a half years. She initially took them for pain following an operation. She admitted that she enjoyed the pleasant feeling, and became addicted. She wrote false prescriptions for her father, mother, and sister, but took the tablets herself. Then she stole the prescription pad of a professional who worked for her, wrote a prescription for herself, and forged the assistant's name.

While working at the University of California San Diego Hillcrest Medical Center, Hirst practices family medicine and psychiatry, specializing in treatment of anxiety, bipolar disorder, depression, drug and alcohol abuse, and schizophrenia.