Rehab program for doctors won’t survive in California

Doctors who abuse alcohol or drugs should no longer be allowed to enroll in a confidential, state-monitored rehabilitation program, according to the president of the Medical Board of California. The California Medical Assn. and other physicians' groups have urged that substance-abusing doctors continue to be allowed to enroll in such a program. In 2007, the medical board voted to end such a program, designed to divert drug- and alcohol-abusing doctors from public disciplinary action to a confidential arrangement. The program is scheduled to end July 1.