Medical board yanks license in crack case
Posted on Saturday, June 7, 2008
The Arkansas State Medical Board on Friday revoked the license of a doctor arrested six months ago after police said they found him carrying crack cocaine while on duty at a south Arkansas hospital.
Crossett police said they were called to Ashley County Medical Center after Paul Jay Loop, who worked as a psychiatrist at the hospital, told a co-worker he had used crack cocaine.
Investigators said they found six crack cocaine rocks in a Tylenol bottle in Loop’s pocket on Dec. 3 and drug paraphernalia at his home.
The medical board, which regulates and licenses the state’s physicians, issued an emergency order suspending his medical license on Dec. 18.
In his hearing before the board Friday, Loop said he has worked hard to turn his life around and hoped to return to psychiatry and help other recovering drug and alcohol addicts.
“I have worked very, very diligently on my recovery,” Loop said.
Board member Dr. Joseph Beck said he’d be concerned for patient safety if Loop were to return to practice now.
“It looked like you were treating patients while you were high, which would lead me to believe that you put patients in danger,” Beck said.
Board Chairman Dr. Trent Pierce said he’s glad Loop is doing well but that he is in a “precarious position.” “Your recovery isn’t strong, and you don’t need to be counseling people and playing psychiatrist or psychologist,” he said.
In his December arrest, Loop faced felony drug and paraphernalia possession charges, but prosecutors dropped the charges and left it up to the medical board to make a decision in the case.
Loop said he started using drugs about five years ago because of depression after his mother’s death.
He also was arrested on April 17, 2007, when police in Topeka, Kan., found him asleep with drug paraphernalia openly visible in his car. Loop was living in Topeka and working at the Colmery-O’Neil Veterans Affairs Medical Center but resigned Aug. 31, 2007. He began working in Crossett in late November.
Loop went into drug-addiction treatment after his Crossett arrest, including 92 days of residential treatment at the Ouachita Medical Center Chemical Dependency Unit in Camden.
He is now working as a counselor-in-training at South Arkansas Substance Abuse in El Dorado.
“I’m working with younger people who have had substanceabuse problems and working on my own addiction,” he said. “I’m on the right track.” Loop said he attends daily Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous meetings, and signed a five-year monitoring contract with the Arkansas Medical Foundation in mid-May. The foundation develops treatment plans for impaired physicians, monitors their progress and helps those who successfully complete treatment re-enter medical practice.
Paul Meason, director of South Arkansas Substance Abuse, spoke on Loop’s behalf at the hearing. He said Loop has renewed strength and hope, and is helping himself and others.
“There’s no better therapeutic method than one addict helping another,” he said.
Board members said Loop could reapply for a medical license in the future.
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