Texas Doctor Accused of Being High During Surgeries Loses License After Testing Positive for Cocaine

A Houston urologist had his medical license revoked after testing constructive for cocaine, following earlier allegations of him performing surgical procedures below the affect.

Dr. Nathan Robert Starke reportedly exhibited indicators of impairment whereas consulting a affected person earlier than a prostate biopsy in August 2024. Information indicated he was absent for all however three minutes of 1 surgical process, regardless of being the attending doctor, as reported by KTRK.

By September, Houston Methodist had suspended him and later confirmed that he was not working on the hospital.

After the Texas Medical Board to droop his license in September, drug checks submitted in October indicated the presence of cocaine and kratom in Starke’s system. Kratom is a controversial complement usually related to vitality boosts and managing withdrawal signs, as reported by ABC13.

Since incomes his medical license in 2017, Starke’s authorized troubles shadowed his profession. Inside a month of being licensed, he was arrested for driving below the affect. His file additionally features a 2023 cost for assaulting a former girlfriend, leaving her with a chipped tooth and bruises.

These incidents raised purple flags about his health to apply, resulting in mandated drug and alcohol screenings final 12 months.

“You might be placing folks’s lives in your palms,” a former affected person instructed ABC13.

Starke beforehand served as the pinnacle of the lads’s well being clinic, a place he held till the latest suspension. The hospital has since erased his profile. Houston Methodist’s Fannin Road location, the place Starke carried out surgical procedures, is at present listed on-line as “completely closed.”

What’s subsequent for the physician stays unclear, but FOX26 reported that he might get his license again.

Substance use was the main reason for actions towards U.S. physicians’ licenses, comprising 76.3% of instances between 2004 and 2020, a 2022 examine discovered.