Texas Medical Board suspends license of Psychiatrist Sergio Silva for cocaine use.

From this report in the American Statesman newspaper

An Austin psychiatrist whose license was suspended last fall after a boy he was treating was hospitalized has acknowledged using cocaine but wants to practice again, according to a new order from the Texas Medical Board.

The board last week acted again in the case of Dr. Sergio Silva, indefinitely suspending him from practice and stipulating that he not seek reinstatement before May 11. To regain his license, Silva would have to prove that he can safely practice.

Silva did not respond to a request seeking an interview Friday but said through his attorney, Penny Hobbs of Austin, that the "case was contested" and that the board's latest order represents a compromise.

"He's not admitting or denying" what is outlined in the order, which Silva signed, Hobbs said. "It's a mechanism for him, hopefully, to get his license back someday."

Silva has not practiced since September, when the board temporarily suspended him not only for his treatment of the 7-year-old boy but also for mishandling the care of a housemate. The housemate overdosed on drugs that Silva prescribed, the board determined. It also sanctioned Silva for interfering with that patient's care to the point of losing hospital privileges, for failing to return phone calls to patients and for missing appointments.

In the case of the 7-year-old, the boy's mother told Silva that the child was getting worse while on the Prozac and Strattera that Silva had prescribed. He accused the mother of not complying with his medication orders. Later, he boosted the dosage, which led to the child's hospitalization.

Silva later filed a complaint against the mother with Child Protective Services.

The new order says that from Jan. 8 to 12, Silva took part in the "psychiatric and addictive disease evaluations" at Talbott Recovery Campus in Atlanta. Silva indicated that he had been following a 12-step program since Jan. 22, the order said. Talbott did not recommend that Silva be allowed to resume his psychiatric practice, the order said. It said a Jan. 11 drug screen of his hair was positive for cocaine and two substances involved in cocaine metabolism.

Hobbs declined to comment on specifics in the order.

[...]

The report mentions nothing about possible criminal charges for the cocaine possession.