A two-year probationary sentence was handed down Wednesday for a former resident anesthesiologist at the VA Hospital in West Los Angeles, who injected himself with sedatives and a powerful painkiller and then passed out in an operating room while his fully conscious patient lay nearby.
Dr. Jason G. Hirsch was also ordered by U.S. Magistrate Judge Patrick Walsh to pay a $10,000 fine and follow rigorous drug testing conditions set by the California Medical Board in its settlement of the case.
“I’m terribly sorry for the events of that day,” Hirsch told the court, admitting that he had put his patient in harm’s way during the “shameful, regrettable” incident.
The patient indicated that he overheard a commotion when the anesthesiologist collapsed, and was initially frightened when he thought the emergency was due to his own medical condition.
Hirsch — who now works at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center — pleaded guilty in April to misdemeanor counts of theft of public property and possession of a controlled substance, both dealing with the sedative ketamine, according to documents filed in Los Angeles federal court.
In his own statement of facts, Hirsch wrote that he arrived at the VA facility early on Sept. 5, 2012, to prepare for two scheduled surgeries.
Feeling anxious about a presentation he was expected to deliver, Hirsch took several tablets of the prescription sedative clonazepam, which he said he obtained from a family friend, according to the document.
He then went to the dispensary to obtain medications needed for the the first surgery, and checked out ketamine; midazolam, a depressant known by the trade name Versed; and fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opiate, the document states.
“In the operating room, at some point during the procedure, I put a tourniquet on my left forearm and injected myself with ketamine, midazolam (Versed) and fentanyl,” Hirsch said in the court filing.
“I then lost consciousness and fell to the ground, striking my head. Hospital personnel found empty vials of fentanyl, midazolarn, ketamine and flumazenil in the operating room. They also found three unlabeled, uncapped syringes with medicine in them.”
Defense attorney Earll Pott told the court that his client’s glossophobia — fear of public speaking — was at the root of Hirsch’s problem that day.
Despite the phobia, however, Hirsch is “committed to a life of sobriety,” Pott told the judge.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel O’Brien conceded that the defendant had “come a long way” and has remained drug-free during the past three years.
“Incarceration would serve no purpose,” the prosecutor said, adding that he is concerned that Hirsch may have a drug dependency problem that could be “larger than he is willing to acknowledge.”
Following a stipulated settlement, the California Medical Board last week placed Hirsch on five years’ probation with various terms and conditions, including drug testing four times per month.
The judge told Hirsch that, in passing sentence, he had to “look beyond this courtroom to the people you are going to treat” in the future.
“I hope … this was a once-in-a-lifetime event and it won’t happen again,” Walsh said from the bench.
—City News Service