Kentucky doctor who allegedly drank alcohol at work suspended and faces complaint
A Kentucky doctor accused of drinking alcohol while on duty faces a complaint by a state oversight board.
The Kentucky Board of Medical Licensure filed the complaint against Dr. Peter B. Hardin, 58, on March 21.
The board issued an emergency suspension of Hardin’s license in February after a committee at Taylor Regional Hospital in Campbellsville concluded Hardin had “endangered patients by providing services while impaired” and tried to intimidate a staffer who knew about the problem.
Hardin’s specialty is radiation oncology.
According to the complaint, Hardin was charged with drunken driving in Adair County in November and in Metcalfe County in January.
His blood-alcohol level in both cases allegedly was far above the .08 % at which drivers in Kentucky are presumed to be drunk. It was .336 % after he was arrested in Columbia, for instance, according to the board complaint.
A medical physicist at Taylor Regional Hospital told the board that on Jan. 4, Hardin’s speech was slurred while he was at the hospital and he had trouble walking and using computer software he regularly used.
The physicist said he knew Hardin has diabetes and thought his erratic behavior might be caused by an unsafe glucose level. However, the physicist heard someone else ask Hardin about his blood sugar and he said it had been checked and was OK, according to the complaint.
Another staffer told Hardin “everyone knew he was drunk,” but he denied that, according to the complaint.
Hardin saw several patients that day, including one starting radiation treatment.
The physicist said when he was about to leave work at 1:30 p.m., he stopped by Hardin’s office.
Hardin was slouched over in his chair with his eyes closed. When the physicist spoke to him, Hardin raised his head slightly but didn’t respond or open his eyes.
The therapist later told the physicist she had found four water bottles with alcohol in them in Hardin’s office since his November DUI arrest.
The physicist said he smelled one bottle and it smelled like vodka, according to the complaint.
A committee at the hospital held a hearing on the issue. One piece of evidence was a video showing Hardin going to his car one day at 2 p.m. to take a drink of something.
Hardin told the committee he’d had two knee surgeries in 2023, and rather than taking pain pills, he felt using alcohol in combination with over-the-counter pain pills would be less addictive, according to the complaint.
Hardin said the appearance of him being drowsy, which several hospital employees had reported, was a result of having trouble sleeping, not being impaired by alcohol, and that other symptoms may have resulted from a problem with his blood sugar.
The hospital committee recommended suspending Hardin’s privileges at the hospital, however.
Hardin’s attorney, Brian R. Good, declined comment on behalf of Hardin.
