I met Dr. Benjamin Eric First as his life was ramping up. His maxillofacial surgery practice was on a roll by 2005 – and so was his lifestyle. Money was no object. It was THE object. Ben’s growing business in New Port Richey, Fla, supported expansion into the nearby city of Palm Harbor, a more…
I liked how my friend Ben showed kindness to everyone, seemingly treating wealthy friends the same as he did beggars on street corners. He was down to earth and often provided free services to the indigent. Those traits eventually dissolved in a sea of despair. I had never witnessed the violent uncontrollable rage inside my…
Ben’s mother Nanci explained that she and her now-deceased husband Donald tried to do everything they could to help the son they adopted and lovingly raised since birth. She was in the medical field and noticed Ben’s related interests at an early age. She observed, for example, that he would “take his sister’s dolls, undress…
With various authorities consistently deeming Dr. First healthy enough to resume practicing, I had no desire to interfere, betray or report him for infractions they basically already knew about. However, PRN-type programs in Florida and nationwide, I learned, are typically administered by independent authorized consultants to support physician privacy and willingness to get help. The…
In exchange for two years of probation, Dr. First pled guilty, and was set free from the Pinellas County jail August 14, 2015, at 2:39 a.m. Ben called to ask me to pick him up at a Denny’s he walked to after being released. As petty as it sounds, I purposely delayed coming. I was…
Not long after Ben’s release from jail in 2015, another girlfriend contacted a county sheriff’s office to notify them about Dr. First illegally possessing an arsenal of guns and silencers at the New Port Richey office where he lived off and on, now increasingly on. Her intent was to warn the local police in case…
Startling examples abound of doctors being sued for seriously harming patients while in physician health programs nationwide. These programs undoubtedly include success stories as well. Dr. Stanley Mark Dratler may be one despite a long history of transgressions. It’s difficult to say. Dratler was among the earliest participants in Florida’s PRN program when he had…
At the time Congress created the National Practitioner Data Bank (NPDB) in 1986, federal authorities acknowledged that impaired and dangerous doctors nationwide were getting off easy with informal reprimands and censures as well as poorly enforced agreements. The Federation of State Medical Boards noted that between 20,000 to 45,000 doctors were estimated to be mentally…
A Pinellas County 911 operator received a call from Laurese at 10:56 p.m. on June 3, 2019, obviously distressed yet speaking in a measured clear voice. “There’s nothing wrong. I just want my boyfriend gone. I just want my boyfriend to move out.” The operator asks for more information, as Laurese begins to stammer. “I…
From personal first-hand experience and extensive research, I concluded that Dr. First had many inadvertent “accomplices” that could have stopped or slowed his 20-year transformation from respected oral surgeon to madman. I also learned that many doctors are operating in similar shadows – not just in Florida but across the country – due to the…
It’s generally not easy to know when doctors egregiously misbehave. And Florida’s Division of Medical Quality Assurance disciplinary process must be as complicated as it looks. The slew of interconnected steps ranges from board reviews, hearings and orders to mediation, appeals and compliance monitoring. The Florida Health website includes a search for available disciplinary actions…