The State Journal-Register (Springfield, IL)

November 7, 2003 Friday

Doctor disciplined for drinking during drug treatment

BYLINE: DEAN OLSEN STAFF WRITER

SECTION: LOCAL; Pg. 15

LENGTH: 381 words

A former Springfield doctor who now practices in Indiana has been disciplined by Illinois medical officials for drinking alcohol after he was treated for drug dependency.
Dr. Vishwanath Gundur, a psychiatrist now based in Jeffersonville, Ind., had his medical license put on probation for five years in 1999 by the Illinois Department of Professional Regulation. He had pleaded guilty to driving under the influence of alcohol in 1998 in Sangamon County. Gundur completed a residential treatment program at Rush Behavioral Health Center in DuPage County, state records said. But the license probation required him to remain alcohol-free and submit quarterly reports on his recovery. DPR said he violated his probation by drinking on two occasions in February 2001 and failing to submit some reports.
Gundur admitted to violating terms of the probation, the department said, so in September, his license was put on probation for four more years.
Also in recent months, DPR:
* Placed the licensed practical nurse license of Mary Richard of Springfield on indefinite probation after Richard tested positive for Darvocet, a narcotic painkiller, while in an employee assistance program at St. John’s Hospital.
* Indefinitely suspended the LPN license of Tammy Hoskins of Springfield. She was found guilty in 2000 of aggravated sexual abuse of a minor and delivery of a controlled substance. She failed to report the convictions to the department.
* Blocked renewal of the LPN license of Barbara Bolton of Girard. She pleaded guilty to possession of methamphetamine in Macoupin County.
* Indefinitely suspended the LPN license of Joyce Dees of Taylorville. She was discharged from her nursing position at St. John’s during the probationary period because she was unable to fulfill the requirements of the position.
* Put the license of former Springfield physician James Goodrich on probation until 2010 because he overused prescription drugs, violating a previously imposed probation. Goodrich had been an associate professor of internal medicine at Springfield’s Southern Illinois University School of Medicine.
Department officials said earlier this year that Goodrich had entered a treatment program in Connecticut. He isn’t licensed to practice medicine there.