This public letter was contributed by the Medical Executive Committee of Hazel Hawkins Healthcare. The opinions expressed do not necessarily represent BenitoLink or other affiliated contributors. Lea este artÃculo en español aqui.
This letter represents the collective opinion of the Medical Executive Committee of Hazel Hawkins Healthcare in response to the August 19 news story regarding surgeon Dr. John Wiemann and his probation by the Medical Board of California (MBC) related to a 2023 DUI.
First and foremost, patient safety is, and always will be, our highest priority. Every physician who applies to the Medical Staff at Hazel Hawkins undergoes an extensive credentialing process. We verify education and training, board certification, professional references, malpractice history, clinical experience, hospital affiliations, medical licenses, criminal history, and required continuing education. We also query the National Practitioner Data Bank and Office of Inspector General. That oversight does not end with appointment. Every eight months, physicians undergo Ongoing Professional Practice Evaluation (OPPE), a comprehensive review of clinical and professional performance, quality, outcomes, and other measures relevant to the care they provide. This process is also reviewed and mandated by The Joint Commission.
Dr. Wiemann was no exception. His history was known and carefully considered alongside his extensive training and experience, professional references, clinical qualifications, and the requirements placed on his medical license. The decision to appoint him to our Medical Staff was an informed one. We spoke directly with physicians who had worked alongside him and could speak firsthand to his clinical abilities, professionalism, and character. The feedback was overwhelmingly positive.
Dr. Wiemann initially joined Hazel Hawkins on a temporary, locum tenens assignment, allowing us to evaluate not only his qualifications on paper but also the physician and surgeon he is at the bedside and in the operating room. He exceeded our expectations. His clinical skill, quality of care, professionalism, and ability to perform advanced surgical cases filled an important need for our hospital and community. Based on that experience, he was brought to Hazel Hawkins permanently.
The suggestion that a physician in these circumstances practices without oversight does not accurately reflect physician regulation in California. Medical Board actions involving substance-related conduct may include license restrictions, treatment requirements, probationary monitoring, biological testing, worksite monitoring, clinical evaluation, and documented compliance. A physician participating in this process is not practicing without oversight; multiple layers of accountability surround them.
There is also a larger truth that should not be lost: physicians are human beings. Substance use disorder exists throughout medicine, from rural hospitals to renowned academic medical centers. It is a treatable condition, and physicians who confront a problem, complete treatment, satisfy licensing requirements, and return to practice under monitoring should not automatically be defined by the worst moment of their lives. And that system works. Physicians who complete monitored recovery programs have among the best documented long term recovery outcomes of any population studied, a fact that reflects both the rigor of the oversight and the accountability physicians accept in order to return to the work they trained their whole lives to do.
If the message our community’s physicians take from this episode is that seeking treatment ends a career and invites public humiliation years later, the result will not be safer care. It will be physicians hiding illness instead of treating it, and fewer physicians willing to serve communities like ours at all. For this reason, Hazel Hawkins Healthcare maintains an active Physician Wellness Committee specifically to support Medical Staff members through professional and personal challenges before those challenges can affect patient care. A culture in which physicians can safely seek help ultimately strengthens patient safety.
The BenitoLink story also suggests that questions raised during hospital board meetings about Dr. Wiemann’s recovery went unanswered. Our community should understand that there are legal, ethical, and professional limits on what the hospital and Medical Staff may publicly disclose about an individual physician. Credentialing, peer review, and Medical Staff records and proceedings are protected under California law, including Evidence Code §1157, and physician health and monitoring programs carry important confidentiality protections. Our inability to publicly discuss every detail should never be mistaken for a lack of knowledge, oversight, or accountability. Dr. Wiemann’s circumstances have been known to the appropriate Medical Staff leadership and regulatory bodies throughout this process. His current Medical Board action follows a nearly three-year course of recovery and monitoring. Any return to practice will occur only after completion of the required clinical evaluation and in accordance with Medical Board requirements and our established Medical Staff processes.
As physicians, we believe accountability matters. We also believe recovery matters. Those principles are not mutually exclusive. We stand behind the rigorous process used to evaluate and continually monitor physicians on our Medical Staff, and we stand behind Dr. Wiemann and the care he has provided to this community.
We also want our community to understand what this hospital means to the physicians who make up the Medical Executive Committee. This is not simply where we work. It is where many of us have built our careers, cared for generations of families, and invested years of our lives serving San Benito County. Decisions about who is granted the privilege of caring for patients here are decisions we take personally.
Our standard is simple: every physician practicing at Hazel Hawkins should be someone we would trust to care for our own families and loved ones. That responsibility guides our credentialing decisions, our ongoing oversight, and our commitment to patient safety.
The Medical Executive Committee
Hazel Hawkins Healthcare
Ralph Armstrong, DOÂ Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Michael Bogey, MD
Chief of Staff; Chair, Emergency Department                    Chief Medical Officer
Natalie LaCorte, MD Russell Dedini, MD
Chair, Medicine Department Chair, Surgery Department
Richard Rupp, MD
Chair, Diagnostic Imaging Department
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