It's estimated roughly 10 percent of nurses in the U.S. have a dependency on drugs.
Roughly 15 percent of doctors are considered addicted to drugs or alcohol.
In Florida, the Professionals Resource Network (PRN) and the Intervention Project for Nurses (IPN) are state-contracted programs that help addicted practitioners and nurses get treatment while still being able to hold on to their licenses. The programs have been around for decades and are widely respected and considered critically needed.
However, some practitioners who have been through the state's doctor rehab program are now speaking out—claiming the program is taking its power too far.
One licensed mental health counselor told us she was thrust into the state's drug and alcohol treatment program because she admitted on her state application that she was hospitalized for depression four years earlier. Despite already being treated for depression, she says, the state made her sign a 5-year contract for treatment through PRN.
"I felt humiliated, frustrated," she told us.
Find out how many licensed Florida doctors and nurses participate in the state's rehab programs and hear what other professionals who have been through the program say the state is responding - Tonight on ABC Action News at 11.
