In July, the University of Florida hired a psychiatrist to practice at UF Health Recovery Center and made him an assistant professor.
Now, many are asking whether UF knew that Harold E. Smith, 61, had a history of drug addiction and that his license was revoked by several other states and the Drug Enforcement Administration.
Smith, 61, must go before the Florida Board of Medicine on Friday. He also is accused in a wrongful death lawsuit of causing the death of a hospitalized patient in Orange County through an overdose of oxycodone, the Gainesville Sun reports (paywall alert).
The patient's death occurred before Smith joined UF. But the information on his past disciplinary problems should have been available through a physicians' databank kept in Washington, as well as through public information.