A Houston urologist has had his medical license suspended for allegedly performing surgeries high on cocaine.
According to the Texas Medical Board‘s (TMB) press release., Dr. Nathan Starke oversaw several procedures at Houston Methodist Hospital, in August and September of 2024 seeming impaired, and in October, he tested positive for cocaine and Kratom.
According to Fox 26 Houston, Starke, 39, performed a prostate biopsy while under the influence and only showed up for the last three minutes of another surgery for which he was the attending physician. Multiple reports say Houston Methodist suspended Starke in September, at which time he agreed to drug testing.
“On December 20, 2024, a disciplinary panel of the Texas Medical Board temporarily suspended, without notice, the Texas medical license of Nathan Robert Starke, M.D. (Lic. No.R3597), after determining his continuation in the practice of medicine poses a continuing threat to public welfare,” the TMB said announcing their decision. The suspension was effective immediately, the Board said.
The TMB concluded, “A temporary suspension hearing with notice will be held as soon as practicable with 10 days’ notice to Dr. Starke unless the hearing is specifically waived by Dr. Starke. The temporary suspension remains in place until the Board takes further action.”
Starke’s recent positive drug test was not the physician’s first issue with the law. Last year, he was arrested for pushing his girlfriend and chipping her tooth, and he has been arrested twice — first in 2007 and then again in 2017 — for driving under the influence.
Starke’s license could be reinstated
Starke’s suspension is only temporary. In order to be reinstated, “he’s going to have to prove that he is substance-free. Substance abuse is a medical problem,” Legal Analyst Chris Tritico told Fox 26 Houston. To do so, Tritico said Starke will likely be ordered to a board-approved treatment facility, and once the treatment is completed, he will be monitored, possibly for years, “to ensure his patients are safe.”
“In chronic pain to this day”
It’s unclear if any former patients have brought lawsuits against Starke, but Jacob Castillo, 25, on whom Starke performed a vasectomy three years ago, says that while he doesn’t know if Starke was impaired when he performed the procedure, “it took me almost four weeks to fully recover.” It typically takes just a few days for vasectomy patients to bounce back.
“I wasn’t really able to walk [for two weeks]. Bedridden and still in chronic pain to this day,” Castillo said, according to Houston’s ABC 13 Eyewitness News.
Castillo also mentioned Starke was the only urologist willing to perform a vasectomy on someone so young. He was 22 when it happened, which looking back should have been a red flag, Castillo said.
Some came to Starke’s defense after the suspension was announced. Jasmine Crockett, a medical assistant who worked with Starke for three years, admires him as a “great doctor” but acknowledges that he does face very serious allegations.
It goes without saying that even the mere idea of a medical practitioner performing any kind of procedure on cocaine is beyond frightening. But social media comments on the Starke story continue to range from those incensed with his action, concerned for the “poor patients,” and thus demanding his immediate removal to Starke’s prior patients sharing examples of his successful surgeries in the past and praising him for his doctor-patient approach.
Published: Jan 11, 2025 08:19 am