A disgraced medical school dean at the University of Southern California used methamphetamine while working at the school — but only because his mental illness allowed him to fall head over heels for a drug-addicted hooker, his lawyer said Wednesday.
The Los Angeles Times reports that the admission during a state medical board hearing by attorney Peter Osinoff on behalf of Carmen Puliafito marked the first time the 67-year-old physician responded publicly after the newspaper exclusively reported last year that he was seen on video using meth and other drugs with criminals and drug abusers.
Puliafito, a Harvard-trained ophthalmologist, stopped using meth that month and has since been recovering, which should allow him to keep his medical license, Osinoff said. The lawyer blamed mental illness for causing his client to become “addicted” to a 21-year-old former prostitute named Sarah Warren, who got him involved in “street drugs” that ultimately led to his professional demise.
“Compared to [Sarah Warren’s] use of drugs and alcohol, his use was light,” Osinoff said. “She was a hardcore addict. He used drugs so he could be close to her.”
Puliafito, who has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, resigned from his $1.1 million annual post at the University of Southern California’s Keck School of Medicine in March 2016, just three weeks after Warren overdosed in his Pasadena hotel room, the Times exclusively revealed on July 17, 2017. Days later, the university announced that it would fire Puliafito, who was immediately barred from campus after the school received reports of “egregious behavior” regarding substance abuse.
In response to allegations that Puliafito returned to his medical office “within hours” of using meth, as well as supplying drugs to Warren and her 17-year-old brother, Charles, Osinoff said Wednesday that the physician denied giving drugs to the Warrens and was never under the influence of illegal substances when seeing patients.
Osinoff instead painted Puliafito as a man who tried to rescue Sarah Warren from a “life of drugs and prostitution” but found himself trapped in a “fantasy” world where consequences did not seem to matter. His former girlfriend also “drugged him without his consent,” according to Osinoff, who accused Warren’s parents of trying to “shake him down” for money under the threat of her speaking to reporters and sharing her side of the story. Paul Warren, the father of Sarah and Charles Warren, denied that claim during an interview, according to the Times.
“This is a case about mental illness and its effects upon a very high-functioning person who managed it well, largely without treatment, for 64 years,” Osinoff told Administrative Law Judge Jill Schlichtmann.
Deputy Attorney General Rebecca Smith countered that Puliafito — whom she characterized as a “danger to the public” — is unfit to practice medicine due to his substance abuse disorder and his past conduct involving the Warrens.
An employee at a hotel in Pasadena also testified Wednesday that he found Sarah Warren “completely unresponsive” when he responded to the room in March 2016. Devon Khan, a reservations supervisor, said he saw Warren slumped over in a wheelchair “like a rag doll” and saw a bag of small metal cartridges on the floor, as well as a small butane torch and burnt bedding.
A security employee later found a baggie containing a white substance inside the room’s safe, Khan said.
Upon finding Warren, Khan said he was going to call for an ambulance, but Puliafito tried to stop him from doing so after identifying himself as a doctor and claiming that she had simply drunk too much alcohol.
“Somewhat reluctantly,” Khan said during cross-examination by Osinoff when asked if Puliafito agreed to call police. “I didn’t ask for permission.”
The Times’ initial report on Puliafito led to several scandals at the university, including the resignation of Puliafito’s successor as the newspaper was preparing to publish a story disclosing that USC had formally disciplined Dr. Rohit Varma in 2003 after allegations that he sexually harassed a female researcher, resulting in a $135,000 payout to the woman.
The university also admitted earlier this month allowing Dr. George Tyndall, a gynecologist at the student health center for 30 years, to treat young women for years despite numerous sexual misconduct and racial discrimination complaints against him. That revelation led the university’s president, C.L. Max Nikias, to announce last week that he would step down.