Villages doctor
 

Villages doctor stopped for DUI, faces prescription pill charges
Villages doctor dui pills - OrlandoSentinel.com

Just got the new 2012 physician directory and Sheri E. Hamnik, MD is listed under neurology.

Medical School; University of Illinois College of Medicine.
Internship; Mount Sinai Hospital
Residency; Loyola University Medical Center.

The photograph in the article is so different from the one in the book. Drugs are awful.

That is a very sad, pathetic situation.

I feel sorry for her and hope she responds constructively to this big wakeup call, but I hope the state medical licensing board yanks her license at least for a few years.

Hopefully the licensing board is strict.

Sheri E. Hamnik, MD, the doctor who was arrested is the head of the brand new primary stroke center at our village hospital. she recently moved here from virginia and worked hard to establish this much needed service in our community

What a shame and a waste. Hope she gets the help needed. What's even more tragic is that this is nothing new in the medical profession. I truly believe mandatory, random drug testing should be a prerequisite to any position in a hospital.

I am a stroke survivor and may have called for her services in the future. Thank you so much Redwitch for bringing this to our attention!!

So sad. This doctor needs help and the willingness to overcome this problem.

I hope she gets it and does what's right to get her life back on track.

I was happy when she was appointed head of The Villages Hospital new certified stroke center. Met her, seemed nice and also knowledgable, planned to make an appt, not now. Maybe already she is no longer head of stroke center. If another stroke strikes I'll go to Munroe for sure now.
What was she thinking ???????????????????

Think its a little early to say pull her license for a couple of years.Maybe one or two drinks over,not sure.. The pills,do not know,seems mighty strange.Maybe when all the facts come out,something will make sense.

Played golf this morning with one of her patients and he had high praise for her as a physician.

She worked so hard for her success.

This is tragic.

Mug shots
 

Never come out looking pretty.

Don't ask me how I know this!

bump for paulandjean. No conspiracy....see?

Just seems strange,gone like that. Such a newsworthy story within our village. Picking up dog poop might be more news. Maybe pressure from some other sources.

Are you talking about THIS thread? Or lack of news in the paper or what?

I am confused.

She must be a brilliant woman to have attained that position. She obviously has some personal demons to confront. I hope she gets any help that she needs and that she continues to be a positive influence in the medical community.

That's too bad,...hope she gets some help....

I am going to pose a very difficult question.

If you knew that an MD might possibly have problems with abusing alcohol or drugs would you go to him/her?

I'm not sure a DUI and some pills in the bottom of her purse means she needs help. Most of us have gone out for a few drinks and driven home when we shouldn't have, and she's a doctor, so who knows what pills they might have, or if they were her pills that dropped out in her purse.

We don't know what may have been going in in her life on that day.

I'm not implying that driving drunk is good a good thing. I'm just saying that, maybe we shouldn't judge too quickly. :smiley:

I would not if they were still abusing. If they were clean, I would.

Don...and by the way, welcome. I just met someone from your neck of the woods the other day.

You are correct on driving and drinking, not that uncommon. BUT...on the other subject, Doctors don't dispense pills anymore. (Like in the little envelopes when we were kids) They may have sample packs, but unless you would need them, why would you carry them? MD's don't make housecalls....And they wouldn't be someone elses pills in her purse. I think it looks pretty damning.

Gracie the suspicious...and going back to my question. Would you go to a doctor who was arrested for DUI and was carrying pills around in car?

Or would you go to another doctor who beat his wife and you didn't know about it?

Don..I am trying to be funny.

Some pills in the bottom of her purse? 251 pills in the bottom of her purse, according to the newspaper article.

I think we're mostly not judging, just saying that if she needs help, we hope she gets it.

If she can produce prescriptions that were written for her prior to this charge, it will probably be dropped. The DUI is another matter.

Sorry ladies, I need to put my reading glasses on. I didn't see the number of pills when reading the article.

Thank you Gracie. I've been reading the forum for a few days and decided to join in. My wife and I are going down soon to see what The Villages is all about.

Please read the article referenced in the first post of this thread. It is different than the Daily Sun article.

Those 251 pills were for several different medications and not in marked medicine vials. A no-no right there.

Precisely my point. If she comes up with proof of prescription, I predict a dismissal of that charge.

Alright...but it was a painkiller noted for it's addictive quality mentioned in the article. hydrcodone. I don't think if I had an issue with a neurological problem, I would want to go to someone who just very well be addicted to something. Her picture makes her appear to me, very drugged. Here is the link again.

Villages doctor dui pills - OrlandoSentinel.com

No!
 

I'm pretty sure I could not!

In most businesses there is a standard that you are expected to live up to to continue working there. I would not want to go to a doctor who might be under the influence.

We are hiring these people. Would you hire someone to care for your elderly mother who had a drug and alcohol problem? I doubt it.

What are the chances they prescribe the wrong drug to you or preform and incorrect procedure? I think it's hard enough without outside influences interfering.

I think we are on the same page here. I said I couldn't use her services if she is addicted. If she went clean. Yes I could. How would we know though?

Her charges being dismissed doesn't mean she is not an addict.

I do wonder why the Feds may become involved.

To answer Gracie's question....no I will not go to her. Now I'm really going to be yelled at, but......when I met her it was at a health fair event which was outside on what happened to be an unusually cold day a few months ago. The first thing that stuck me about her was what she was wearing. Everyone else had conservative clothing on, she however had a very low cut blouse on and each time she leaned over to talk to someone it was just too much. She would have looked more "doctorly" if she at least put a white coat on. She is much prettier than the mug shot. I feel a little bad for her, but she should know better. I'm looking for another neurologist.

I understand that a perscription has been turned over to the police. The reason given for the pills was that she works long hours and is not home very often. She was diagnosed with colon cancer in 2006.

Mug shot probably taken at 3 or 4 am, do not think any of us would be looking that good in the morning.Seems like she has had some health issues,maybe this could explain the pills. Think that charge would be dropped,her being a MD and all. DUI she will probably have to handle with fines and some kind of service.

I think how we perceive a person by how they look and dress is valid. I think Mudder is wise in her perception. Going back to all of the work it took to get her where she is, this is a terrible thing. But, I wouldn't consult her.

Even in medicine it is free enterprise, if you do a better job, or are perceived to do a better job, you will be more successful.

Nothing is ever, ever simple, but it is no crime for each to come to their own conclusion. That isn't judging her in the biblical sense, it is coming to a logical conclusion about what we know or think we know and how it will affect us.

Recently, especially here in Florida there has been a crackdown on Doctors prescribing narcotic medications. They are also checking into Pharmacies with high volumn narcotic distribution. If this phycian has prescribed narcotic meds to herself and if she is abusing them it will become apparent. Sometimes they write scripts to ficticious people and that too will be found out. Prescription medications kill more people than all other drugs combined. Our young people are becoming addicted to these potent meds almost instantaneously. Very serious problem and any physician who is drunk driving with a boat load of pills in here purse is someone in need of intervention. Perhaps the arrest will be the very thing she needs but in the meantime she should not be treating patients without being drug tested daily.
Drugs addiction is no respector of class or economic status, it's an equal opportunity killer.

Its not just our young people having drug problems, many older residents are having the same results.

That will be difficult. Narcotic prescriptions carry limits on how many can be prescribed at one time. It will be difficult to prove that one physician wrote prescriptions for stimulents and narcotics for >250 pills at once. The DUI is the least of her problems at this point.

Wait for the Truth
 

I have known Dr. Hamnik for 10 years. The whole truth will come out over the next few days. All the Prescriptions are and have been documented by her personal physician. The Fruitland Part police have, yet again, stained the good name of those who up hold our laws. It is never a good idea or behavior to drink and drive or text while driving. There is a lesson in this for all of us....

Look for a press conference tomorrow. Dr. Hamnik is an awesome person.

There's an interesting article in the Wall Street Journal about the DEA investigating Cardinal Health and CVS regarding the large amount of oxycodone prescribed in Florida, specifically the areas of Lakeland and Sanford. This is a growing nationwide problem and I'm glad to see it's being addressed.

Your name is very similar to hers and this is your first post. Are you related?

I would not be quick to assume a police department would attempt to stain someone's good name. That is quite a lot to accept.

..................interesting......
......There have been ?? rumors ?? about the Fruitland Park Police Dept.

....such as PRIOR chief resigned under pressure for ? ? ?
....officer(s) "broomed" for belonging to the white-robed pointy hat club.
....officer pouring Pepsi in a persons Motor Oil causing engine failure....

.....anybody know more ?????.....or are these just rumors ??.....