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Doctor who brought loaded gun to hospital loses his job

Credentialing Resource Center Connection, October 7, 2004

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An emergency room doctor who brought a loaded, .38-caliber revolver to work at Salem Hospital in Massachusetts was let go from his job, according to a report in the Salem News.

The hospital had placed Dr. Richard Pinegar on paid suspension after he brought the Smith & Wesson revolver with him for a weekend, overnight shift at the facility in August and at some point removed the gun from his hip and inadvertently left it in an employee restroom when he went to answer a phone call. Another staff member found the gun and alerted a supervisor, who called police.

Pinegar, who worked at the hospital for just three months, is now under investigation by the Board of Registration in Medicine, the state board that licenses and disciplines physicians, Pinegar's attorney, Paul Cirel of Boston, told the newspaper.

As required by contract, Cirel said Salem Hospital agreed to pay Pinegar three months salary when the hospital decided to let him go. The doctor, who is licenced to carry a firearms, said he was unaware of the hospital's policy barring weapons on hospital property.

However, a hospital spokesman told the newspaper that the organization includes it weapons policy in the hospital's policy and procedures manual, which is given to every worker.

A 1978 graduate of the University of Iowa College of Medicine, Pinegar has been scrutinized by the state's medical board before. From 1995 to 2000, the board took disciplinary action against Pinegar due to a substance abuse problem, the newspaper said.

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