Doctor’s license suspended for drug use; getting caught ‘saved my life,’ he says

State medical officials last week suspended a Newport Beach doctor’s license after he admitted to prescribing powerful painkillers to patients and then swapping them with weaker over-the-counter replacements so he could keep the drugs himself.

Dr. Joseph Anthony DeSanto agreed earlier this year to submit to the punishment, which includes a 60-day suspension and seven years probation, according to California Medical Board documents.

On Wednesday, DeSanto said he was addicted to the painkillers and only got sober after he was confronted about stealing the drugs.

“To put it plainly, it saved my life,” he said of the accusations.

DeSanto twice cheated patients out of their medications in 2011, when they came to see him at a Pasadena office, according to medical board records.

In July of that year, he prescribed one patient a combination of drugs, including the opiate Percocet, to treat pain from a back injury.

He told the patient to fill the prescriptions and return to the office for instructions on how to use them.

During the visit, DeSanto briefly left the exam room with the bottle of Percocet, and about 10 months later, the patient discovered the pills had been swapped out for acetaminophen, the active ingredient in Tylenol.

In August 2011, DeSanto prescribed Endocet — which, like Percocet, contains Oxycodone — to a patient with kidney stones.

When the drug did not relieve his extreme pain, the patient went to another doctor, who discovered those pills too had been swapped out for acetaminophen.

DeSanto originally denied the allegations when his employer confronted him in April 2012, but the next day, he admitted he was responsible, according to medical board documents.

As part of his probation DeSanto must abstain from drugs or alcohol and submit to testing to verify he’s remained sober.

Among other stipulations, he must also complete an ethics course and submit to monitoring from another physician or risk losing his license.

DeSanto said he’s been sober for three years and three months and now oversees medical care at a recovery center in Newport Beach.

The facility, Hotel California by the Sea, caters to licensed professionals, such as lawyers and doctors, who find themselves battling addiction.

“Addiction does not discriminate between professions,” he said. “It’s prevalent. It’s killing people every day.”