Modesto surgeon guilty of DUI while on call may have medical license revoked or suspended
A Modesto surgeon who was arrested for DUI while on call is facing possible suspension or loss of his medical license.
Antonio Kobayashi Coirin was convicted in July 2019 of driving with a blood alcohol level greater than .08% the year before, records show. The license complaint documents were filed with the Medical Board of California this October.
According to the complaint, a California Highway Patrol sergeant pulled Coirin over for speeding just before midnight on Sept. 27, 2018. Coirin said he was traveling from Modesto to Los Banos.
The sergeant smelled alcohol while speaking to Coirin and asked if the doctor had been drinking. Coirin initially denied consuming any alcohol but then admitted he’d had vodka and soda.
Coirin was arrested after failing a series of field sobriety tests and registering a blood alcohol level of 0.14, almost twice the legal limit, on subsequent breathalyzer tests.
Coirin received a call from “Medical Exchange” during the arrest, and he said it was from his job, where he was on call as a surgeon. He was allowed to answer the phone to let hospital staff know they should call someone else.
After entering a no-contest plea July 8, 2019, in Merced County Superior Court and being convicted of a misdemeanor, Coirin was sentenced to three years of probation and ordered to complete a DUI program.
Coirin disclosed his conviction to the medical board a month later.
During a voluntary interview in September 2020, Coirin told medical board investigators he began drinking that night after fighting with his ex-wife over the phone after dinner. He hoped that the alcohol would help calm him down, and he then went for a drive to “cool off” when he couldn’t sleep.
He said the Medical Exchange phone call came from the emergency room at Doctors Hospital of Manteca. Coirin denied ever being under the influence at work or drinking before going to work.
The next step will be to schedule a hearing to decide whether to revoke or suspend Coirin’s license as a physician and surgeon. No date has been set, according to the medical board’s website.
The Central California Surgery website lists Coirin as a board-certified general and bariatric surgeon.
Coirin’s license was issued in 1987 and originally set to expire at the end of April 2022 if not renewed.
This story was originally published November 11, 2021 at 7:00 AM.
