The Board of Registration in Medicine, which is the governing authority issuing licenses to Massachusetts doctors, has reportedly suspended a Boston anesthesiologist from the practice of medicine for dozing off during an operation.

In December 2005, Thomas Ho admitted inhaling anesthetic gas while on lunch break on another occasion. The Board also added that following month Ho had taken a prescription drug that caused him to doze off. When he fell asleep he was the only anesthesiologist in the operating room at Children's Hospital Boston.

The Boston Herald reported that the disgraced doctor now must show he has been off drugs for at least 15 months before he can reapply for his license to practice. He must also agree to monitoring for drug and alcohol use.

Ho, who blamed the lapse on medication prescribed for stress was placed on a voluntary leave of absence soon thereafter. According to a Children's Hospital spokeswoman said that no patient was harmed from the incidence and Ho was soon discharged from Children's.