San Diego Psychiatrist Margaret M. Sprague Fails to Comply with Alcohol Abstinence Order

July 8, 2022

On February 18, 2022, the Medical Board of California issued a petition to revoke an earlier Board-ordered probation on La Jolla child psychologist Margaret Sprague for failure to comply with terms of the probation which included abstaining from alcohol and compliance with routine biological fluid testing.

The Board had placed Sprague’s license on five years’ probation in January 2019 for issues and incidents related to alcohol abuse. However, Sprague violated the terms and conditions of that probation when she tested positive for alcohol use on July 7, 2021.

Sprague refused to provide the Board a biological fluid specimen on June 28, 2021.

The Board then issued a Cease Practice Order (CPO) to Sprague on July 28, 2021, which required her to undergo a clinical diagnostic evaluation and provide 30 days of negative biological fluid testing.

Sprague evidently complied with the terms of the CPO, as the Board terminated the order on September 21, 2021. However, Sprague again tested positive for alcohol use once in both October and November 2021, resulting in the Board’s current petition to revoke probation.

In a previous action, the Board revoked Sprague’s license on or about May 19, 2005 for unlawful use of controlled substances and impairment of her ability to practice medicine safely due to her addiction to cocaine.

Source: First Amended Petition to Revoke Probation in the Matter of the Amended Petition to Revoke Probation against Margaret Melinda Sprague, M.D., Physician’s & Surgeon’s Certificate No. G 56228, Case No. 800-2021-080216, Medical Board of California, Feb. 18, 2022.