John Jefferson
Background: Houston Methodist hospital where Nathan Starke was formerly employed (Google Maps). Inset: Nathan Starke (Harris County Sheriff’s Office).
A Texas doctor was accused of using drugs while performing delicate surgery on his patients — and even though his license was suspended, he could still get it back.
Nathan Starke, 39, was a urologist at Houston Methodist hospital in Houston, Texas, when he was suspected of using drugs during surgery. According to the Texas Medical Board, Starke “participated in several surgeries in August and September of 2024 while appearing impaired.” He was suspended on Sept. 6 and ordered to undergo drug testing. In October, he tested positive for cocaine.
However, the accusations against Starke were not limited to his medical practice — he also has a rap sheet.
According to court documents, Starke has an open criminal case against him after he was charged with assaulting an ex-girlfriend in March 2023. In that criminal complaint, Starke was accused of pushing the woman with “both of his hands,” causing her to fall and strike her “tailbone, back, and back of her head” against the floor. She reported bruising and chipping a tooth as a result.
In addition to the open assault case, Starke was arrested twice — in 2007 and 2017 — for driving while intoxicated.
Records obtained by KRIV, a local Fox affiliate, went into more detail about the Texas Medical Board’s accusations against Starke. One of the surgeries in question involved a surgical biopsy on a patient’s prostate in August. Starke was reportedly “impaired” for that procedure. The final straw was apparently a September procedure that Starke “was absent for all but the last three minutes of a surgery for which he was the attending physician.”
KRIV confirmed with officials at Houston Methodist that Starke was no longer employed at the hospital.
His license, however, is another story. Starke may still be able to get his license back, should the Texas Medical Board decide that he cleans up his act. The suspension is temporary, but the board stated that allowing Starke to go behind the knife at the moment “poses a continuing threat to public welfare.”
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