BIG CONTROVERSY –
JAN. 8, 2026 – Elyse Stevens had a reputation for taking on complex medical cases. People who’d been battling addiction for decades. Chronic-pain patients on high doses of opioids. Sex workers and people living on the street.
“Many of my patients are messy, the ones that don’t know if they want to stop using drugs or not,” said Stevens, a primary care and addiction medicine doctor. Elyse Stevens was a primary physician at the University Medical Center New Orleans, which runs an integrated health clinic specialized in treating patients with substance use disorders. At first, her patient-centered approach won her awards. But in 2025, the Louisiana medical licensing board began investigating her practices. She had to leave the state to continue working, she said.
