BROOKLYN DOC'S CAREER GOES TO POT

ALBANY - The state yesterday yanked the medical license of a Kings County
Hospital doctor, saying he wrote illegal marijuana prescriptions to help a
patient deceive his parole officer and judge.

Dr. Kildare Clarke was also cited for "poor medical skills" and "gross
negligence" by the state Health Department for his shoddy care of a
pregnant woman and a diabetic man in the emergency room of the Brooklyn
hospital.

While praising Clarke for serving in an "underprivileged community," health
officials found "he had repeated patterns of poor judgment, both in the
areas of medicine and ethics."

Clarke "intentionally wrote an illegal prescription that could serve no
purpose but to convince a judge that [the patient] should not go to jail.
The aura of fraud in this action is obvious," health officials wrote in
their decision.

Neither Clarke nor his lawyer could be reached for comment yesterday.