EMERGENCY WARD STRESS LED TO THEFT OF DRUGS

A JUNIOR doctor injected himself with hard drugs stolen from his hospital
ward to help cope with the stress of his job, a court heard yesterday.

Dr Simon Hetherington, 31, admitted the theft and possession of Class AA
pethidine and diamorphine drugs last August. Leicester Crown Court heard
that Hetherington - who worked on a high pressure emergency ward - was
hooked on alcohol and hard drugs. But a former patient said the doctor had
saved his life with dedication beyond the call of duty.

The court was told that during the month after Hetherington started work on
the acute admissions Ward 33 of Leicester Royal Infirmary, consumption of
the painkiller pethidine had trebled and that of diamorphine - heroin --
doubled.

Hetherington, of Leicester, took the drugs from the ward cabinet, forged
the signature of a required witness and injected himself in the doctors'
lavatories when he felt under stress, the court heard. He was found out
after ward managers noticed an increase in drug use. Records showed that
107.5 mg of pethidine and 5,725 mg of diamorphine were not accounted for by
patient charts.

Dr Michael Powers, QC, defending, said: "A young doctor, intelligent,
sensitive . . . for reasons which will never fully become apparent, finds
himself stressed personally and professionally to the point that alcohol
and then drugs are taken for relief in a crescendo."

Dr Powers said Hetherington had been struggling to make a decision over
whether to pursue further medical qualifications or find some "less
pressured" position in medicine. He said: "It is difficult to envisage the
type of stress doctors may face in these circumstances."

Hetherington became highly dependent on opiate drugs, "rapidly increasing
the number of injections he was able to take to gain relief". Dr Powers
said Hetherington was now an in-patient at a rehabilitation centre in
Maidenhead, Berks, being treated for his drink and drug problem.

He still faced a GMC hearing and whether he would be seen as a sick doctor
or a criminal doctor remained to be seen. He had also been sacked from the
hospital and was currently unemployed. Dr Powers said to the judge: "You
may feel that this is a sick doctor problem rather than a bad doctor problem."

Dr John Lee, a retired lecturer, of Loughborough, said he was a patient on
Ward 33 after being admitted close to death with severe internal bleeding
in August last year, and had awoken to find Dr Hetherington caring for him.
He said: "The word I would use to describe how he looked was knackered. But
despite being obviously exhausted he was so dedicated that he stayed with
me from 7pm until 2am. He had phone calls and refused to go to other things
because his judgment was that he could save me and he did."

Dr Lee said Hetherington returned the next morning to see how he was. He
had come forward after reading a newspaper report of the case to give
evidence on Hetherington's behalf, he said. Dr Lee said: "I realised that
this unfortunate man was the one who had treated me. I felt guilt for the
stress I had put him under. The fact that I am here is absolutely because
of his dedication."

Sentencing Hetherington, Mr Recorder Carl Gaskell said: "Normally doctors
who commit a breach of trust by stealing drugs from a hospital go to prison."

He said Hetherington had since made efforts to put his life in order. He
said: "It seems to us that there would be little point apart from
deterrence in sending you to prison". Hetherington was sentenced to 100
hours' community service on the four counts, to run concurrently and
ordered to pay UKP1500 costs.

Checked-by: Richard Lake