Doctor censured for fuelling addict's habit

A doctor who passed sedative drugs out his surgery window to a drug addict has been found guilty of professional misconduct by a medical authority.

The doctor, who it is understood will seek permanent name suppression, admitted he supplied the man with Ritalin - a drug used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) - and drugs used to treat insomnia and anxiety.

The man, who had an addiction to sedatives, opium-like drugs and homebake heroin, was on a methadone treatment programme. The only person authorised to prescribe or supply him with controlled drugs was a doctor at an alcohol and drug clinic.

In a decision released yesterday by the Health Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal, the doctor admitted he was guilty of supplying and/or facilitating access by "a restricted person" to controlled drugs between June 1998 and April 2004.

On separate occasions he wrote prescriptions for false patients to enable the man to get the drugs.

The tribunal heard the doctor had an interest in ADHD in adults and believed he could help the man using Ritalin. He told staff at the alcohol and drug centre that if the man's ADHD was treated he would not need methadone. It was understood the doctor would eventually be able to prescribe the drug, but until the methadone counselling finished, Ritalin was to be prescribed by his psychiatrist. The doctor was never added to the list able to prescribe controlled drugs.

But the doctor continued to dispense medication to the man on a regular basis. When the doctor moved, the man followed him. But the doctor turned down a request to be his doctor, agreeing instead to be his medical support person.

The man later demanded drugs. Although the doctor obtained a trespass order, he "chose to accede" to the man's demands. About a year later the man broke into the surgery to get more drugs.

The doctor acknowledged he had made serious errors of judgment but found it difficult to say no to the man, whom he knew better medically than anyone else. The man was persuasive and had threatened to go to the media about the doctor prescribing Ritalin without authorisation.

The tribunal found the doctor guilty of professional misconduct. He was censured and ordered to pay a fine of $7000 and 30 per cent of costs. A number of conditions were imposed on his practice, including a prohibition on prescribing or supplying controlled drugs to anyone for two years.

The tribunal found the doctor's application for permanent name suppression, including the grounds it was a one-off offence and fears he would become known as a "soft target by the drug-taking community", did not outweigh the public interest. He has not been named as he has 20 days from the date of the decision to appeal.