'Drunk' doctor wakes and allegedly abuses patient at Waikato Hospital

A drunk doctor barged into a patient's room at Waikato Hospital on Saturday morning and started calling him names. Photo / File

A patient at Waikato Hospital says he was told he was a "faggot" by a doctor who arrived allegedly drunk in his room in the early hours of Saturday morning.

Waikato District Health Board has confirmed the doctor at the centre of the allegations is now on leave and it is investigating the incident.

Gisborne patient Robert Pere Williams, 22, told Fairfax he was asleep in the respiratory ward when the doctor barged in and woke him up about 4am.

Williams, who suffers from cystic fibrosis, said it was not unusual to be woken by staff for bloods and checks, but started recording and videoing parts of the conversation when he saw how the junior doctor was behaving.

He also asked the doctor if he had been "out on it tonight", to which the doctor replied "yeah".

Williams said he took the recordings because he did not think people would believe him otherwise, Fairfax reported.

When Williams asked if he had been drinking, the doctor replied: "I'm not f***ing pissed faggot."

He then told the patient to "whip out my bottle of whisky, you faggot".

The doctor also spoke about under staffing and being stressed and how everyone had been working on Williams' case. He also said he wanted to kill himself.

The doctor then rambled about how Williams swore at the doctors and the extra work it caused him.

"You know, half of these kids they've been trained for 20 f***ing years trying to help you bro. They're so f***ing qualified bro."

Williams told Fairfax he had the same doctor since he was 12 and had told medical staff on Friday to "f*** off' come back in 10 minutes. He blamed his emotions and said it was due to dealing with a terminal illness, Fairfax reported.

In a statement provided to the Herald, Waikato DHB chief executive Nigel Murray said the hospital would be investigating the circumstances surrounding this incident so it could take appropriate action and offer the necessary support.

Murray also urged the patent to speak to the DHB about the serious complaint to help the investigation.

When asked by the Herald if the doctor was forced to take leave, a DHB spokesperson said it would not be making any further comment until the investigation was completed.