'Stressed' GP allowed to keep job despite driving home after drinking almost entire bottle of vodka at surgery

A GP who drove home after drinking almost an entire bottle of vodka at his surgery has been allowed to keep his job after medical watchdogs heard he was stressed at looking after 3,500 patients.

Dr Martin Peverley, 51, had been drinking doubles in between treating patients and completing paperwork and was so drunk that police had to carry him to their patrol car when they confronted him outside his home.

The family doctor, who was four times the drink-drive limit, could barely speak when officers tried to talk to him following his 50-minute journey home and he was too intoxicated to get out of the driver's seat, a hearing was told.

As officers attempted to remove him from his car, Peverley fell to the ground then had to be lifted into the police vehicle and taken to the station where he was ordered to take a breath test.
At the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service, Peverley - who has not worked since his arrest - admitted misconduct charges but escaped with a six-month suspension after claiming he was suffering from "accumulated stress caused by professional and financial problems".

He will undergo a review in June where it is expected he will ask to be allowed to treat patients again.

Much of the Manchester hearing was held in private after lawyers for Peverley argued there was "no particular public interest in his financial arrangements".

The drink driving incident occurred at 6.50pm on April 15 last year after the GP bought a 70cl bottle of vodka during his lunch break and then had two doubles before consulting patients.

He drank three-quarters of the bottle while completing paperwork before driving home.
.

Original Quill wrote:He drove for nearly an hour and made it home...and didn't harm anyone.  Amazing...I'd straight plead he was not under any influence.

Original Quill wrote:He drove for nearly an hour and made it home...and didn't harm anyone.  Amazing...I'd straight plead he was not under any influence.

eddie wrote:

Original Quill wrote:He drove for nearly an hour and made it home...and didn't harm anyone.  Amazing...I'd straight plead he was not under any influence.

I was hoping you'd add something. Should he not have at least lost his license or done some time?

Tommy Monk wrote:He has been suspended for 6 months...

Tommy Monk wrote:
Point of interest Didge...


I think the bit in article you highlighted is important, and it can be read/interpreted 2 different ways...


It appears to say that he was seeing a patient and then drinking a shot of vodka while completing that patients paperwork, and then seeing another patient, another shot while doing that patients paperwork, and so on...


While another bit of op/article says he had seen all patients first and was then having a few shots after while doing all the paperwork...


"He drank three-quarters of the bottle while completing paperwork before driving home."

Original Quill wrote:

eddie wrote:

Original Quill wrote:He drove for nearly an hour and made it home...and didn't harm anyone.  Amazing...I'd straight plead he was not under any influence.

I was hoping you'd add something. Should he not have at least lost his license or done some time?

The question is never how much did he drink(?).  The charge is 'under the influence' and so it's always, how much was he influenced(?).  

Proof is in the pudding, innit?

veya_victaous wrote:

Original Quill wrote:

The question is never how much did he drink(?).  The charge is 'under the influence' and so it's always, how much was he influenced(?).  

Proof is in the pudding, innit?

Not here and I thin the UK is the same
here is on your Blood alcohol concentration (BAC)

0.05% is the standard, but it is lower for heavy vehicles and provisional drivers.

Raggamuffin wrote:I think he should keep his job. He's clearly been self medicating for stress, and he needs help. It's absurd that doctors are under so much pressure in the first place.

Syl wrote:

Raggamuffin wrote:I think he should keep his job. He's clearly been self medicating for stress, and he needs help. It's absurd that doctors are under so much pressure in the first place.

Lots of people have stressful lives, he was drinking whilst working (dangerous for his patients) and driving whilst so drunk he was legless.
Yes GP's and Doctors in general are overworked and stressed, that, does not put them above the law.
Anyone else would lose their licence, their job and their freedom.

HoratioTarr wrote:

Syl wrote:

Lots of people have stressful lives, he was drinking whilst working (dangerous for his patients) and driving whilst so drunk he was legless.
Yes GP's and Doctors in general are overworked and stressed, that, does not put them above the law.
Anyone else would lose their licence, their job and their freedom.

Well, that's it, isn't it?  Anyone else would have lost their job and license.  I don't see why he is given special dispensation.

Original Quill wrote:

HoratioTarr wrote:

Well, that's it, isn't it?  Anyone else would have lost their job and license.  I don't see why he is given special dispensation.

It's mostly because a physician is a substantial asset to the community, especially in a country that has an NHS.  You don't want to throw them away like a half-finished ham sandwich.

HoratioTarr wrote:

Original Quill wrote:

It's mostly because a physician is a substantial asset to the community, especially in a country that has an NHS.  You don't want to throw them away like a half-finished ham sandwich.

So, you'd rather wait until he killed someone?   That's smart.  

Syl wrote:

HoratioTarr wrote:

So, you'd rather wait until he killed someone?   That's smart.  

In any case I doubt Quill is right.
Following that way of thinking Harold Shipman would still be a local friendly GP tending to his elderly patients.  

Original Quill wrote:

HoratioTarr wrote:

Syl wrote:

Lots of people have stressful lives, he was drinking whilst working (dangerous for his patients) and driving whilst so drunk he was legless.
Yes GP's and Doctors in general are overworked and stressed, that, does not put them above the law.
Anyone else would lose their licence, their job and their freedom.

Well, that's it, isn't it?  Anyone else would have lost their job and license.  I don't see why he is given special dispensation.

It's mostly because a physician is a substantial asset to the community, especially in a country that has an NHS. You don't want to throw them away like a half-finished ham sandwich.

Lord Foul wrote:

Original Quill wrote:

It's mostly because a physician is a substantial asset to the community, especially in a country that has an NHS.  You don't want to throw them away like a half-finished ham sandwich.

No one is irreplaceable, no one is so elevated that they are beyond the law.

Be ye ever so high the law is above you (diplomats and heads of state excepted)

nicko wrote:How about if he was pissed when he was diagnosing a medical problem?   He could kill someone with the wrong medication.

Drunk in his car,   drunk in his surgery?

Tommy Monk wrote:

He is guilty of drink driving... he doesn't need a driving licence to do his job, so his job should not be affected.

Ben Reilly wrote:

Tommy Monk wrote:

He is guilty of drink driving... he doesn't need a driving licence to do his job, so his job should not be affected.

Totally agree. Employers should have no say in what goes in in your private life.

I have to say, this reminds me of a typical thing amongst Texas rednecks -- claiming "Hell, I drive *better* when I'm drunk!"