Accused doctor ‘reacted to drug’
A FORMER doctor being treated at the Royal Hobart Hospital had the equivalent of 45 tablets of Valium in her system when she allegedly assaulted a nurse, the Supreme Court in Hobart has heard.
Arlene Maree Taylor, 35, a medical doctor who was a patient at the RHH’s psychiatric intensive care unit in September 2015, has pleaded not guilty to assaulting a nurse on September 24.
Dr Taylor, who is representing herself, previously told the jury she did not dispute that a scuffle took place.
She said she had been detained under the Mental Health Act against her will at the time, and detained patients “can be administered medications against your will”.
Dr Taylor, a toxicologist, said she was involuntarily intoxicated to the point of insanity.
Taking the witness stand yesterday, she told the court she had been associated with the Department of Psychiatric Medicine at the RHH as a doctor in 2013.
She said during that time she had raised concerns on a number of occasions about the way some patients were being cared for and this made her “unpopular with my seniors.”
By late 2014, she told the jury she had become “quite de- pressed due to bullying issues within the Royal Hobart Hospital”.
Dr Taylor said she was admitted to the hospital five days prior to the alleged assault.
In the lead-up to the alleged assault, Dr Taylor was given nine doses of Clonazepam, despite a previous patient discharge summary noting that she had an adverse reaction to that particular drug, the court heard.
She said the dosage at the time of the alleged attack on the nurse was equivalent to taking 45 Valium tablets.
“Clonazepam was documented as something I shouldn’t take at all, let alone in large amounts,” Dr Taylor said.
Psychiatrist Leila Kavanagh told the court Clonazepam was a drug of abuse often referred to as a “date rape” drug.
She said it had a calming effect and decreased agitation.
Dr Taylor said she had been diagnosed as having major depressive order with an underlying diagnosis of autism.
Crown prosecutor Tony Jacobs said the alleged assaults were clearly intentional and were motivated by a desire to “get staff in trouble.” Dr Taylor denied this. The trial, before Acting Justice David Porter, is continuing.