Junior doctor who punched bouncer as he celebrated graduation could now be struck off
A NEWLY-QUALIFIED doctor could be struck off after he punched a nightclub bouncer in the face as he celebrated graduating from medical school.
Dr Sam Jones, 24, was arrested and held in the cells for nearly ten hours for hitting the doorman on his drunken night out.
He later accepted a police caution after being shown CCTV of the assault, and was told to pay his victim £50 compensation.
Now, six weeks after starting his first post in the A&E department at Sunderland Royal Hospital, he has been brought before a ‘fitness to practise’ panel which could end his career.
Dr Jones apologised at the hearing for being a ‘complete idiot’ and spoke of his shame, but insisted he had acted out of character and could still be a successful doctor.
Pleading for his future he said: ‘I was extremely intoxicated and I had had lots of alcohol.
‘I had been taken down the stairs and from what I remember, I thought I just lost it and sort of pushed him.
‘But once I was shown the footage, I burst into tears. I was terrified to see myself behave the way I did as this is not a way that I would usually behave.’
The incident occurred at the Cruise club in Chester in the early hours of October 1 last year, after Dr Jones had been on an alcoholfuelled day out at Chester Races.
The celebration was held to mark a friend’s birthday, but Dr Jones was also toasting his graduation from Newcastle University.
‘I was so excited to be a practising doctor, it was Chester Races and it was an early start at about 12 o’clock – everyone was drinking beer all day,’ he told the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service in Manchester.
‘I think without noticing I was just becoming very, very drunk.’
Dr Jones, from Oswestry, Shropshire, said he was carrying his friend on his shoulders in the club when two door staff grabbed him and took them outside.
‘I was terrified and I was really upset and really shaken up to have been arrested. It was really unfa- miliar territory for me, I felt like a complete idiot,’ he added.
After accepting the police caution, he was referred to the General Medical Council.
Dr Jones said the prospect of losing his career made him ‘sick to my stomach’, adding: ‘I think these feelings will be with me forever, I am certain that I will never be in this position again. I am ambitious and really do want to be a good doctor.’
He said that while the group had been ‘more drunk than we should have been’ at the nightclub, they had not been ‘causing trouble or aggressive’ and felt shocked at how the bouncers treated them.
‘I can definitely say that I would not have behaved in that way if I had not been provoked,’ he said.
Pledging he had learnt his lesson, Dr Jones added: ‘I accept that my actions fall below those expected of me as a doctor.
‘My decision-making was severely impaired by the quantity of alcohol that I had drunk. This incident has made me far more aware of it. This event haunts me.’
Testimonials from a senior colleague said Dr Jones was a ‘professional and hard-working junior doctor with very good clinical skills’ who went ‘above and beyond during his work’.
Dr Jones’s victim declined an offer from the GMC to provide a statement to the panel.
The hearing continues.
‘I felt like a complete idiot’