Shamed doctor banned for a year

A doctor who was cleared of killing one of her friends has been suspended for a year after admitting illegally supplying drugs.

Katy Mcallister went before a disciplinary hearing in a bid to save her career and avoided being struck off the medical register after it was ruled it would be wrong to deprive patients of an “otherwise competent” doctor.

At the High Court in Edinburgh earlier this year, she admitted supplying a fellow doctor with diazepam pills while employed at NHS Tay- side. The 31-year-old, of Dundee, also distributed tablets such as temazepam and had magic mushrooms in her possession and was sentenced to 150 hours of unpaid work.

She was initially held after an inquiry into the death of her friend Louise Mcgowan, 27, in May 2015. The doctor had been accused of the culpable homicide in Dundee of Miss Mcgowan.

It was alleged that at two addresses in the city, including a tattoo parlour, she “recklessly and unlawfully” supplied her friend with “controlled and potentially lethal drugs”.

During a trial in May, however, the defence argued that there was insufficient evidence and Judge Graham Buchanan, QC, dismissed the case.

Following on from the court case, the General Medical Council (GMC) conducted their own investigation into Mcallister and hauled her in to face a hearing before the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS).

The hearing in Manchester lasted for two days and ruled:“your convictions bring the medical profession and yourself into disrepute.

“You have fallen short of the public’s expectations.”