Drunk doctor who crashed into driver and fled suspended

An emergency doctor who drove drunk on the wrong side of the road and crashed into an oncoming car, then fled the scene without checking for injury has been suspended.

The doctor, who has interim name suppression, was convicted in the Auckland District Court of dangerous driving, drink-driving, failing to stop or ascertain injury, and driving drunk on a zero alcohol licence.

He was also convicted of trespassing for a separate incident but was discharged without conviction on several other charges.

Yesterday he was found guilty of charges of professional misconduct by the Health Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal in relation to the 2020 convictions and suspended for 21⁄2 years.

It’s not the first time the doctor has been before the tribunal or the courts for drink-driving.

The man previously faced misconduct charges in the tribunal for almost identical offending and was suspended for six months, censured, and had conditions imposed on him if he resumed practice, which he did not.

The doctor admitted at yesterday’s hearing he was a recovering alcoholic who was very good at his job before he resigned but he couldn’t manage his mental health.

“I don’t want to make any excuses for my conduct . . . I now accept that I’ve got an alcohol substance disorder.

“And at that time I had just lost my marriage . . . my children, my home and I resorted to alcohol. I was drinking every day.”

He said he was in rehab when he took a van, drove it to buy alcohol, and drank in a parking lot to the point he could not remember driving back and causing the crash.

“I did drive drunk. I did crash. I did those actions and I put people at harm and I take full responsibility for that.”

After he left rehab he continued drinking and five months later drove drunk, in another blackout, to the SkyCity casino where he had been trespassed previously.

The doctor said security guards would not let him in so he became belligerent and argumentative and threw water on them. He was then arrested.

The doctor said he was not practising when the offences happened however lawyer Findlay Biggs, for the Professional Conduct Committee, said that was immaterial because he was still registered.

Biggs submitted the doctor should be struck off because the latest offending was serious, was within a year of him being suspended by the tribunal for similar offending, and brought the medical profession into disrepute.

“Cancellation is the penalty which most appropriately protects the public.”

The doctor said he wanted to get back to medicine, had come to terms with his alcoholism and was in recovery, having been sober for more than a year.

When asked by the tribunal if he was to practise again how he would deal with the stress of working in an emergency department, he said he had implemented a routine to keep himself mentally well, and was now able to recognise triggers.

He had a new job, new partner, and had his children back in his life. It was for his loved ones and his employability that he sought permanent name suppression.

Biggs opposed permanent name suppression and said there needed to be more compelling reasons not to name the doctor than embarrassment.

The tribunal declined permanent name suppression but said interim suppression would continue until it had published its written decision in about three months. He would then be able to appeal.

It decided not to cancel the doctor’s registration saying it believed he could make a valuable contribution.