Drunk shame doctor cleared to work again
A JUNIOR doctor twice arrested for drink-driving is keeping her job after a disciplinary panel ruled her offending was not “incompatible” being a medic.
Dr Lauren Fowler, 25, was first caught in October last year after a wine-fuelled lunch with friends before buying another bottle from an off-licence.
The Cambridge graduate crashed her Ford Ka in an area busy with pedestrians and was so drunk she was barely able to speak when police arrived at the scene in Manchester.
Officers found an empty wine bottle in the footwell of her car.
Remorseful
She was bailed but in December 2017 she drank half a bottle of vodka before being caught driving in a hotel car park.
She avoided jail with a suspended sentence and a three-year road ban after saying her alcohol addiction was due to the “stress” of studying medicine at Imperial College London.
Now she has been given the greenlight to return to work after a misconduct hearing at the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service in Manchester.
Panel chair Gillian Temple-Bone said she could continue her work as a firstyear junior doctor under supervision for the next 20 months.
Ms Temple-Bone said: “She is very remorseful and has carried out unpaid work and voluntarily attended a drinkdriving course.
The tribunal has no evidence to suggest there have been any issues to date regarding patient safety.
“Following the convictions, Dr Fowler has done everything possible to remediate her conduct.
“She was convicted in a court of law, currently remains under a driving ban and has experienced public opprobrium through publicity.
“Her offending was serious but not fundamentally incompatible with continued practice.”
The ex-grammar school girl pursued her career in medicine and was shortlisted for a UK Scientist of the Year award for a university research project.
She attended Clare College at Cambridge before enrolling at Imperial College London in 2014 and drank heavily during her studies.
The magistrates court heard she drank white wine after lunch with friends in October last year, before purchasing another bottle from an off licence.
Earlier this year prosecutor Joseph O'Connor told magistrates: “Police attended a minor road traffic collision and met the defendant who was clearly intoxicated. She was swearing and slurring her words.”