Medic who prescribed sedative for dog is sacked

A MEDIC earning £130,000 a year has been sacked after she prescribed antidepressants for a patient to give to her dog, an employment tribunal has heard.

Maria Bull, an advanced nurse practitioner who was a partner at Hastings and Rother Healthcare, gave trazodone, a rarely used sedative, to a patient named only as Ms P, who said her pet had been given the drug after surgery.

The tribunal heard that Ms P, a cleaner, wanted to get the medicine from a doctor rather than a vet to save money.

Ms Bull made a note on the patient’s medical record that she was prescribed the drug in 2018 because she had “problem sleeping” and was “worrying”.

When a GP colleague of Ms Bull queried the matter with Ms P, she laughed and said “that’s for my dog”, prompting an investigation that led to Ms Bull’s sacking.

Ms P told the GP that her dog had been given trazodone after surgery. She had then researched the drug online, the panel was told, and found that it was also used by humans, prompting her to ask Ms Bull if she could prescribe her the drug so she did not have to buy it from a vet.

Ms Bull allegedly admitted her actions when questioned by GPS at Hastings and Rother Healthcare, the panel was told.

During the meeting, she admitted entering a false consultation into Ms P’s medical notes and fraudulently generating a prescription knowing it was for her dog, the tribunal was told.

Meeting notes stated that Ms Bull said her actions were a “mistake” but that she was trying to help Ms P “because she knew of her situation”.

Ms Bull was later “expelled” from her partnership at the surgery and was reported to the Nursing and Midwifery Council, the panel heard.

She later challenged her dismissal on the grounds that it was unfair and due to whistle-blowing. The employment tribunal dismissed her claim after it found her evidence “unconvincing”.

Ms Bull became a partner at Hastings and Rother Healthcare, which covers England’s south-east coast, in February 2017 where she would substitute for a GP and prescribe medicines.