“You’re having a hard time with it, aren’t you?” The medical specialist (black shirt, black pants, blonde ponytail) bows his head. A woman in her thirties with a warm voice that radiates something reassuring. The professional ban imposed by the Healthcare Inspectorate therefore comes as a shock. If the Central Medical Disciplinary Board follows this ‘inspection recommendation’, the gastroenterologist will lose her job and her future. Then her name will be permanently deleted from the professional register and she will never be able to work as a doctor again.
It’s make or break today in the court of The Hague. The accused doctor has Crohn’s disease. She had a brain drain after complications and a pain team prescribed her morphine. That got out of hand when she started using more and more on her own initiative “because of hellish headaches”. Spread over five years, she stole ampoules of morphine and fentanyl seven times from five different employers. The gastroenterologist, the Zwolle disciplinary court ruled last summer, “currently lacks the suitability” to practice her profession. She is addicted to painkillers.
The highest disciplinary judge is faced with the question: is this a hopeless case? Does this history make the medical specialist unsuitable as a doctor? Yes, the senior inspector insists. The gastroenterologist is listed on the inspection site with his name and place of residence. Her addiction problem is “chronic and uncontrollable” and poses “a risk to patient safety.” Every time the doctor promised the inspector that he would get better, new facts and relapses emerged. In the event of such a “breach of trust”, according to the adamant inspector, there remains “no other option” than an “irrevocable” professional ban.
The specialist’s lawyer finds such a lifelong measure “disproportionate”
Her lawyer finds such a lifelong measure “disproportionate”. Can’t the doctor, she objects, work under strict conditions in a place where painkillers are not available? The client has never endangered a patient with her opiate use. She has never withheld medication from patients for her own benefit. No patient ever complained about her during the inspection. “It has not been established that her judgment as a doctor was impaired at any time. She has always been a good, hardworking and committed doctor.”
That addiction, the chairman of the doctor wants to know, what about it? “You are in severe pain?”
She started visiting the pain clinic in 2017, the doctor says. At one point she was sent home with 150 ampoules of 10 milligrams for a week. With slumping shoulders: “They said I could take additional injections until the pain went away. Afterwards you think: bizarre amounts.” The gastroenterologist straightens her back. “I have successfully undergone treatment.” She has not used morphine since January 2023, the file confirms. “I understand pain better. Three times I had and resisted an attack without morphine. I now know: it takes one or two days, then you will be able to control the pain. Then you become a better version of yourself.”
Trap of addiction
But how realistic is it, asks a fellow professional from the disciplinary board, that you will no longer use morphine? Can a doctor avoid the pitfall of addiction?
The specialist visits every two weeks Doctors Anonymous. She takes a urine test at her GP every two weeks, voluntarily – she will continue to do so if the council wants her to do so. “I can only stay in recovery if I take good care of myself. My environment – I have a wonderful partner, lovely family, wonderful colleagues – also appreciates this.” She recently broke her elbow and had to go to the emergency clinic. They gave them a prescription for oxycodone, another addictive painkiller. With a smile: “I returned the prescription.” Passionate: “I will go through any fire for my patients. I hope that you will convert the measure into a temporary suspension.”
Six weeks later, the gastroenterologist can breathe a sigh of relief. The highest disciplinary court considers a professional ban “not appropriate”. “It is desirable and necessary that the doctor can demonstrate – without risks to patients – the durability of abstinence.” The medical specialist is allowed to return to work, under strict conditions. She is required to take a biweekly urine test and is not allowed to prescribe painkillers or work in a place where they are available. And she must demonstrate to the inspectorate for three years that she complies with the conditions very carefully.
To share
Email the editor
Tags: gastroenterologist stole morphine work
-
