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Thursday, June 08, 2006

GP admits to prescribing narcotics

GP admits to prescribing narcotics :

"Dr Smith, who is facing either suspension or cancellation of his medical licence for a substantial period, testified he was studying acupuncture and was interested in using it to treat chronic pain rather than reverting to drugs in the future."

I don't actually think a drug addict should be treated by a normal GP. I think we should have clinic specifically for them because they have special needs and need a consistent approach. I think it would be really hard for a GP to treat someone who is an addict or an alcoholic. I think these are special cases which need specialised strategies which we work out across the nation. This particular man seems to have had the interests of the patients at heart. He was thinking in human terms and if he has broken the law then I think that has to be dealt with but I do think he was trying to be a doctor rather than a criminal. We are always frightened to deal with individuals. It is for the law to judge him, but also for other medical practioners. In a way he is a useful test case because I do not believe he is the only doctor in this invidious position and his guilt is partly because we haven't got drug addiction treatments and strategies out in the open. We don't have an accepted process and therefore individuals become guilty because there is no common, accepted approach.

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