Drug use theft among Doctors and Nurses

By Dr. Ananya Mandal, MDApr 23 2010

Western Australia’s Corruption and Crime Commission (CCC) revealed in a recent report that there has been a constant theft and abuse of restricted drugs by healthcare staff including physicians and nurses.

They reported a case of a doctor who was found unresponsive and staring while his patients needed his attention and also a case of a nurse found unconscious in a toilet. There has been an extreme case of administration of saline water instead of a restricted drug to a patient, the report says.

The report was a review of WA Health since 2007. It was presented at the State Parliament and went on to say that WA Health is unable to manage this gross neglect of duties and misconduct that increases the risk to patients and wastes precious taxpayers’ funds. The CCC blames work atmosphere for such behaviors.

Long hours, difficult shifts, lack of reporting misconduct of colleagues and seniors is also a contributing factor the report says. The CCC for this report has interviewed more than 300 healthcare staff working in 14 different areas including Royal Perth Hospital, Princess Margaret Hospital and the WA Country Health Service.

According to Attorney General Christian Porter, there has been 42 convictions, an 80 per cent success rate. “It's interesting to note that there has been a very high success rate on prosecutions, but it's always the case of course that the question of whether or not the CCC is succeeding is put in the context of a failed prosecution.”

The Director of CCC’s Corruption Prevention, Roger Watson also said that WA Health needed to think out a strategy to deal with such cases. The State Opposition however has urged the Government to embark on a high level anti-corruption taskforce to devise measures to stop this and also prevent cover-ups. Opposition health spokesperson, Roger Cook said, “There is drug taking, possible drug dealing and certainly a culture of cover-up and deception of corrupt behaviour…A disturbing feature is the fact that some staff feel they need to take these powerful drugs to cope with their work life… We need to provide the resources to the doctors and nurses on the front line to create a professional culture not a culture under siege.”