adminin an attempt to beat a drink driving ban.
Dr Ellen MacInnes (46) claimed she was checking for an ‘underlying medical condition’ when she took a syringe of the female patient’s blood.
But she instead submitted the vial as if it were her blood to medical experts working for licensing authority the DVLA – along with a forged signature from another doctor – in an effort to convince them she was sober after a string of drink driving convictions and a driving ban.
A General Medical Council panel heard that the married mother of four had sent the ‘clean’ sample of blood with the forged signature in an unsuccessful attempt to deceive the DVLA and have her licence reinstated.
The same day she had already submitted a genuine sample of her blood at the Whitley House Surgery in Chelmsford. Confronted with two samples of blood bearing her name – one ‘clean’ and one containing ‘abnormalities’ – on May 26 last year, staff testing it for the DVLA at the Broomfield Hospital Laboratory became suspicious.
She was required to give another sample and admitted her deception during a further blood test at the former Royal London Homeopathic Hospital on August 17 last year. But as the doctor left the room, and the nurse washed her hands, Dr MacInnes snatched the blood vial and fled the hospital.
In an apparent attempt to see if her blood would come out clean if tested, she sent a sample of it for analysis to the Baddow Village Surgery in Chelmsford – where she once worked – using forms filled out with a former patient’s name.
When her sample came back showing ‘abnormalities’ she accessed the surgery’s computer to wipe all traces of it.
Dr MacInnes, of Chelmsford, was found guilty of three charges of dishonesty by the GMC and suspended for 12 months for serious professional misconduct. – Daily Mail.
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