Drug death doctor suspended

Dr Apaloo was suspended for three months

A GP who prescribed a fatal dose of a heroin substitute to a 16-year-old boy escaped being struck off the medical register on Friday.

However, General Medical Council (GMC) misconduct committee members found Dr Francis Apaloo, of Blackburn, Lancashire, guilty of serious professional misconduct and suspended him from practising for three months.

Jamie Edmondson collapsed and died of a methadone overdose on March 22 1997 at a care home in Preston New Road, Blackburn.

He had been prescribed the powerful drug, normally used to wean addicts off heroin, by Dr Apaloo.

You failed to follow basic medical practice. You did not examine him

Jay Jeffrey, GMC

However, the GP, who practiced only a few minutes away from the home, did not examine the boy or even take a medical history.

The drugs given to Jamie had originally been prescribed for another boy, and were administered by a medically-unqualified social worker.

GMC conduct committee chairman Jay Jeffrey said that in prescribing methadone without seeing the teenager, the GP had "acted irresponsibly".

He said: "You failed to follow basic medical practice. You did not examine him."

He also said the doctor failed to perform any checks on the information given to him by social worker Jacqueline Connolly.

"The committee is dismayed that despite having no evidence to support the symptoms indicated to you by Mrs Connolly, a social worker who you did not know, from a residential home you were not familiar with, you prescribed a class A controlled drug.

"The committee accept that methadone can benefit many patients, but it is a dangerous drug which must be prescribed with the utmost care."

"You are clearly a well-thought of general practitioner and the committee accept that your treatment in this case ... was an error of judgment in an otherwise blemish-free career.

"Nevertheless the findings against you reflect a serious breach of the principles of good medical practice ."

Dr Apaloo was told to undergo retraining, and his suspension could be extended further in three months when the committee reconvenes to discuss his case.