Manchester doctor prescribed drugs for friend

Dr Osborne was working at Wythenshawe Hospital at the time

A doctor broke rules by prescribing drugs to a friend displaying psychotic symptoms linked with cocaine use, a disciplinary hearing heard.

Dr Adam Osborne, 33, brother of shadow chancellor George Osborne, tried to use a false name to get the drugs, the General Medical Council (GMC) heard.

The GMC says doctors can only prescribe for family and friends in emergencies.

Dr Osborne admits prescribing drugs for a friend, family member and girlfriend - but denies inappropriate conduct.

On 12 May, a woman referred to as Miss B went to the accident and emergency department at Manchester Royal Infirmary displaying "psychotic symptoms associated with the side effects of cocaine", Bernadette Baxter told the hearing.

Dr Osborne didn't want his name on the drugs so they resolved to make up a false name Bernadette Baxter, counsel for GMC

Before staff could treat her, Miss B discharged herself and travelled to Wythenshawe Hospital to see Dr Osborne, Ms Baxter said.

She told the hearing that a picture of what took place at Wythenshawe emerged from conversations between Dr Osborne and medical staff.

She said Dr Osborne had said the woman was "hysterical" and he had told her to come to Wythenshawe, adding: "In the pressure of the situation I wasn't sure what to do."

He said his distressed friend had refused to go to her doctor and had refused to be admitted to a psychiatry ward, the hearing was told.

Dr Osborne attempted to procure anti-psychotic medication and a tranquilliser using a false name, but was thwarted by Wythenshawe Hospital's computer system.

'Absolute emergency'

"When they got there (to the pharmacy), Miss B didn't want her name on the drugs and would not give her name," Ms Baxter said.

"Likewise, Dr Osborne didn't want his name on the drugs so they resolved to make up a false name... an entirely fictitious name," she added.

The pair later visited a pharmacy near Dr Osborne's home with a private prescription for haloperidol and lorazepam.

"In my submission it is axiomatic to try to obtain drugs in a false name - it is misleading and dishonest," she said.

"More so in this case when you know that it was a quite deliberate act designed to deliberately conceal the identity of a patient."

In meetings with medical staff after the incident, Dr Osborne admitted also helping Miss B on a previous occasion, the panel heard.

At the same time, it emerged he had, on occasions, prescribed for others including the contraceptive pill for his then-girlfriend, Ms Baxter told the hearing.

GMC guidance instructs doctors not to prescribe for family and friends unless the case is "an absolute emergency".

Dr Osborne, who resigned from the trust in May 2008, is charged with prescribing drugs for his girlfriend, a family member and a friend and failing to record the information in their medical records.

He has admitted these charges but denies inappropriate, misleading conduct which was not in the best interests of the patients and in one instance dishonest.

The hearing continues.