Twice Drunk Driver Escapes Jail And Keeps Job

[NATURAL ANKLING]

Hi,
We been there before, luck they are So talented we cant loose them.
https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/90311 ... ren-fowler

"“She admitted she had drunk two bottles of wine and was taken to the police station. She was described as acting very emotionally and she failed to provide a specimen of breath because she was so upset.’’

Her father John, 65, a management training company boss, said “Oh my God’’ in the public gallery as she was let off jail.

Fowler was shortlisted for a UK Scientist of the Year award in 2011 and went to Cambridge before enrolling in 2014 at Imperial."

""She has already made steps to making sure this never happens again. She has given up alcohol completely.”"

That's ok then............

Cant find the link now but words like..."she is at no risk to patients"..............."minor risk to public whilst driving"

[Cyril Haearn]

One would very much like to know how she ensures this will never happen again

[Cugel]

One would very much like to know how she ensures this will never happen again

Perhaps she will divert herself from boozing and driving with some other habits. One feels they are likely to be of the not-good variety also - perhaps degenerate gambling, trying crack cocaine or becoming a member of the Tory Party so she can campaign on behalf of Boris the Bodger?

Still, what good would come from punishing her with incaceration? Would it put orf the other would-be drunk drivers? Unlikely as they all feel they know when they're safe and will oft be heard opining that they drive better when they're p1$$ed.

Personally I would give her some community service involving the scraping up of the dead & maimed from the scenes of RTAs. On her days off she could be sent to Galsgie to help the Bucky drinkers avoid rat-bite and Ned-abuse.

Cugel, trying to fit the punishment to the crime.

[Psamathe]

I don't quite understand why one would expect her to lose her job? (as from the title And Keeps Job). If she were a bus/HGV/taxi/etc. driver then the ban would effectively stop her working. But she's a Dr and from what I read in the report her job does not require her to drive (maybe I missed that bit).

Why not also raise that she has been allowed to keep her house or something.

As far as I'm aware the punishment the courts can issue for her offence does not include sacking her from her job.

I'm not defending what she did, but I was not in court and thus didn't hear the background to the case, the circumstances, etc. so it is difficult to comment on the punishment given.

From the report it sounds like she has major issues maybe what might be described as illness and it sounds like she has taken steps to getting that sorted (as best as such things can be sorted). A very different situation from e.g. a footballer who goes out Sat night, drinks non-stop until 3am then drives their Ferrari home at 90 in a 30 limit and employs Mr Loophole ...

Ian

[meic]

If she couldnt resist the bottle when driving which is totally illegal, it would be fair to extrapolate that same weakness applies to entering her workplace.
The GMC decides that and has the power to implement its decisions.

[reohn2]

The question in this case is would jail have cured and rehabilitated her?
Personally with what I've read recently about jail,I doubt it.
She has three years to ask herself if she'll do it again and whether she needs to go into therapy/rehab and or whether she'd be better with a different career direction if she can't handle the stress of her current choice.

Let's make no mistake about it drink can be a killer for some people who can't say no to it,couple that with stress and it can be the 'perfect storm'.
I'm glad for her that no one was injured in the two crashes she was involved in.

[Psamathe]

If she couldnt resist the bottle when driving which is totally illegal, it would be fair to extrapolate that same weakness applies to entering her workplace.
The GMC decides that and has the power to implement its decisions.

There are many options other than sacking or carrying on as usual. From the report I didn't pick-up that she had been drunk at work (did I miss that bit?). If the GMC "struck-off" every Dr who ever got drunk at any time in their lives I suspect we would not have much of an NHS.

As I say, I'm not defending what she did, but from the report what she did was "drinking and driving" so I can't see why we should be requiring all sorts of other 3rd party punishments (maybe the banks should ban her from holding a bank account and maybe her local library should stop her borrowing books again ...).

Ian

[meic]

Nobody has claimed that she was drunk at work.
It is merely an extrapolation from the fact that whilst on bail for drunk driving she went out drunken driving again.
Anybody who is that much out of control with their drinking can hardly be considered safe at work.
The GMC certainly should be investigating.

[Psamathe]

......
She has three years to ask herself if she'll do it again and whether she needs to go into therapy/rehab and or whether she'd be better with a different career direction if she can't handle the stress of her current choice......

Reading between the lines and making quite a few assumptions I'm not sure her stress is entirely related to the woking hours and pressure Junior Doctors face - probably worsens the situation but it does say she started drinking during her studies before qualifying. Some people can't cope with pressure as well as others, sometimes pressure can come from less obvious sources (e.g. family expectations of qualifying with a 1st with distinction).

It's early in her career and there are many areas of medicine that are not subject to the same pressures. Now that her problems has been highlighted and she recognises it I would hope that help and monitoring will be forthcoming to help her recover. The court has punished her as they saw appropriate (and they knew all the details) and she can now get the help she needs.

Ian

[Psamathe]

Nobody has claimed that she was drunk at work.
It is merely an extrapolation from the fact that whilst on bail for drunk driving she went out drunken driving again.
Anybody who is that much out of control with their drinking can hardly be considered safe at work.
The GMC certainly should be investigating.

Why. I don't think it's part of a Dr's contract that they can't get drunk outside working hours. If GMC investigated every Dr who got drunk they'd be completely swamped.

We'll have to see if the GMC do investigate (they'll have access to far more information in making that decision that a Daily Express report).

Ian

[Cyril Haearn]

There has been some publicity, maybe her neighbours will keep an eye on her, I certainly would if she lived near me

[meic]

If GMC investigated every Dr who got drunk they'd be completely swamped.

True but they have got time to investigate every Doctor who pleads addiction to alcohol as their defence for a double charge of drink driving.

A more sympathetic report here points out that she referred herself to the GMC.
https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk ... e-14135997

[9494arnold]

This is one of many occupations which are "Notifiable" Offences ,where Police are duty bound to notify the Professional Body of Convictions (and indeed sometimes arrest) .

There's a whole raft of them . Can't find a link to the list.

A Dr would (if the system is working properly) have the case referred to the General Medical Council
It's up to the GMC what they do then, or the "Professional Body" that receives the notification.

[Postboxer]

I'd rather she opted to give up driving rather than drinking.

[Psamathe]

I have no idea how the GMC works and what options are available to it, but I'd certainly hope that there are more choices that "striking-off" and "doing nothing". I'm fortunate that I've not suffered alcoholism (but have certainly gone through parts of my life where I've drunk far too heavily far too regularly to the point where it has affected my work e.g. turning-up to staff our company stand at a trade show drunk ...).

But once recognised and with help people can get through it thus the "strike-off" or "no action" might often not be the best course.

Ian