George Osborne's brother evades public scrutiny over how he met prostitute
Dr Adam Osborne, the brother of George Osborne, the shadow chancellor, refused to tell a public hearing how he met a cocaine addicted prostitute while he was working as a trainee doctor.
Dr Osborne was suspended for 18 months but in February 2009 allowed to continue practising subject to conditions. Photo: CENTRAL NEWS
By Caroline Gammell8:00AM GMT 20 Feb 2010Comment
Dr Adam Osborne wrote out a false prescription for the woman, giving her anti-psychotic drugs to help her cope with withdrawal from the Class A drug.
He also wrote a prescription for the Pill for his then girlfriend and an anti-smoking drug for a member of his family.
The 33-year-old faces being struck off the medical register for misconduct, having failed to inform their GPs or make note of the prescriptions.
Giving evidence at the General Medical Council, Dr Osborne looked uncomfortable as he was questioned about the circumstances in which he met the prostitute, known as Miss B.
He had known her for six months and only knew her first name when he wrote out a false prescription in May 2008.
Bernadette Baxter, for the GMC, said: “You've said you met her in a social setting. But one you wouldn't particularly want people to know about.”
Dr Osborne replied: “I'd rather you asked that in a private session.”
Miss Baxter said: “You didn’t know her very well. You didn’t know her second name. You did know her medical history though.”
Dr Osborne agreed to help her when she called him on May 12, 2008, and was clearly suffering from a psychotic episode, seeing spiders crawling on the walls.
He left her in the car park of Wythenshawe Hospital in Manchester where he worked as a trainee psychiatrist as he tried to get two drugs for her, the hearing was told.
When this first attempt failed, he went to another pharmacy where he didn’t write any name or address on the form.
“I think I wanted to get the medication issued as quickly as possible,” he said. “I knew that this was a form that would work in that pharmacy.”
One of the drugs he prescribed was Lorazapam, a class C controlled drug that has worth as a street drug, Miss Baxter said.
"Someone that uses cocaine might want to market it for someone else," she said.
Dr Osborne said that was why he only gave Miss B a week's supply.
He told the GMC that he ‘urged’ her to get medical help and 'deeply regretted' not doing more.
The doctor, who converted to Islam last year to marry Bangladeshi-born plastic surgeon Rahala Noor, admitted he had not paid enough attention to the Good Medical Practice guideline when he wrote out the prescriptions.
"At the time I might have skimmed through it, but I probably hadn't really thought about all the points which is probably why I ended up here today."
Asked if he knew it was wrong to prescribe to family and friends, he said: "I honestly hadn't taken that message on board. I cannot say I was deliberately going against something I thought was wrong."
Dr Osborne was suspended for 18 months but in February 2009 allowed to continue practising subject to conditions.
He is accused of conduct which was 'inappropriate, misleading and not of the standards expected of a reasonably competent medical practitioner'.
He admits the charges but denies his conduct was dishonest or misleading, or that his fitness to practise is impaired.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/7271484/George-Osbornes-brother-evades-public-scrutiny-over-how-he-met-prostitute.html
