Doctor “Sacked by Text” – He Blew Whistle on Drugs Scam at Army Base
A SENIOR doctor was sacked by text while on holiday after blowing the whistle on a suspected drugs scam at a British Army base.
Dr Stephen Frost who led the campaign for an inquest into the death of a weapons inspector Dr David Kelly, was dismissed by the Ministry of Defence after calling for a police investigation.
He claims their was a ‘cover-up of criminality’ over the ordering and dispensing of 2,400mg of the drug morphine sulphate for a patients instead of 400mg.
The incident happened before Dr Frost started working at the military camp’s medical centre. But less than a month after telling bosses he believed a crime had taken place, he was sacked by text and email while on holiday in North Wales.
He has now won a legal battle to bring a whistleblowing claim against against the Mod, seeking substantial damages that could run into hundred of thousands of pounds. There have long been calls for the protection of whistleblowers, the Daily Mail has revealed how NHS doctors have been gagged by their hospitals.
On Friday night Dr Frost said: ‘It is a great relief that the judge has allowed my claim to proceed..
‘ I have dedicated much of my life to working as a doctor for the Armed Forces and I took my job of treating sick and injured military personnel very seriously.’
Dr Frost, who had worked for the MoD for nearly twenty years, was employed on a six-month contract at Weeton Barracks, near Blackpool.
In August 2013, two weeks after he started the job, he was told a pharmacy technician had mistakenly ordered 40 60mg tablets of morphine sulphate instead of 10mg pills a month earlier. He checked with the patient, who insisted the lower strength drugs had been dispensed – leading the doctor to conclude that the stronger tablets were missing.
He believed it was unlikely the pharmacy technician had made a mistake and suspected she may have been forced into criminal activity.
Dr Frost expressed his concerns to members of the practice team and an internal investigation, and said the matter was so serious that police should be informed.
He was sacked in September 2013, without being given a reason, and told he was barred from working on another Army base.
The MoD – which said it only employed Dr Frost through an agency – tried unsuccessfully to get his claim thrown out on a technicality.
A spokesman said: ‘This case is subject to legal proceedings and it would be inappropriate for us to comment.’
Drury. I. 2015. Daily Mail. 31.01.2015 p. 14
“You must not “ruffle the feathers” of the establishment – naughty boy” !!!
