Doctor 'Involved In Drug-Fuelled Glasgow Gay Scene'

GLASGOW, SCOTLAND - A doctor was today accused of being part of a drug-fuelled Glasgow gay scene after a man died in his upmarket flat following a two-day binge.
A General Medical Council fitness-to-practise hearing in London heard David Steel, 30, was found dead in gay addiction psychiatrist Clint Tatchell's bed on September 21, 2003.
Dr Tatchell denies impairment by reason of misconduct and is accused of drunkenly writing a prescription for the tranquilliser Diazepam and then misleading police about events that preceded Mr Steel's death.
The hearing was told that Mr Steel was found dead by Dr Tatchell at 4am on September 21, after taking a cocktail of drugs including heroin, cocaine, ecstasy and Diazepam in a binge that began on September 19, 2003.
Mr Steel died of an ecstasy overdose.
Mr Dafydd Enoch, for the GMC, told the hearing: "It would seem Dr Tatchell and friends were part of a socially active gay scene in Glasgow and this party represented a typical spontaneous event.
"The party was not just fuelled by drink, although there was vodka, beer, champagne and alcopops drunk, we say it was fuelled by drugs, certainly in Mr Steel's case.
"Dr Tatchell orchestrated a thorough tidy up of the flat before police arrived following Mr Steel's death. At the party there had been swimming, people crashing and then waking up, people had been wearing togas, and you may think police would come in and ask, what has been going on here?
"He had just found a dead body in his bed, he must have realised he should have touched nothing and let the police deal with it, what did he have to hide?"
Mr Enoch then told the hearing that in an interview with police following Mr Steel's death, Dr Tatchell admitted taking cocaine on a recent visit to his native South Africa.
During the party at his flat, Dr Tatchell had written a prescription for Diazepam for his flatmate Brian Hoolichan, on a plain sheet of paper, despite knowing Mr Hoolichan had his own regular GP.
Dr Tatchell drove another man, Gordon Smith, to collect the tablets, and police found the bottle open in his bedroom with 19 of the 28 tablets missing. Only a small amount of the drug was found in Mr Steel's system.
Dr Tatchell worked as an addiction psychiatrist for NHS Greater Glasgow between May 2003 and July 2004.
The hearing continues.
from 24Dash.com