Behaviour of doctor 'unbecoming’

Press, 24 June 1981, Page 1

Behaviour of doctor 'unbecoming’

PA Dunedin Dr Lloyd Al lister Drake, an Auckland medical practitioner, has been found guilty of conduct "unbecoming of a medical practitioner” and censured by the Medical Practitioners’ .Displinary Committee. Dr Drake was censured for excessive self-publicity and advertising through the media since 1975. The committee made no order for costs in its decision. which appears in the latest “New Zealand Medical Journal.” The committee dealt with

three specific complaints against Dr- Drake. It found’ that Dr Drake was guilty of unethical conduct during the 1974 Commonwealth Games in not notifying the. team doctor, Dr G. Campbell, when substituting his own treatment for Dr Campbell’s with athletes, “which he did on a number of occasions." The committee also claims Dr Drake knew of. and was a party to. many articles which led to a charge of excessive publicity and selfadvertisement through the news media. "The cumulative effect of Dr Drake's self-sought pub-

licity and his ignoring of the earlier warnings, comprise improper conduct unbecoming of a medical practitioner." the committee found. On the third complaint, the committee was unable to make any finding as to the criticism of other doctors by Dr Drake in a talkback session on Radio Pacific “because the tape of the session had been erased.” The tape was erased in spite of a protest about its content by another doctor, and the committee "believes this erasure to be a breach of the Broadcasting Tribunal's instructions.”