Doctors admit drink, psych, problems

Press, 22 August 1989, Page 34

Doctors admit drink, psych, problems

By

DEBORAH McPHERSON

Doctors with alcohol addiction or psychological problems are increasingly seeking help from a newly established doctors’ health advisory service. The Medical Association’s conference in Rotorua was told that up to 65 doctors had been referred to the Doctors’ Health Advisory Service since it was established 15 months ago.

The service’s co-ordina-tor, Dr Norman Walker, of Christchurch, said doctors were not exempt from stress. About a third of the doctors referred to the service were addicted to alcohol. A third needed psychiatric help for disorders including ,alzheimer’s disease, loss of confidence and memory loss.

General practitioners were the most frequently referred doctors, said Dr Walker.

All the psychiatric problems had been resolved “satisfactorily” without any problems for patients, he said. In the case of alcohol

addictions, doctors had been referred to appropriate agencies for treatment. Some doctors had been referred to Queen Mary Hospital at Hanmer Springs. Dr Walker emphasised the service was not a disciplinary committee. Doctors with problems which had escalated to the extent that patient care was jeopardised, would be referred to the Medical Council’s health committee. So far the service had helped people before they got to that stage, but doctors were responsible under the Medical Practitioners Act to report such cases, said Dr Walker. Doctors were experts at perceiving denial in patients but were often blind to denial of problems in themselves, he said.

Denial might also quietly catch up with people, such as a loss of competency with ageing.

The service had also intervened in “medical marriages” which were under stress. About a third of the service’s calls were self

referrals, particularly from country doctors. All calls were dealt with confidentially, and the impaired doctor was usually approached for counselling by someone in his or her field and age group, said Dr Walker.