Trainee doctor fell asleep after downing alcohol on night shift

Trainee doctor who fell asleep after downing alcohol on night shift and failed to respond to on-call bleep then drove home three times over the legal limit avoids being struck off from GP practice

A trainee GP who fell asleep after downing alcohol on a night duty shift at a mental health centre before driving home while three times over the limit has avoided being struck off. 

Dr Mahweer Maheshwari had failed to respond to his pager while working at The Redwoods Centre in Shrewsbury, Shropshire before a member of staff found him sleeping on a bed.  

The next day – ignoring his colleagues’ demands to get a taxi – he walked out of the building, got into his car and drove home before nearly crashing into another vehicle outside the gates. 

Police were called by colleagues and breathalysed him at his house. He was later fined £300, banned from the roads for two years and handed a community order. 

A Medical Practitioners Tribunal found Dr Maheshwari’s drunkenness risked ‘seriously harm’ to his patients because he could have ‘prescribed inappropriate medication or doses’. 

Dr Mahweer Maheshwari had failed to respond to his pager while working at The Redwoods Centre in Shrewsbury, Shropshire before a member of staff found him sleeping on a bed

Taking his drink-driving into account there was ‘no doubt’ he was guilty of ‘serious misconduct’, the panel found.  

But while they issued him with a formal warning, they said he can keep his job after deciding his risk of repeating the behaviour was ‘low’.

Dr Maheshwari was on the Shropshire General Practitioner Vocational Training Scheme when the incident took place on October 27 and 28, 2021.

He’s currently in his final year of training and is working as a GP trainee at Albrighton Medical Practice in Wolverhampton.  

Reflecting on the incident, Dr Maheshwari said: ‘I have never in my life been so irresponsible to using any drug/alcohol at work which I really am sorry about as how it could have made things worse due to risk of patients at being harm and I am at risk of hurting myself, hurting others, irrational behaviour.’

He stated that he drank alcohol ‘very rarely’ and has remained abstinent for over a year.

Robert Dacre, representing the doctor, said that there had been ‘no concerns about his professional conduct or performance either before the incident or since’.

Ruling that the trainee doctor was currently ‘not impaired’, tribunal chair Nicholas Flanagan said: ‘As Dr Maheshwari admitted in evidence, due to his intoxication, he was unable to undertake any assessments of patients and could have caused serious harm by prescribing inappropriate medication or doses in his intoxicated state.

‘Dr Maheshwari’s actions led the unit he was supposed to be supervising to have no medical cover for the night in question, with other staff members attempting to rouse him and being concerned about his welfare.

‘Dr Maheshwari had worked several night shifts in a psychiatric ward and the tribunal was satisfied that the events occurred in a particularly stressful period in his professional and personal life.

‘The tribunal considered the risk of Dr Maheshwari repeating the behaviour to be low, as he had gained insight into his actions and had an excellent support system in place.’

The warning will remain on his record for two years.

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