A pharmacist has been struck off the professional register for stealing and taking cocaine in the hospital where he was working.
Anthony Helmut Schober, registration number 2055060, admitted taking cocaine solution twice in 2011 from The Alexandra Hospital in Stockport where he worked as lead clinical pharmacist, the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) heard at a fitness-to-practise hearing last month (September 11).
The committee acknowledged that Mr Schober was previously a pharmacist of "good standing" and that the incidents had taken place at a time of "very significant pressure". But his actions had involved repeated dishonesty, which meant they were at "the top end of the spectrum of sanction", the GPhC said as it ruled to strike him off the register.
Mr Schober was then arrested and admitted to consuming the hospital's cocaine in August as well as on a separate occasion in July that year. He received a police caution for theft as an employee.
During a police search, four empty containers labelled lidocaine hydrochloride and phenylephrine hydrochloride, which were empty, were found in the boot of his car. Mr Schober took a drugs test at the police station and tested positive for cocaine.
In a police interview, Mr Schober claimed he had stolen the drugs to "stave off feelings of dysphoria he experienced after taking cocaine", the GPhC fitness-to-practice committee heard. But in a further meeting at the hospital, Mr Schober confirmed he had consumed the cocaine and planned to cover it up by filling the empty cocaine vials with the lidocaine and phenylephrine.
The committee also heard that Mr Schober was sent home from work in July 2011 because staff reported he was in an "incoherent or agitated" state; he remained off work for a week.
The committee accepted that Mr Schober had acted at a time where "a number of life circumstances had crowded in upon him" but said it had difficulty accepting that Mr Schober's actions were a cry for help, because he had tried to cover up what he had done.
Mr Schober told the GPhC he had continued to use cocaine, purchased elsewhere, on around 10 occasions since he had stopped practising as a pharmacist. Although this had posed no risk to patients, Mr Schober did not seem aware that patient risk was "not the only issue when considering the importance of high standards in the profession", the committee said.
The committee determined that Mr Schober's conduct was "fundamentally incompatible with his obligations as a professional" and ruled to strike him off the register
Read the full case here.