Wolverhampton doctor three times drink driving limit after work shift
A doctor was caught more than three times the legal drink driving limit just half an hour after she finished work in Wolverhampton, a hearing was told.
Dr Ileana Bartha was stopped by police less than eight miles away from the New Cross Hospital, Wolverhampton, where she worked, after an officer spotted the front wheel 'hanging off' her car.
Sgt Mark Roger, of Staffordshire Police, stopped the medic and found two empty vodka bottles and an almost empty bottle of brandy in the passenger side footwell.
Dr Bartha failed three times to provide a roadside breathalyser sample, was arrested and taken back to Watling House Police Station, Stafford, where she blew over three times the legal limit.
She finished work at the hospital, where she worked as a junior locum, at 12.40 am and was arrested between six and eight miles away at 1.15am on January 20, 2012.
Dr Bartha pleaded guilty to drink driving at Cannock Magistrates Court in February last year and was disqualified from driving for 25 months and ordered to pay £85 costs.
She is now facing a Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service hearing in Manchester where it will be decided if she can continue to practise medicine.
Rosalind Emsley-Smith, for the General Medical Council (GMC), said: "On January 20 she finished her shift after midnight and was stopped by Sgt Roger at ten past one after he heard the vehicle making a load screeching noise which turned out was as a result of a damaged door and a wheel rubbing on the road.
"The vehicle appeared to have been involved in a collision and did not initially stop."
Dr Bartha was not present or represented at the tribunal and the panel was told she has returned to Romania.
In email correspondence with the GMC Dr Bartha claimed that she finished work at 12.40 am and drank some alcohol while she was defrosting her car after finding a bottle left over from New Year's Eve.
Dr Bartha is also accused of failing to provide the GMC with a completed employer detail form as requested.
It is alleged her actions amounted to misconduct and if found proved she could be struck off the medical register, suspended or face conditions of practise.
The hearing continues.
