Dr. Uche:
When they’re getting PAID like athletes lol. Absolutely not…and I’m not hiding a coke habit either.
Okay, so what will the drug-testing enthusiasts say? “Medical staff hold the lives of the public in their hands”, “there is a precedent for certain key workers in certain countries to pass pre-employment drug tests”, blah blah blah blah.
Look, the measure of a healthcare professional’s ability to do their job effectively is surmised with ongoing professional assessments and exams. While I’m by no means condoning illicit drug use by healthcare professionals; further increasing ‘big brother’ policies only stands to further disempower the community. Healthcare professionals undergo many tests, a drug test need not be one of them.
Hilary:
Uh ya. I do not want my doctor performing my surgeries high as a kite.
I actually don’t even know how a government run health service isn’t continually drug testing workers as part of their employment contract. There are plenty of industries which are high risk and high responsibility that require drug testing as a terms of employment. Doctors, nurses, dentists, pharmacists and anyone who has patient safety under their care should be required to be drug tested. The ethical and legal issues that would be avoided by identifying healthcare workers with problematic drug or alcohol use would be significant.
Uche has argued that clinical teams should be able to make DNAR decisions on behalf of the patients under their care… and if that doctor was under the influence? To avoid high or hungover doctors from accidentally killing or maiming their patients there should be continual drug testing of medical practitioners in the NHS.
*Disclaimer: All opinions expressed on this platform are those of the individuals and not representative of any particular institution. This is not to be taken as medical advice.
