A TASMANIAN pharmacist who drove "drunk to work, then dispensed 114 prescriptions for drugs of dependence while intoxicated, has been disqualified from practising for a year," Mercury has reported.
Paul Nicholas Schild was the owner of and sole pharmacist of Perth's only pharmacy, healthSAVE, when he drove at nearly four times the legal blood alcohol limit in Nov 2020, according to a recent tribunal decision.
He has since sold the pharmacy and now runs a hobby farm instead.
At about 10am on the morning in question, Schild was breathalysed on his way to work after a member of the public reported concerns about his driving to the police, returning a blood alcohol reading of 0.192.
According to a newly-published Tasmanian Civil and Administrative Tribunal decision, Schild then turned up at work about two hours later still drunk.
While at work, Schild filled 114 prescriptions for drugs of dependence and Schedule 8 medications.
Tribunal deputy president Alison Clues noted there was no suggestion any patients' health was harmed as a result of his conduct.
According to the tribunal's decision, in Jan 2021, Schild was fined and disqualified from driving for 12 months after pleading guilty to drink driving, with the court hearing he'd drunk alcohol the night before but believed he'd woken and consumed more.
He said he couldn't remember waking and drinking, and couldn't find the bottle the next day.
Schild had argued his conduct should be viewed as an "isolated incident", that he made a mistake and exercised poor judgement on one occasion only, his lawyers said.
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