UK psychiatrist Chantal Piek suspended for forgery

January 8, 2009

On Jan 8, 2009, the UK General Medical Council suspended psychiatrist Chantal Piek for 18 months after she pleaded guilty in Magistrates’ Court to seven counts of forgery. Piek, who had been working for a drug and alcohol advice service, had written a series of prescriptions for two patients—one of which was fictitious—before collecting the medicines (a tranquilizer and other drugs) for her own use. A National Health Services investigation found 23 occasions where falsified prescriptions were presented at pharmacies across London and Hertfordshire. She was sentenced to a 30-month conditional discharge and ordered to pay legal costs of £3,700 (U.S. $5,640).

(“Psychiatrist guilty of writing own tranquiliser prescriptions,” Ham & High, 8 January 2009.)