A doctor is battling to save her career after a series of alcohol-fuelled meltdowns, including one which saw her throw hot coffee at airport staff and scream “F*** off, I’ll kill you”.
NHS haematology expert Dr Roisin Hamilton faces being struck off at the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service over her conduct.
She was charged with misconduct after she being arrested for attacks on police, airport officials and her husband.
She has also been convicted of drink-driving.
The 38-year-old has worked at hospitals in Glasgow and in Aberdeen, reports the Daily Record.
In the first incident, in June 2015, staff at a hospital saw her approaching her car while drunk and persuaded her to hand over the keys.
But Hamilton became aggressive when police arrived and she bit an officer’s finger as he asked her to take a breath test.
At the time, she was fined £980 and banned from driving for a year after she admitted failing to provide a breath specimen and assault.
Hamilton was arrested again the following year after being seen stumbling in the duty free area at Glasgow Airport while waiting for a flight to Northern Ireland, where she was booked in to attend a rehabilitation centre.
Airport staff went to offer her assistance but she vomited on the floor and became aggressive – throwing scalding coffee on to the foot of an airport employee.
A privacy screen was put up to shield her from other passengers but she continued to shout and swear at staff, yelling: “F*** off, I’ll kill you” and “F*** off, you f***ing bitch,” as she lashed out.
She was later charged and arrested again after a subsequent bust-up with her then husband, who called police when she tried to get back into their home after he threw her out for being drunk.
During the row, Hamilton repeatedly hit, kicked and scratched him on the head and body and threw a desk organiser at the house.
In January 2017, Hamilton was ordered to complete 200 hours of unpaid work and pay £200 in compensation for threatening behaviour and assault.
She was arrested in August 2018 for drink-driving in Armagh, after she crashed her car into a fence and a bin while pedestrians were nearby.
Test showed she had 161 mcg of alcohol per 100ml of breath. The legal limit in Northern Ireland is 35mcg.
In September 2017, Hamilton pleaded guilty to driving with excess alcohol and was fined £300 fine and disqualified from driving for 18 months.
In February last year, she was arrested for being drunk and abusive during a store opening at a shopping mall in Newry, County Down.
As police detained her, she dug her fingernails into one officer’s arm and shouted: “F*** you” as shoppers and their children looked on, the tribunal heard.
After she was taken away, Hamilton “lashed out at the officer sat next to her, punching her with a closed right fist several times to her right arm,” Susanna Kitzing, lawyer for the General Medical Council, said.
An officer stopped the car he was driving and told the doctor in the back seat to calm down.
But she struggled so violently that she had to be put in handcuffs and leg restraints before being placed in a cell to sober up, the hearing heard.
She tried to assault officers at a police station as the restraints were removed. The doctor was then placed in a cell until she calmed down.
In March last year, Hamilton, who has voluntarily not worked since 2015 and is now divorced, admitted disorderly behaviour and assault on police and was bound over to keep the peace.
She had previously blamed her outbursts on a long-standing alcohol addiction which developed after she was diagnosed with anxiety and depression.
In a statement, Hamilton said that she was “mortified and ashamed” of her actions and said the offences “did not represent her as a person”.
The majority of her MPTS hearing is expected to be held in private.
The case, which is being heard in Manchester, continues.
A written verdict is expected to be published at a later date.
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