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Glasgow Live
Glasgow Live
National
Cheryl McEvoy

Glasgow doctor who punched nurses could be allowed back to work if medical watchdog lifts ban

A doctor could be allowed to return to work if a medical watchdog agrees to lift a ban imposed after she attacked nursing staff.

Karen Clark is currently suspended after multiple reviews of her fitness to practise by the Medical Practitioner Tribunal Service (MPTS) failed to lift the order and allow her back on the wards.

A fresh hearing will be held next month and will consider previous criminal convictions for attacking four nurses, drink driving, cocaine possession and police assault.

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Clark was a highly rated accident and emergency specialist at Glasgow Royal Infirmary when her life spiralled out of control when she developed an alcohol addiction.

She as jailed in April 2015 for nine months after she admitted assaulting four nurses and four police officers in separate incidents the previous year, and to two counts of abusive behaviour.

And Clark was back in the dock in November 2017 and sentenced to a further eight months behind bars for breaching community payback orders imposed for theft and housebreaking.

She was initially suspended by the MPTS in 2016 and her attempt to return to work in 2021 and 2022 were rejected when they found her fitness to practise remained impaired.

The medic has previously detailed her fight against alcohol addiction in a blog titled 'Karen Clark: a young female doctor shares her journey into recovery from addiction'.

She described how she became addicted to alcohol in her 20s and had spells in rehab after her life began to spiral out of control.

She wrote: "I am Karen. I am an alcoholic and most likely an addict.

"My substance of choice is alcohol. It has taken me to a place that I can only describe as hell.

"I am a medical doctor (emergency medicine). I discovered alcohol when I was 15.

"I can only describe taking that first sip as the most amazing euphoric feeling I thought was possible.

"My alcoholism really took off in my 20s. I functioned for a long time.

"In the past year I have been in accidents, horribly compromising situations, I have had countless hospital detoxes."

Clark graduated in medicine from Dundee University in 2006 and has worked at a number of other NHS hospitals in Glasgow, Dumfries and Ayrshire during her career.

The hearing will take place at the MPTS headquarters in Manchester on May 5.

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