A Dundee doctor who was acquitted of killing a friend by giving her a cocktail of drugs has been ordered to carry out unpaid work for possessing illegal substances.
Dr Katy McAllister, 31, of Seafield Close, was found not guilty of causing the death of pal Louise McGowan at Voodoo Tattoo in Perth Road in May 2015.
Mrs McGowan had been “anxious” about getting her body decorated and the Crown had alleged that the drugs taken by Mrs McGowan caused her to suffer a cardiac arrest which in turn led to her losing her life.
But Judge Graham Buchanan QC said there was insufficient evidence led by the Crown and that the culpable homicide charge shouldn’t go before a jury.
On Tuesday, McAllister was sentenced at the High Court in Glasgow to complete a community payback order, including 150 hours of unpaid work, after pleading guilty to separate charges of supplying or offering to supply diazepam and temazepam to other individuals, as well as possessing magic mushrooms and the controlled drug midazolam.
Defence advocate Mark Stewart QC said: “It is not a commercial supply operation, it is not an operation where drugs have been stolen from health service supplies and I think there is a great deal of significance in that.”
Mr Stewart said his client was currently on unpaid maternity leave and this followed her being suspended by NHS Tayside following the start of the legal proceedings.
A decision on her future with the health board will be made in August.
Mr Stewart said the General Medical Council had not taken any action against his client to date, but he understood it would now conduct its own investigation.
He said his client had a 10-month-old baby and was in a stable relationship, and although she had medical conditions, she could carry out some form of unpaid work as part of her sentence.
Judge Buchanan said the charges McAllister had pleaded guilty to were “much less serious” than the one of culpable homicide she was acquitted of and said it would normally be a matter for the sheriff court.
He said: “It is clear the matter can be dealt with in a manner that does not involve the imposition of a custodial sentence.”
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