A FAMILY doctor who faked prescriptions to steal painkillers faces misconduct charges today.
Dr William Richardson, of East Herrington, Sunderland, is due to appear before the General Medical Council's (GMC) professional conduct committee in Manchester.
Last May, the Sunderland GP was fined £1,400 by Durham Crown Court after admitting 14 charges of obtaining the painkilling drug dihydrocodeine by deception.
In addition to the conviction, Dr Richardson is facing two allegations of serious professional misconduct.
The first is that on several occasions, he prescribed a drug to a patient despite his awareness that the patient had an addiction to the drug.
The second allegation is that he behaved in an irresponsible, and dishonest manner, by failing to inform a patient that a liver function test result was abnormal.
Dr Richardson is working at a surgery near Sunderland under the supervision of another GP as part of measures designed to rehabilitate him.
He was suspended from his position as a salaried doctor at the Pennywell Health Centre in 2001 when an investigation was launched into alleged prescription irregularities.
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