Depression clouded judgement of 'Bloodgate' doctor, hearing told

Depression clouded the judgment of the “Bloodgate” matchday doctor who cut the lip of a rugby player to cover up his bogus injury, a panel heard today.

Lawyers for Dr Wendy Chapman argued her fitness to practise is not impaired because she had since controlled her ongoing condition which they say led to her role in the scandal.

Her state of mind at the time meant she gave into pressure from Harlequins player Tom Williams who wanted to conceal that minutes earlier he had bitten into a fake-blood capsule, it was argued.

She was then said to have “sleepwalked” through a subsequent rugby disciplinary hearing where she could not even remember giving evidence to back up the club’s false assertion that the blood injury was real.

Williams’s supposed injury meant a specialist goal kicker could come on to the pitch for Harlequins in the dying minutes of last April’s Heineken Cup rugby union quarter-final tie against Irish side Leinster, who held on to win 6-5.

Dr Chapman wants her interim suspension from medicine lifted by the General Medical Council who accuse her of bringing the profession into disrepute and being dishonest.

Mary O’Rourke QC, counsel for the doctor, told the fitness to practise panel that it was “extremely probable” it would find she was guilty of misconduct but “that is not where the issue is”.

“My submissions are that even if you find misconduct, this is going to be a case where you can say fitness to practise is not impaired,” she said.

“The overwhelming context of her behaviour was her depression. She was feeling rubbish for a number of months and at the time. Her judgment was impaired then.”

The hearing has been told that Dr Chapman was suffering from a “major depressive disorder” even before Bloodgate, which the GMC has not challenged.

She had work problems in her part-time post as an accident and emergency consultant at Maidstone Hospital in Kent, where she has since left, and personal difficulties.

Ms O’Rourke said: “At the time (of the match) she was awaiting the outcome of an MRI scan at the beginning of April last year. She was awaiting to hear if she had breast cancer.

“Her mother died of it, as did two of her aunts, while her sister had a diagnosis at the time. It was a very worrying time for her.”

Added to that was the stresses of work and the “unique situation” where a player asked her to harm him rather than heal him, she said.

“But for the medical matters I would not be making the submissions, I say it is the key to culpability,” she said.

“If you accept that the depression has been resolved and the conduct is unlikely to reoccur then that is highly significant when judging if her fitness to practise is impaired.”

She said the depression also affected her decision not to tell anyone - including her GP husband – of the intentional lip cut and at the European Rugby Cup (ERC) hearing three months later in which she lied that the injury was genuine.

O’Rourke said Dr Chapman “sleepwalked” through that hearing and could not remember giving evidence.

The barrister said she herself represented Dr Chapman at the ERC hearing but was not told of the truth.

Despite being cleared of conspiring to get the specialist kicker back on to the field and not required to give evidence, she then lied to the hearing that nothing untoward had taken place.

“She was suffering from depression at the time and felt over-burdened by the circumstances,” Ms O’Rourke explained.

She said that Dr Chapman was still on medication for her depression but that various psychiatric experts had ruled she now had coping mechanisms in place to deal with it and she was fit to return as a doctor.

She is currently recovering from breast cancer surgery which took place about five weeks ago.

Michael Hayton, counsel for the GMC, had questioned whether the lip cut could be treated as an isolated incident following her later deception at the ERC hearing.

Ms O’Rourke countered that both matters should be treated as one incident as one naturally led to the other.

The barrister said ruling Dr Chapman’s fitness to practise is not impaired would not mean she “walks away” as the panel could still give a warning as to her future professional conduct.

Dr Chapman has admitted all the charges against her except for an allegation - which she has been cleared of – that she stated Williams had a loose tooth in order to deceive others that he had sustained an injury on the field of play.

Williams had come on to the pitch at The Stoop on April 12, 2009 as a substitute but came off himself in the 75th minute with blood apparently gushing out of his mouth, which allowed New Zealander Nick Evans to return to the field as a blood replacement and attempt to kick a winning goal.

Blood replacements are substitute players temporarily brought on to the pitch while players with blood injuries receive treatment.

Former Harlequins director of rugby Dean Richards was given a three-year ban by an ERC appeals panel after Williams later changed his evidence and told the truth.

It emerged during that hearing that Richards ordered fake blood injuries on four other occasions and orchestrated the “Bloodgate” cover-up.

Williams’s initial 12-month ban was reduced to four months after his admission of the capsule use, club physiotherapist Steph Brennan – said to have given the capsule to the player – was banned for two years, and the club itself was fined £258,000.

Dr Chapman has not worked for the club since last year and said yesterday she would not be getting her job back.

The GMC panel went into camera to discuss whether Dr Chapman’s fitness to practise is impaired and released parties in the hearing until midday on Tuesday.

If her fitness to practise is found to be impaired, the panel will then consider what, if any, sanctions should be imposed, which could include Dr Chapman being struck off.

A GMC spokesman said the panel will reconvene at 3pm on Tuesday.