Advice re alcoholic sister

wifeanddaughter

My sister is an alcoholic, most nights she gets through several bottles of white wine, her house is a tip and her husband severely ill through alcohol related causes. She is also a doctor.

Increasingly I have been getting worried that she could make a mistake at work which could have serious consequences, though there is absolutely no sign that her effectiveness at work is compromised.

I spoke to my parents as we are all very concerned about her and a couple of weeks ago we tried to discuss with her, she refused to talk about it but did stop drinking for the rest of that day. The next day before she went home she promised my parents she would cut down.

However, not surprisingly, she is still drinking and I really don't know what to do. I spoke to a charity that specialises in doctors with alcohol and drug related problems and they said that the only thing we could do is report her to the GMC. I spoke to my parents and they were very cross that I had spoken to anyone although i did not give any details and want to see how things go, which to me is ignoring the problem.

Any advice or suggestions from anyone been in a similar situation. My parents are devastated by the whole situation. I am torn as part of me thinks that reporting my concerns to the GMC may get her the help she needs but equally she will probably never speak to me again. Even if I report her as there is no evidence her work is impaired and I am sure she would refute any allegations I am not sure anything would be done.

ljonski

What type of Doctor is she?

ljonski

Have you any idea why she is an alcoholic?
Is it work related?
How long has she been a serious drinker?
Has she ever been drunk whilst on duty?
Has anyone she works with noticed?

Spirit_2

If she is a hospital doctor, Occupational Health services will be used to dealing with staff who are dependent on alcohol/drugs . They will take steps to manage this through health/sickness policies.

They will also take steps to keep patients safe.

Encourage her to seek the help that is available to her. Every doctor now has to have a responsible officer who is responsible for their revalidation, can you identify hers and speak to him/her? Explain that you are concerned for her in relation to patient safety, and suggesting an occupational health referral.

Or make a call to the GMC.

Some Doctors never see patients or work on diagnostics for patients, without knowing her specialty cannot give view on whether her impaired function is directly effecting patients.

wifeanddaughter

She works in pathology services. I am pretty sure she has never been drunk at work. She starts drinking as soon as she gets home, one weekend I visited she had 7 bottles of wine on Saturday often she drinks herself into a stupor.

This has been going on for probably 10 years plus but has come to a head because of the increasing squalor she is living in. It is a really sad situation and I think she is desperately unhappy but she won't talk about it. It is probably more home related than work.

Mojisola

wifeanddaughter wrote: »

She works in pathology services. I am pretty sure she has never been drunk at work. She starts drinking as soon as she gets home, one weekend I visited she had 7 bottles of wine on Saturday often she drinks herself into a stupor.

Does she drink on Sundays as well? If so, she's probably still drunk on Monday mornings.

tea_lover

If she's drinking that much at evenings and weekends there's no way it's not affecting her job. I certainly wouldn't be trusting any results coming out of her lab.

In_Debt_Bet

Alcoholics Anonymous offer support to families of alcoholics as well as alcoholics themselves. I hope your sister can get the help she needs, I can only imagine how worried you must be.

wolfehouse

there are several specific groups for doctors with alcohol issues as it is known that the rates are high and of course the work issue makes it harder to seek help.
http://sick-doctors-trust.co.uk/
(you can call them anonymously on 0370 444 5163)
or
http://www.bddg.org/

FBaby

It's a difficult situation. Reporting her could open a full investigation resulting in her being stroke off with all the consequences attached to it. At the same time, the way you describe it, she shouldn't be doing the job she is doing as she just cannot be consistently focus on her work.


I think the best you can do is shaken her to realise that she urgently needs to deal with the problem by telling her that you will have no choice but to report her if she doesn't seek help from Occ Health. It's not nice to have to resort to blackmail, but in this case, there isn't much left to do as both her life and the life of others are involved.

nonnatus

She WILL be drunk in the mornings, when she is at work. I wouldn't like my results in her hands on those mornings...


I agree with previous poster. She is intelligent (or used to be before wine rotted through a few million brain cells) and will KNOW what she's doing is wrong and unsustainable. Don't report her but TELL her you will if she doesn't address the problem herself soon.


She will be MIGHTY cross with you and alcoholics are devious so you will need proof that she's resolving things but you have to be cruel to be kind. She'll thank you eventually.


Good Luck x (she's exceedingly lucky to have your love and care)