An Australian veterinary surgeon was banned from the profession indefinitely after she admitted injecting two friends with horse tranquilizer during a wild weekend of partying. Catherine McGuigan, who was employed at Murray Veterinary Services in Coolup, Western Australia, told a State Administrative Tribunal that she took a vial of ketamine on a weekend away and administered it to her friends and herself.
Vet Catherine McGuigan has been kicked out of the profession after admitting she injected friends with the horse tranquiliser ketamine during a drug-fuelled weekend away.https://t.co/KyD3ri9ptH pic.twitter.com/pWzSRDI5Li
— The West Australian (@westaustralian) November 22, 2021
- Ketamine wasn’t the only drug she gave them. McGuigan also admitted giving a friend diazepam, a muscle relaxer, telling her that it would help her sleep. It’s unclear whether that medication was legally obtained or stolen.
- McGuigan regularly took drugs with friends. During her tribunal, it emerged that McGuigan and her friends regularly used drugs including ecstasy and cocaine. However, on this particular weekend, they rented an apartment in Wannanup near Perth and were drinking and using cocaine when McGuigan pulled out the ketamine. She then asked them how much they wanted before getting the right dose and injecting them.
- It goes without saying that this was dangerous and illegal. “When acting in the lawful practice of her profession as a veterinary surgeon, the respondent was authorized to possess ketamine but was not authorized to administer or use ketamine on humans,” the SAT said. “The respondent was required to make a clinical record of its supply but she did not do so.”
- McGuigan knew what she was doing was wrong. She encouraged her friends to keep it secret so that she didn’t lose her job. However, she was caught out anyway and banned when the tribunal determined that her behavior “would reasonably be regarded as disgraceful or dishonorable by registered veterinary surgeons of good repute and competency.” In addition, she was fined $4,000 and removed from the register of veterinary surgeons in WA.
