A DOCTOR who inhaled “laughing gas” while on duty at a children’s A&E ward will learn his fate today after a disciplinary panel found his actions had potentially put the safety of patients at risk.
Dr Jonathan Chahal used the medical anaesthetic Entonox – better known as gas and air – from a canister on four separate occasions while at Ormskirk General Hospital.
A General Medical Council panel yesterday ruled Dr Chahal’s fitness to practise was impaired because of his misconduct while he was working at the hospital. The hearing was told the senior house officer paediatrician also persuaded seven female nurses to inhale the gas in what were described as “Entonox parties”.
They took place in the summer of 2007 as Dr Chahal told his colleagues the drug, frequently used to alleviate pain in childbirth, was “fun” and “made you feel floaty”.
The panel was told nurses heard giggles coming from the resuscitation room of the A&E ward where the paediatrician had been using the Entonox drug.
