Manchester vet suspended after making fraudulent Tramadol prescription for her dad - instead of dog

Dr Anca Bucur, who qualified as a vet in 2020, was working at Atherton Veterinary Centre in Bolton Road, Atherton, when the incident occured in April last year.

She claimed she wanted to help her father on a visit to the UK as he could “barely walk”. He had been suffering with severe back pain but refused to seek appropriate treatment from a doctor, after suffering side effects from medication that had previously been supplied. He had previously benefitted from taking his wife’s tramadol medication.

After issuing a false prescription under the name of a client she had randomly taken from the practice management system, Dr Bucur gave the prescription for 60 tablets to her partner, but he aroused the suspicion of the pharmacist, who refused to dispense the medication and triggered a full investigation.

Background

In a tribunal, the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons alleged that on or about April 17, 2024, Dr Bucur accessed the clinical record of a dog named Murphy, prescribing tramadol and printed the prescription so that it could be presented at a pharmacy. The College’s case was that Dr Bucur had not seen Murphy, who did not require tramadol, and intended the created prescription for human rather than animal use. It was alleged that, having printed the prescription, she then deleted all reference to it from Murphy’s clinical record on the practice management system, then stamped the prescription with AVC’s official practice stamp, and signed it as the prescribing veterinary surgeon.

Between April 17 and 22, 2024, it was alleged that Dr Bucur allowed the prescription to be presented at a pharmacy, which RCVS said wad dishonest and/or misleading, and took place in circumstances where she was not professionally qualified to write a prescription for a human. The RCVS said the conduct amounted to being guilty of disgraceful conduct in a professional respect.

Dr Bucur admitted all charges.

It was reported that when challenged by her employers over the fraud, she was “very apologetic and kept saying “What have I done?”.

She was initially suspended from from work at Atherton Veterinary Centre on her return from annual leave on April 26, 2024, then dismissed on May 3, following a formal disciplinary meeting.

Committee decision

After hearing the events, the Committee considered that Dr Bucur’s conduct had given rise to a risk of injury, since she had not been professionally qualified or sufficiently informed to issue a prescription for tramadol to her father. A report states: “The Committee found that the Respondent had acted recklessly with regard to the potential effects of a controlled, addictive drug, in the absence of proper professional qualification or full clinical information about her father’s medical history .

They found that there was an abuse of her professional position as a registered veterinary surgeon and her conduct was was aggravated by her involvement of her partner in the misconduct. They conclued that she had brought the profession into disrepute and public confidence in the profession was undermined.

Dr Bucur was suspended for two months on March