Insomniac attacks doctor at St Annes Medical Centre after being denied sleeping pills

Stuart Broadhead, 55, flew at the doctor during an appointment, grabbing him round the neck before other practice doctors managed to pull him off their frightened colleague.

The consulting room conflict arose after Broadhead was refused sleeping pills which he has been using for more than thirty years because they are now on an NHS banned list.

Broadhead, of St Andrews Road North, St Annes was found guilty in his absence after he failed to turn up at Blackpool Magistrates Court to face charges of assaulting Dr Giuseppe Tumminaro at St Annes Medical Centre in June last year.

The insomniac was also found guilty of causing a nuisance and disturbance at the centre when he refused to leave without his medication.

Prosecutor Neil White said the defendant had not attended court or responded to his solicitor’s phone calls.

Mr White said Broadhead had visited the doctor to ask for an extended prescription for Secobarbital, a barbiturate used to treat insomnia.

Dr Tumminaro was asked to give evidence and told the hearing he had explained to his patient that the medication was old fashioned and hardly ever prescribed. He said it had been blacklisted under national rules.

The doctor told Broadhead he would be breaking the rules if he prescribed the drug, which was no longer in use in the UK.

His patient then said he could import the drug illegally from the USA via a pharmacist friend.

He was asked to return that afternoon after the GP said he wanted the chance to consult colleagues about alternative medication.

Broadhead returned with his mother and the doctor reiterated the dangers of side effects from Secobarbital, such as addiction.

During this return visit two alternatives were discussed, with Dr Tumminaro recommending his patient attend a specialist sleep clinic.

It was then Broadhead lost his temper and lashed out.

The GP said: “Mr Broadhead got up and gave me a strong push. My chair was on wheels and I was pushed up against the wall.

“He became very angry and as he started to walk towards me I was scared.

“I shouted loud for help three times and he went to my desk and started banging his own head on it.”

GP colleagues were alarmed at the doctor’s cries for help and rushed to his consulting room where they discovered Broadhead on the floor.

Dr Tumminaro continued: “Broadhead threw himself backwards onto the floor, shouting that I had hit his head on the desk, something his mother said was untrue.

“I was speechless at that stage.”

Other doctors took the GP into a corridor and told reception staff to call police.

The doctor then said that Broadhead suddenly made a lunge at him grabbing him round the neck.

“He went straight for me and gripped me for a few seconds,” said the GP, ”then others prised him from me. I was in discomfort for three days.”

The court heard Broadhead continued to challenge the doctor before leaving the surgery before police arrived.

The doctor added: "Everything moved very fast. I just protected myself.”

Colleague Dr Lewis Conlon, an eyewitness, told magistrates: "Broadhead was aggressive. It was only the sheer number of people who came to help which forced him to leave.”

In his police interview Broadhead told officers he had been on the same sleeping tablets for 35 years and was the last person in Lancashire still taking them.

He admitted having been a nuisance and said he had ‘fallen over’ in front of the GP because he was not good on his feet.

He told police he had not grabbed the doctor by the neck. “I would not do that, even if they weren’t English,” he said.

Returning guilty verdicts, chair of the Bench Maureen Appleton said: “The evidence from both doctors was credible .This was a sustained attack on Dr Tumminaro.”

A warrant has now been issued for Broadhead’s arrest.