Doctor who turned down patient alarms because noise annoyed him

A doctor who turned the volume down on intensive care patients' alarms because the noise annoyed him has been struck off.
Christopher Burrows was working at the Derriford Hospital in Plymouth when he interfered with the alarm systems.
When challenged by a nurse, Dr Burrows said the buzzers 'irritated' him and if he wanted to switch them off he would do so, the General Medical Council heard.
The specialist registrar in anaesthetics had also admitted altering the volume of alarms on another occasion on June 30, 2005, while working at the hospital's Neuro Intensive Care Unit.
He had previously been caught altering or switching off alarms, and told a nurse they were a waste of time if the nursing staff ignored them.
Burrows was also found to have been repeatedly rude to colleagues and failed to cope with stress or team working, the panel found.
The doctor's suspension was extended at two review hearings after the doctor failed to convince the GMC he had taken steps to deal with the issues.
He was struck off at a third review hearing after the panel found there was no evidence had had addressed 'serious and wide-ranging deficiencies'.
Panel chairman Harvey Marcovitch said: 'A further direction suspending Dr Burrows' registration would not be sufficient to protect the wider public interest and would be unlikely to lead the change in his attitude which would be necessary for him to address his deficiencies.
'His misconduct is fundamentally incompatible with his being registered as a medical practitioner.'
In November 2009, Burrows was suspended for 12 months to deal with 'remediable deficiencies'.
He was told to provide evidence of improved anger management and communication skills.
But the doctor did not attend his resumed hearing in central London nor did he give any evidence that he had taken steps to deal with the issues.
Dr Marcovitch said: 'The serious and wide-ranging deficiencies identified in Dr Burrow's fitness to practice by the panel in 2007 and 2008 remain unaddressed.
'The panel has received no information which suggests that he has shown any insight into his shortcoming or taken any steps to address his anger management.'
Dr Marcovitch said the doctor showed a 'persistent lack of insight' into his failings.
He said: 'The panel has determined the only sufficient and proportionate sanction in this case is that of erasure.'
If the doctor does not appeal the decision, the order will take effect in a month.