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I’m currently writing this on a Monday morning. And as much as I’d rather be in bed, I don’t know if I would have gone as far as the scientist in this story did in order to avoid working.
A scientist named Bernard Watkins was so against working the day shift that he decided to steal a patient’s poop sample that was positive with salmonella, and then spike his own poop in order to prove that he had food poisoning. After he called in to say he was vomiting and suffering from diarrhea, he left a sample which tested positive for salmonella. But eyebrows were raised when his manager, Kelly Ward, asked him for another sample that was signed by his GP, but that sample actually tested negative.
The next day he was confronted by Mrs. Ward and he eventually admitted that he had stolen a sample from a freezer at Cwm Taf University Health Board. Two days later Watkins asked to meet Mrs Ward, he told her what he had done as she “would have found out anyway.”
Giving evidence at the hearing Mrs Ward said there was no clinical reason why Mr Watkins acted in the way he did and he did not have authorization to do it. She added she was “in quite a lot of shock and was quite upset” when she found out and Mr. Watkins was “extremely agitated.” She immediately told her line manager and Mr. Watkins was investigated.
And this little charade is going to be quite rough on Watkins as his name will now be struck off from the register and will not be able to work as a scientist. All because he didn’t want to work the day shift and he preferred to sleep in. And all we can say is that we get it:
