A drug-abusing anaesthetist lay in a sedated state as an alarm beeped incessantly while he was meant to be monitoring a patient, Ombudsman Arlene Brock revealed in a report on King Edward VII Memorial Hospital.

The doctor, whom tests showed had taken two drugs that could only be obtained from the Operating Room, has since left Bermuda but is said to still be practising in the US, Ms Brock said in her "A Tale Of Two Hospitals".

It was one of a string of incidents highlighted by the Ombudsman to shed light on flaws in the hospital's system and show how race is a major divisive force.

After the white anaesthetist admitted his problem, his privileges were withdrawn, he was suspended and reported to Bermuda Medical Council. However, talk of onward reporting him to the US practitioners database was not followed through.

Ms Brock pointed to the contrast with a black doctor, who five years previously had been arrested for minor possession of illegal substances, and was confronted at a public meeting by KEMH administration regarding rumours of drug use.

The black doctor offered to undergo tests, producing mixed results, and BHB insisted on a hearing.

Ms Brock said that while the public does not know the white anaesthetist's name, the matter regarding the black doctor appeared in the newspaper the next day. He is no longer practising medicine.

"There were no allegations that the black doctor had ever been impaired or put patients at risk. Yet clearly he suffered the more serious consequence," said Ms Brock.

Another example states an anaesthetist left a patient unmonitored for 12 minutes, and that on another occasion an unattended patient went pale and complained of chest pain.

Ms Brock's report also reveals how KEMH became so concerned about repeated deaths likely due to punctures by anaesthetists that a new programme had to be implemented.

Meanwhile, the report refers to a black doctor described as "rude, imperious, histrionic, pot-stirring and belittling of his colleagues".

Nurses mounted a petition against him, and his personal life was splashed in the media, said Ms Brock.

She said several blacks claimed hospital administration colluded in the nurses' revolt against the doctor.

Tabling the 111-page report in the House of Assembly last week, Ms Brock pointed to a climate of rumour, innuendo and conjecture in which black and white doctors fear being targeted and counter-targeted.

Last night, Ms Brock said shocking examples had been checked, double checked and triple checked before she included them in the report.

"Every paragraph in that report, I can substantiate. I learned a lot more than is in the report," she said.

On examples appearing to reveal bad practice, she said: "These things happen all over. These are not isolated to Bermuda. The doctors happen to be human beings like the rest of us. They happen to have challenges.

"The issue is not to expect perfection — it's how does the system respond when there's a problem."

She made 15 recommendations for change, which the hospital says it is already beginning to implement.

Hospitals board chairman David Hill refused to comment on any examples within the report, saying many of them happened before the current board was in place.

In a letter to Ms Brock, Mr. Hill stated: "Our new board and management have already recognised the importance of BHB making changes that will make us a fairer, more progressive organisation for physicians and all our employees.

"It is no small task, but we recognise it is fundamental for us to successfully serve the community of Bermuda with the highest quality of healthcare services going forward."

Health Minister Michael Scott said in a letter: "In every way KEMH is akin to a centre of medical justice. Patients, practitioners and workers all expect fairness, integrity, medical professionalism and competence to be daily watchwords since decisions taken in this institution often entail life and death.

"The issues raised in the report are extremely important and many of them have also been identified by the new management team of the Bermuda Hospitals Board."

Her report also referred to a "powerful black doctor" targeting the "white power elite" who unfairly denied him entry into the profession in Bermuda some years ago.

She stated Bermuda Hospitals Board is readily overruled by the Ministry of Health, with board members expressing discomfort with the amount of current political interference. Board CEO David Hill argues the current board feels it has the authority to perform its role.

Ms Brock's job is independent from Government. Her report, said to have cost nearly $300,000, was completed with the support of a team of experts from the UK, US, Canada and Barbados.

They met with senior figures at the hospital, carried out in-depth interviews with 120 people, and trawled through more than 1,000 pages of documents on the hospital's policies and previous reports.