I was a Toxicologist for 17 years, last 5 years of that I'd been shifted into middle management and it wasn't Science anymore. Just dealing with ***** from staff (school leavers still acting like kids) and getting crap from above from people who didn't have a clue. Already decided it wasn't for me anymore. Wanted to be my own boss at something and not have to deal with petty politics, taking a financial hit didn't bother me as I was that fed up.
Had a big 12 month study I'd just set up for Cancer Research UK so wanted to get that running smoothly with enough people trained up before I left. Was looking at plastering courses - always loved watching good plasterers work and thought if I could be as good as them then it would be so satisfying. Then one weekend I get called into work. Turn up to find one of the lads I'd trained up to be the lead technician in the CR UK study dead in the canteen. To see him laid out on the canteen floor with forensic plastic bags, bag tied over his head and hands was devastating, he wasn't just a colleague but a friend too.
My plans to leave had to be put on hold due to the ***** storm that followed. Post Mortem confirmed his body contained fatal levels of the powerful opiate Fentanyl Citrate that we had been working with. Not accidental contact caused by incorrect PPE but actually deliberately taking it. I personally think he'd been helping himself to it for weeks, developing a tolerance and then finally ODing on it.
More delay as HSE descended upon the Labs, my bosses running around like headless chickens, inquest looming and I was left to deal with the lot of it.
Once that was all over I was gone, gone, gone.
