NOT for the first time, I have found myself wondering whether their work eventually drives psychiatrists nuts.

For what else but madness is the proposal by doctors treating a convicted rapist for depression and impotence to give him Viagra to restore his sex drive and, so, get rid of his gloom?

Loopier still is the fact that this man, being treated by mind doctors at a hospital in South London, doesn't need the sex pill anyway as he has no regular sexual partner and no long-term relationship.

So who but a nutter would get a rapist turned on again for no reason other than the fact that his ability to have sex again might make him happier?

But what else if he has no partner? Encouraging him to become a repeat rapist?

It beggars belief when - quite rightly - the cash-strapped NHS is rationing Viagra among people who aren't sex monsters, but merely unfortunate people with a condition, not an illness, idiots calling themselves doctors can advocate such a dangerous abuse of this drug.

If these rash fools cannot be given the sack, they should be given a brain scan - to see if they have any.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.