Bettina Jane ("Bee") Eppel
Consultant anaesthetist Wycombe Hospital (b London 1958; q Middlesex Hospital
1982; FRCA), took her own life on 23 March 2005.
The only daughter of a successful West End general practitioner, Bee
was educated at St Paul’s Girls’ School and went on to the Middlesex Hospital
Medical School, where she soon became an indispensable front of house manager
for the Christmas shows. Her training in anaesthesia was based around the
Middlesex, St Mary’s, and Charring Cross, her rotation to Queen Charlotte’s
giving her an early interest in obstetric anaesthesia. Appointed consultant
at Wycombe in 1993, she became lead obstetric anaesthetist. After marrying
in 1997 she worked part time, mainly at the Middlesex and Portland hospitals.
A meticulous anaesthetist, she was on the council of the anaesthetic section
of the Royal Society of Medicine and a regular at Obstetric Anaesthesia Association
meetings. She was a great party organiser and lifelong Rolling Stones fan.
Her friends were stunned by her untimely death. She leaves a husband, John,
and four stepchildren. [Wynne Aveling]