Dunedin Hospital is reported to be investigated by the National Health Board regarding the use of ketamine in medical research without the consent of patients.

Health and Disability Commissioner, Anthony Hill stated that: ”Patients were given information about the risks, side effects and benefits of ketamine in treatment-resistant depression, and they were assessed as able to give consent, and none was subject to compulsory mental-health treatment orders”.

However, the Health Board’s investigation will determine were the patients on whom the ketamine was used on, participated as research candidates without being advised, aware or giving their consent. Also, as part of the investigations, they would be the probing the hospital’s processes on "off-label" prescriptions, in which the uses have not been approved.

Ketamine is said to be commonly used as a horse tranquilizer, and on the social scene, it’s referred to as ‘Special K’.

Moreover, Professor Glue, hospital psychiatrist and Head of psychological medicine at the Dunedin School of Medicine, expressed that, patients were aware of the drug use and gave permission, though it was an ‘off-label’ use of ketamine, its use was corroborated by a clinical trial data, which discovered it to be ‘safe and well tolerated’.