The GMC was again in the news this week, however, this time they were the ones on the defensive. The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, at their AGM noted their ‘grave concern’ over child protection complaints. Dr John Bridson had originally tabled a vote of no-confidence against the GMC, but this was rejected.

Chief amongst their concerns are paedatricians being unfairly disciplined after acting as expert witnesses in child-abuse cases.

This interested me for two reasons:

1. Clearly this links in with my last blog posting. It is interesting that two stories covering largely the same ground - paedatricians being called into Fitness to Practice hearings - happened in same week. Indeed, without going into too many details I seem to have spent rather a lot of time thinking about the GMC this week.
2. Expert witnesses are a crucial part of both personal injury and medical law cases and in fact any case that requires medical expertise and knowledge. Whether it is looking at the evidence itself or satisfying the Bolam test, as science has matured the courts find themselves increasngly relying on their testimony.

On this second issue I think that another move by the courts, being increased reliance on written testimony, may help worried practictioners. If one can take time to write a detailed submission there is less chance, and concordantly less fear, of making a mistake that may lead to the GMC taking notice. I fear, however, that the cases that are suited to written testimony are not the same sort of cases that paedeatricians are subsequently finding themselves infront of a FtP hearing afterwards. I would assume that it is contentious cases, in which it is the expert testimony that is much in debate and on which the case revolves, that are most likely to lead to the GMC believing testimony was negligent or in some way disenguous.

Whilst fabulous Baby Barista may imply that all expert witnesses are ‘on the take’ we must not forget that it is with aiding the court that their overriding duty lies, a duty which I am sure experts take very seriously. I thus welcome any move that encourages experts to give evidence without fear of GMC involvement, whilst am also thankful that the GMC does enforce high levels of scrutiny on any guidance given. I feel this counterbalance is essential and, as ever, the devil is in the detail.

To finish, and in the interest of fairness, I shall leave you with the GMCs rebuttal to the Royal College’s claims:

“Our critics are trying to create the impression that the GMC is intent on unfairly persecuting paediatricians involved in child protection work. Nothing could be further from the truth.”

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In an interesting twist in the ongoing MMR debate, the BBC report that Dr Wakefield, the physician who first linked autism to the MMR jab, is currently appearing before the GMC.

Allegations against him centre around 1996-1998, the period during which he was researching for his paper on the MMR vaccine. The allegations are:

“that the three practitioners undertook research… without proper ethical approval, failed to conduct the research in accordance with the application submitted to the ethics committee, and failed to treat the children admitted into the study in accordance with the terms of the approval given by the ethics committee.”

They include children being subjected to procedures that were ‘contrary to [their] clinical interests‘ and ‘dishonestly and irresponsibly’ reporting of how patients were recruited for the trial. It is also alleged that he failed to disclose funding from the Legal Aid Board to the supervisory Ethics Committee.

Dr Wakefield has already accepted wrongdoing in at least one of the claims. If other claims are found to be true then this may well draw to an end the discussion on the dangers of the vaccine as numerous studies since have failed to find the same link that Dr Wakefield did.

The Fitness to Practice hearing, which began on 25th March and is scheduled to continue until the 15th May before taking a break until 14th July and finally finishing on the 29th August, will not be addressing the findings of the Doctor’s report on MMR specifically.

Full text of the allegations may be found here.

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A couple of days ago London had its turn at guiding the Olympic torch onward to Beijing. Despite a few scuffles it made its way safely to France only for Parisian officials to snuff it out themselves. This got me thinking: isn’t the Olympic torch dangerous? The carriers run on what are often wet, uneven, roads holding an open flame.

I headed over to the HSE for guidance and, unsurprisingly, there wasn’t an ‘Olympic Torch Information Sheet’. There was guidance on propane pre-heating torches, but this suggested:

1. A proper risk assessment
2. Wherever possible, use an alternative
3. Correct lighting
4. Routine inspection

Whilst I don’t doubt that 1 and 4 are carried out, what about the others? Would not flying the flame in a locked container from one site to another be a safer alternative than making it take a relay around the world? I’m also unsure that constant camera flash counts as ‘correct lighting’.

I then found an article on mobile catering, however this rather grimly suggested that ‘Appliances and any pilot lights should not be lit while… in motion‘, indeed ‘some vehicles have exploded due to this‘! Things get even more grim as it calls for carbon monoxide alarms.

I thought for one moment that they could get away with claiming that it was all a bit of theatre however, it appears not. Flames used in theatres, it seems, should feature a ‘dead mans handle’ foot pedal, which would make the runners look really very silly.

Perhaps letting celebrities run on slippery streets, holding an over 1000°C flame that doesn’t look like it was designed with grip in mind, that was specifically designed not to go out, passing it from one person to another in an over-elaborate game of pass the parcel isn’t the safest thing in the world for them to be doing. Whilst I’d hate to see anyone get injured, a case based around burning yourself on the Olympic torch would be somewhat uniquely interesting.

Personally I think it’s all good theatre, and I like theatre, but is this best practice of health and safety?  Perhaps not.

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There are lots of US personal injury law blogs, but hardly any that are UK based. I can’t believe there is no demand for a UK blog concentrating on new cases related to medical law so the lack of such makes little sense to me. If my googling skills are failing me please fill the comments section with reams of UK personal injury law blogs, I’d love to read them.

I’ve come to the decision that if, over the next few weeks I don’t find such sites, and perhaps even if I do, I’ll set aside some time over the summer to begin adding commentary on any medical law cases of importance that might occur.

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To my surprise, I not only received my degree certificate, but was lucky enough to be jointly-awarded the Law School prize - awarded to the student who has done the most to enhance the life of the law school. It’s a great honour to receive the award, and one that I’m very proud of.

The whole event reminded me of how thankful I am to all my lecturers for helping to create a wonderful 3 years for me and a really strong basis for me to build my career on.

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