A CAMPAIGNING Hagley doctor has welcomed news there is to be a review over the criminalising of doctors after a junior medic was struck off over the death of a little boy.
Dr David Nicholl was among outraged medics protesting in London on Saturday February 3 after the GMC struck off a trainee paediatrician Dr Hadiza Bawa-Garba following the tragic death of a six-year-old patient.
The doctor and around 60 fellow health professionals gathered outside the General Medical Council's HQ to protest the treatment of Dr Bawa-Garba who was erased from the medical register after a High Court hearing last month over the death of the Leicestershire youngster, who died at Leicester Royal Infirmary of sepsis in 2011 after wrongly being diagnosed with gastroenteritis.
Dr Bawa-Garba was found guilty of manslaughter on the grounds of gross negligence and given a 24-month suspended jail sentence in 2015 as well as being suspended from practising for 12 months by a tribunal.
But the GMC went to the High Court to have the ban extended to a life-time prohibition from practising medicine in the UK.
Medics, however, have reacted angrily to the ban - saying it sets a dangerous precedent.
And Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt has now ordered an urgent review into medical manslaughter charges being brought against doctors.
Dr Nicholl, who works in Birmingham as a consultant neurologist, told the News: "It's welcome. I think it's very encouraging and I think Prof Sir Norman Williams is the right person to do it because he understands the issues."
He said of the sacking of Bawa-Garba: "It's outrageous.
“This story has shaken the medical profession across the country like no other. It means you can’t make an honest error without fear of being struck off.
"Many of us make mistakes - that doesn't mean it was deliberate or indeed negligent."
He said instead of considering issues such as staffing levels, IT systems and conditions in which staff have to work - the GMC had instead transferred all of the blame to an individual.
He added: "The General Medical Council’s High Court appeal for the erasure of Hadiza Bawa-Garba is not aimed at improving patient care if it discourages duty of candour.
"It may also deter trainees from pursuing careers in high risk specialties, such as paediatrics."
Despite his anger at the GMC - the doc, a consultant since 2002, says he does not intend to stop working. But he may pay his fee to the GMC in the "most inconvenient method possible - 425 £1 coins - if necessary".
He is also calling for Charlie Massey to stand down as CEO.
Mr Massey said of the Bawa-Garba case that the High Court ruling had confirmed the original tribunal was "wrong to conclude that public confidence in the profession could be maintained without removing the doctor from the medical register". He said the tribunal had reached a less severe view of the doctor's personal culpability than the criminal court which he said "found Dr Bawa-Garba’s failures that day were not simply honest errors or mere negligence, but were truly exceptionally bad".
He added: "We know the strength of feeling expressed by many doctors working in a system under sustained pressure, and we are totally committed to engendering a speak-up culture in the NHS. Doctors should never hesitate to act openly and honestly if something has gone wrong."
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