Bawa-Garba

Learn Not Blame

PRESS RELEASE: Charlie Massey Chief Executive of the General Medical Council admits that his decision to take Dr Hadiza Bawa-Garba to court to have her struck off was incorrect

Last week, Dr Samantha Batt-Rawden Chair of The Doctors’ Association UK interviewed Charlie Massey as part of a documentary on why doctors are leaving the NHS. The episode was presented by Sammy on BBC Radio 4.

For the first time Charlie Massey publicly stated that his decision to appeal the fitness to practice (MPTS) verdict, and pursue Dr Bawa-Garba in the High Court was wrong.

0 Comments
June 14, 2019
Learn Not Blame

Coverage in Pulse: GMC chief executive admits Bawa-Garba legal advice was wrong during interview with DAUK

The GMC's chief executive has admitted the legal advice the regulator received during the Dr Hadiza Bawa-Garba case was wrong and if the same case were to take place now he would not try to have a doctor barred from practice.

Charlie Massey said he 'completely accepts' the legal advice he was given to pursue the striking off of Dr Bawa-Garba - who was convicted of manslaughter by gross negligence following the death of a six-year-old patient - was 'not correct'.

0 Comments
June 12, 2019
Learn Not Blame

PRESS RELEASE: Dr Hadiza Bawa-Garba restored to the medical register and able to return to practice

Today, there is widespread relief amongst the medical profession. However, the verdict is no cause for celebration. At the heart of this case is a child, Jack Adcock, who tragically lost his life to sepsis. Our hearts go out to the Adcock family as they continue to grief for Jack. When a child dies it is our duty as doctors to do all we can to prevent the same tragedy from occurring again. We strongly feel that scapegoating an individual doctor or clinician for human errors made whilst whilst working under enormous pressure, does not serve this purpose. Instead, the criminalisation of medical error creates a culture of fear and blame, where clinicians feel afraid to speak up, afraid to reflect, and afraid to learn when things go wrong. Therefore we welcome the verdict of the Medical Tribunal Practitioners Service today, who, after considering all the system failures and the context in which Dr Bawa-Garba made errors, has found her safe to return to medical practice.

0 Comments
April 9, 2019
Learn Not Blame

Dr Jenny Vaughan for BMJ-the criminalisation of unintentional error

We are grateful to BMJ for publishing this paper, written by our Law and Policy Officer Dr Jenny Vaughan in conjunction with Dr Ameratunga, Dr Klonin Dr Merry and Dr Cusack, and giving it front page profile. We hope it will be a game-changer for the UK and that no other clinicians, be they doctors, nurses or optometrists will find themselves in front of a criminal court unless they have recklessly and wilfully caused death.

0 Comments
March 9, 2019
Learn Not Blame

Criminalisation of Healthcare. Does it improve patient safety? Dr Jenny Vaughan speaks at the Intensive Care Society State of the Art conference

Dr Jenny Vaughan, our Law and Policy Officer gave a talk at ICS SOA 2018 entitled ‘Criminalisation of Healthcare. Does it improve patient safety?’. Jenny discussed the history of gross negligence manslaughter in the UK, case law, and revisited the case of Dr Bawa-Garba. You can now listen to Jenny’s full speech as a podcast on the ICS site, including advice on how doctors can avoid litigation.

0 Comments
February 17, 2019