Seven doctors to face GMC over Shipman inquiry findings
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《英国医生杂志》
Seven doctors—six general practitioners and a pathologist—who were criticised by the inquiry into the serial killer GP Harold Shipman are to face charges of serious professional misconduct, the General Medical Council confirmed last week.
Retired consultant pathologist David Bee, who carried out the postmortem examination on Renate Overton, 47, a patient with asthma murdered by Dr Shipman, faces a hearing on 27 September.
No date has yet been set for the GPs' hearing. The six—Peter Bennett, Susan Booth, Jeremy Dirckze, Stephen Farrar, Alistair MacGillivray, and Rajesh Patel—all worked at the Brooke and Clarendon practices, near Dr Shipman's sole practice in Hyde, Greater Manchester. They all regularly countersigned cremation forms for Dr Shipman, to comply with the rule requiring a second doctor to sign before cremation.
Dame Janet Smith's report said one of the pathologist's reports was "manifestly inadequate"
Credit: PHIL NOBLE/PA
The GPs, two of whom have retired, signed a total of 214 Form Cs between 1980 and 1988 for Dr Shipman's patients, 125 of whom were his murder victims, according to the inquiry's findings. Some were certified by Dr Shipman as dying of "old age" or "natural causes."
The doctors' role was examined by the inquiry as part of its investigation into the death certification system, which it concluded should be radically reformed ( BMJ 2003;327: 123).
Dame Janet Smith, the appeal court judge chairing the inquiry, said in her third report: "The Brooke Practice doctors convinced themselves that the high number and apparently unusual features of Shipman's patient deaths were attributable to the prevalence of elderly patients on his list and the way in which he conducted his practice.
"Although, with the benefit of hindsight, it can clearly be seen that all these unusual features were, in fact, present because he was killing his patients, I do not think it would be fair to suggest that the Brooke Practice doctors should have appreciated the significance of the different factors before they did.
"All the Hyde doctors now accept that, if they had questioned a relative or person with knowledge of the death, they would in many cases have discovered facts which would have caused them to refuse to sign Form C" (www.theshipman-inquiry.org.uk).
Dame Janet said Dr Bee's postmortem report on Mrs Overton was "manifestly inadequate." He had provided "no underlying cause of death" but "gave an unfounded opinion that the death was due to natural causes."
She died in hospital after 14 months in a coma after a lethal injection given by Dr Shipman. Two other consultants are being investigated by the GMC in relation to her death.
The inquiry found that Dr Shipman had killed at least 215 people over 23 years by overdoses of diamorphine. He was jailed for life in 2000 for 15 murders but was found hanged in his cell at Wakefield Prison in January 2004.
Dr Patel, who still practises at Brooke with Dr Dirckze and Dr MacGillivray, told BBC News that the six GPs were "shocked, stunned, and bewildered" by the GMC's decision to charge them.
He added: "We have put so much time and effort into helping rebuild the community of Hyde and restoring trust and just feel it's been thrown back in our faces."(Clare Dyer, legal corresp)
Retired consultant pathologist David Bee, who carried out the postmortem examination on Renate Overton, 47, a patient with asthma murdered by Dr Shipman, faces a hearing on 27 September.
No date has yet been set for the GPs' hearing. The six—Peter Bennett, Susan Booth, Jeremy Dirckze, Stephen Farrar, Alistair MacGillivray, and Rajesh Patel—all worked at the Brooke and Clarendon practices, near Dr Shipman's sole practice in Hyde, Greater Manchester. They all regularly countersigned cremation forms for Dr Shipman, to comply with the rule requiring a second doctor to sign before cremation.
Dame Janet Smith's report said one of the pathologist's reports was "manifestly inadequate"
Credit: PHIL NOBLE/PA
The GPs, two of whom have retired, signed a total of 214 Form Cs between 1980 and 1988 for Dr Shipman's patients, 125 of whom were his murder victims, according to the inquiry's findings. Some were certified by Dr Shipman as dying of "old age" or "natural causes."
The doctors' role was examined by the inquiry as part of its investigation into the death certification system, which it concluded should be radically reformed ( BMJ 2003;327: 123).
Dame Janet Smith, the appeal court judge chairing the inquiry, said in her third report: "The Brooke Practice doctors convinced themselves that the high number and apparently unusual features of Shipman's patient deaths were attributable to the prevalence of elderly patients on his list and the way in which he conducted his practice.
"Although, with the benefit of hindsight, it can clearly be seen that all these unusual features were, in fact, present because he was killing his patients, I do not think it would be fair to suggest that the Brooke Practice doctors should have appreciated the significance of the different factors before they did.
"All the Hyde doctors now accept that, if they had questioned a relative or person with knowledge of the death, they would in many cases have discovered facts which would have caused them to refuse to sign Form C" (www.theshipman-inquiry.org.uk).
Dame Janet said Dr Bee's postmortem report on Mrs Overton was "manifestly inadequate." He had provided "no underlying cause of death" but "gave an unfounded opinion that the death was due to natural causes."
She died in hospital after 14 months in a coma after a lethal injection given by Dr Shipman. Two other consultants are being investigated by the GMC in relation to her death.
The inquiry found that Dr Shipman had killed at least 215 people over 23 years by overdoses of diamorphine. He was jailed for life in 2000 for 15 murders but was found hanged in his cell at Wakefield Prison in January 2004.
Dr Patel, who still practises at Brooke with Dr Dirckze and Dr MacGillivray, told BBC News that the six GPs were "shocked, stunned, and bewildered" by the GMC's decision to charge them.
He added: "We have put so much time and effort into helping rebuild the community of Hyde and restoring trust and just feel it's been thrown back in our faces."(Clare Dyer, legal corresp)