“Dispatches” programme was painstakingly researched and did not attract writ for defamation

EDITOR—It was my programme in March 1996 about the Bristol heart surgery tragedy, for Channel 4's current affairs series Dispatches, that prompted the General Medical Council (GMC) to investigate what, it subsequently became clear, was the medical scandal of the century. Since then I and my colleagues have continued to report on these cases. I wish to reply to Dunn's allegations about media reporting of the tragedy; I am, presumably, one of those whom he pronounces guilty of “using a sustained stream of biased, misleading, and often inaccurate information.”1

According to Dunn, bereaved parents should direct their grief and anger over the death of their children towards people like me, rather than the surgeons who operated on the children and have since been found guilty of serious professional misconduct. “Shoot the messenger” is the age old response of those who dislike the message.

The Dispatches programme was researched painstakingly over many months to ensure the accuracy of the story it told. Had it been “misleading” or “inaccurate” it would surely have attracted a writ for defamation from one or more of the three doctors who were named. However, no writ followed the original programme or any of …