Damned if you treat, damned if you don't

doi:10.1136/bmj.39367.432755.BE

BMJ 2007;335:788 (20 October), doi:10.1136/bmj.39367.432755.BE

Letters

US liability

Damned if you treat, damned if you don't

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

The UK government recognised the need for standardisation inthe adventure travel market¹ in this year's BS8848 document,which covered the need to provide medical support by a recognisedmedical practitioner. All was well until the implications ofproviding medical cover to Americans, among others, was highlighted.Defence unions advise doctors that although they are coveredto treat Americans, they are not covered for court cases thatarise in North America. (Americans can sue a doctor in America,independent of where the transgression occurred.) The GeneralMedical Council (GMC) advises doctors not to participate inactivities without appropriate cover.

However, if a doctor does not treat an American on an expedition,the American participant can sue for racial discrimination andreport the doctor to the GMC for improper conduct. The defenceunions escape culpability in the eyes of the racial discriminationboard as they are not discriminating against Americans but . . . [Full text of this article]

Sean T Hudson, medical director, expedition medicine

St Paul's Medical Centre, Carlisle, Cumbria CA1 1AA

sean@expeditionmedicine.co.uk