Published 13 February 2009, doi:10.1136/bmj.b625
Cite this as: BMJ 2009;338:b625

News

GMC consults on dropping vexatious complaints at an early stage

Clare Dyer

1 BMJ

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

Vexatious or serial complaints to the General Medical Council against doctors will be filtered out at an early stage, if proposed changes to the council’s fitness to practise rules go ahead.

The move follows lobbying by Professionals Against Child Abuse, an organisation set up to defend paediatricians involved in child protection work after one high profile doctor, David Southall, was subjected to a record number of complaints. Dr Southall has been a particular target of the campaigning group, Mothers Against Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy Abuse Allegations, which accuses paediatricians and psychiatrists of using flimsy evidence to label parents as abusers.

Professionals Against Child Abuse, whose members include paediatricians, psychiatrists, lawyers, and others working in child protection, aim to ensure that professionals can "voice reasonable concerns about children without fear of condemnation or censure."

Although the GMC insists that the number of vexatious complaints is small, it plans to open a . . . [Full text of this article]


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Rapid Responses:

Read all Rapid Responses

GMC and vexatious complaints
Umesh Prabhu
bmj.com, 15 Feb 2009 [Full text]
Who's being vexatious?
Mark Struthers
bmj.com, 20 Feb 2009 [Full text]
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