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doi:10.1136/bmj.b4989

Published 24 November 2009, doi:10.1136/bmj.b4989
Cite this as: BMJ 2009;339:b4989

Letters

The price of silence

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

The account of Mr Bousfield’s departure from LiverpoolWomen’s NHS Foundation Trust raises matters of the utmostseriousness.¹ The reply by consultants from the trust disputescertain elements of the story² but, crucially, does not addressthe allegation that the trust’s solicitors threatenedMr Bousfield with an injunction if he sought to contact localmembers of parliament.

If this really did happen executives of the trust or their agentsmay be in contempt of parliament. This would arise if they havetaken any action that obstructed or impeded members of parliamentin the performance of their duties, such as preventing themfrom becoming aware of serious allegations that they may wishto raise with ministers. It is now incumbent on the authoritiesof the House of Commons to investigate these extremely seriousallegations and, if true, take appropriate measures againstthose involved.

Cite this as: BMJ 2009;339:b4989

Martin McKee, professor of European public health¹

¹ London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London WC1E 7HT

martin.mckee@lshtm.ac.uk

Competing interests: None . . . [Full text of this article]

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18 Liverpool consultants reply: Elizabeth Adams, Iwan Lewis-Jones, Zarko Alfirevic, Robert MacDonald, Feroza Dawood, Shuba Mallaiah, Edwin Djabatey, Derek Parkinson, Roy Farquharson, David Patrick, Gillian Fowler, Mark Turner, Dharani Hapangama, Todd Wauchob, Charles Kingsland, Andrew Weeks, Robert Kingston, and John Kirwan
BMJ 2009 339: b4981. [Extract] [Full Text]