Published 28 October 2009, doi:10.1136/bmj.b4449
Cite this as: BMJ 2009;339:b4449

News

Doctors warn of dangers of allowing media access to reports in family court cases

Clare Dyer

1 BMJ

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

Seventeen organisations that represent doctors, lawyers, social workers, and children have banded together to fight UK government plans to allow the media access to medical and welfare reports in family court cases.

The Interdisciplinary Alliance for Children says that the plans threaten doctor-patient confidentiality; may breach the United Nations convention on the rights of the child and the right to privacy in the European human rights convention; and threaten substantial further harm to children who are already at risk.

The government plans to unveil the changes in the Queen’s speech, which will announce forthcoming legislation, on 18 November. They are set to be included in the Improving Schools and Safeguarding Children Bill, which is expected to be introduced early in the new legislative session.

The move is the next stage of a programme to open the family courts to the media, after a press campaign and allegations by parents that . . . [Full text of this article]


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The medium is the message (Marshall McLuhan)
Hugh Mann
bmj.com, 1 Nov 2009 [Full text]
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