A selection of rapid responses to this article after it was published in the BMJ

An environment in which students can seek help does not exist

Protecting the public is of key importance; I would hope that people entering the medical profession are doing so, at least in part. It certainly seems to be what potential medical students believe when they apply to study medicine, and are told not to say at interview. It would be naive not to expect that a small proportion of entrants to medical school may not be suited to medicine. Let's not side step the difficult issue here; we are talking about trying to prevent people like Harold Shipman becoming doctors, but I'm not sure how this would be achieved. Let's not confuse this issue with people who have ill health or a disability. Let's not, for that matter, stigmatise people with problems of substance abuse either.

Rubin states that there should be an environment conducive to students seeking help, which is a laudable aim that I wholeheartedly agree with. The same paragraph, however, demonstrates that this environment does not exist, and never will while the General Medical Council asks doctors to breach confidentiality …