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NEWS: Clare Dyer Southall’s secret case files show no reason to suspect miscarriages of justice BMJ 2008; 337: a987 [Full text]

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Not so secret case files

John M Bridson, Margaret Crawford   (27 July 2008)

Not so secret case files 27 July 2008
John M Bridson, retired paediatrician home S73 8ER, Margaret Crawford Send response to journal: Re: Not so secret case files	"Clare Dyer can be congratulated on accurately reporting the findings of the Attorney General in relation to the special case files kept by David Southall. This shows at last that the term 'secret files' is a misnomer. All over the country, for varied reasons, case notes for children exist separately from main records. As long as it is clear within the main records that such files exist, then there is no reason for difficulty of disclosure if demanded for legal purposes. Surely that is what the Attorney General has shown? It is time that the emotive term 'secret files` was no longer used." Competing interests: Secretary of PACA, Professionals against Child Abuse Chair of CAI, Childhealth Advocacy International