Intended for healthcare professionals

Rapid response to:

Observations Medical Legislation

The “Saatchi bill” will allow responsible innovation in treatment

BMJ 2014; 348 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.g2771 (Published 15 April 2014) Cite this as: BMJ 2014;348:g2771

Rapid Response:

Re: The “Saatchi bill” will allow responsible innovation in treatment

The rapid responses from several lawyers, claiming that the provisions of the Saatchi Bill are unnecessary, underpin its relevance and importance. Other lawyers who have been consulted by Lord Saatchi take a very different view. The Saatchi Bill would therefore at least clarify the legal position for doctors, NHS Trusts and - pace the legal profession - lawyers.

The Bill would not in any way discourage clinical research and I, of all people, would not be lending it my support if it did so. Indeed, Section 2 (8b) states: "Nothing in this Section permits a doctor to carry out treatment for the purposes of reserach or for any purpose other than the patient's best interests".

As far as the point made by my old friends Lester Ferkins and Iain Chalmers, I despair! They take me to task for failing to call for "publicly available documentation" of the effects of intervening in the manner described in the Bill. They seem to have failed to notice that I made this point in the last paragraph of my paper!

Michael Rawlins

Competing interests: No competing interests

24 April 2014
Michael Rawlins
Physician
Royal Society of Medicine
1 Wimpole Street London WC1G 0AE