BMJ editor writes to Hunt over misuse of weekend mortality data

Fiona Godlee, editor in chief of The BMJ, has written to England’s health secretary, Jeremy Hunt, outlining concerns that he has misrepresented an academic article on deaths of patients admitted to hospitals at weekends.

Godlee said that Hunt had misused the findings of the Analysis article, published in The BMJ,1 and asked him to clarify statements that he had made in relation to it. She said, “I am writing to register my concern about the way in which you have publicly misrepresented an academic article published in The BMJ.”

Godlee said that the article, by Nick Freemantle, professor …