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Views & Reviews Personal View

Free speech and professional duty: why I couldn’t fight tabloid rumours

BMJ 2011; 342 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.d752 (Published 09 February 2011) Cite this as: BMJ 2011;342:d752

Rapid Response:

Re:Editor's response

Actually the Gillian Needham/Scott junior case was a more seminal
event than the editor states. Trust boards are now using draconian
measures even when views are expressed in non-scatological languages
without any of the violent imagery the author is alluding to. I did read
the original text and would never have used the same language. However I
doubt if anybody would feel that the immediate reaction of exclusion of
the troika of Black/Needham/Plaice was justified. It may be worthwhile for
the author to investigate how many are currently excluded in the UK
because of views expressed in Emails and social networking sites most of
it in non-scatological language. I think more worrying than the juniors
language is the extraordinary power of exclusion given to NHS oligarchs!

Competing interests: No competing interests

16 April 2011
Jayaprakash Gosalakkal
Consultant
UHL leicester