GMC finds doctors not guilty in consent case

Three psychiatrists were found not guilty of serious professional misconduct by the General Medical Council, the body that regulates British doctors, last week in a case that centred on the issue of patient consent and confidentiality (see editorial, p 1240). The complainant had been the subject of a case report submitted by the doctors to a specialist medical journal, and she claimed that the report contained so much detail that she could be identified from it.

The report, which concerned people with bulimia nervosa who bleed themselves, was entitled “Blood-letting in bulimia nervosa” and was published in the British Journal of Psychiatry (1993;162:246-8). The authors were consultant psychiatrist Dr John Eagles and psychiatric registrar Dr Jon Richard Parkin, who were both working at the time at the Royal Cornhill Hospital in Aberdeen. The article also acknowledged thanks to Dr Alistair Palin for “allowing us to report on one of his patients.” Consultant psychiatrist Dr Palin also worked at the Royal Cornhill, and he was the third doctor involved in the hearing.

The complainant, known throughout the three day hearing as “Miss C,” claimed that Dr Parkin had asked to interview her …