I fully support Derek Summerfield's statement in his rapid response. Psychiatrists should refuse to collude with the State's Prevent strategy - the reasons for doing so have been well aired already. As a retired psychiatrist I well recall the ethical stance of the Royal College of Psychiatrists in opposing the collusion of Russian psychiatrists in the so-called 'abuse of psychiatry' in the 1960s. I feel ashamed that the College appears to have dropped its ethical standards and note that other medical bodies in UK so far remained silent on the ethics of asking doctors to collude in Prevent.
Suman Fernando
Honorary Professor in Faculty of Social Sciences at London Metropolitan University; formerly Consultant Psychiatrist at Chase Farm Hospital, Enfield Middlesex.
Competing interests:
No competing interests
20 September 2016
Suman J. Fernando
Retired psychiatrist; currently Hon Professor, London Metropolitan University
Hon. Professor in The Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities at London Metropolitan University
Rapid Response:
Re: Mental illness and terrorism
I fully support Derek Summerfield's statement in his rapid response. Psychiatrists should refuse to collude with the State's Prevent strategy - the reasons for doing so have been well aired already. As a retired psychiatrist I well recall the ethical stance of the Royal College of Psychiatrists in opposing the collusion of Russian psychiatrists in the so-called 'abuse of psychiatry' in the 1960s. I feel ashamed that the College appears to have dropped its ethical standards and note that other medical bodies in UK so far remained silent on the ethics of asking doctors to collude in Prevent.
Suman Fernando
Honorary Professor in Faculty of Social Sciences at London Metropolitan University; formerly Consultant Psychiatrist at Chase Farm Hospital, Enfield Middlesex.
Competing interests: No competing interests