Race played no part in Bawa-Garba decision, says GMC
BMJ 2018; 361 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.k1787 (Published 23 April 2018) Cite this as: BMJ 2018;361:k1787
All rapid responses
I just wanted to say that Charlie Massey would say that, wouldn't he?
He's Chief Exec of the GMC.
Although we never like to acknowledge it, there is a degree of prejudice around in the medical profession.
I'm half-Asian and I know that with my name, simply filling in a form for a job application reduces the chance of me getting a job if I'm competing against 'Charles Gladwynn-Smythe' of Cambridge or some such. I've always know it. I have also always known, since I applied for senior registrar jobs, that the only way to progress in my profession was to find some way to stand out as head and shoulders above the competition.
It is a fact that BEMG doctors are disadvantaged, and referred to the GMC more than others; the figures show that.
I refuse to believe that those prejudices that I have seen and felt are either not real, or due to some paranoid delusion of mine.
In my opinion, the race issue probably did come into the decision to strike this junior doctor off and vigorously pursue it through the appeal courts, but it is subtle and maybe even subconscious on the part of the GMC. Whatever Bawa Garba did wrong, she wasn't supervised by her consultant as she should have been and there were a lot of systemic failures which needed to be investigated. The matter should have been addressed in a much more understanding and tolerant fashion. When your junior makes a mistake you should, as a consultant, accept responsibility.
Having had my rant, I would hate to see us going the way the Americans have gone - to preferentially favour people simply because of ethnicity and race in order to appear PC.
The medical profession should be a meritocracy but denying that there are prejudices doesn't bring us any further forward. We all need to examine our motives every day and we need to change to a more egalitarian way of thinking, or things will get worse and not better.
Competing interests: No competing interests
Re: Race played no part in Bawa-Garba decision, says GMC
While Race may have played no part in Charlie Massey’s personal decision, the evidence is clear that those in ethnic minorities are more likely to be pursued by the GMC than those of us who are white. No one is even claiming a gender bias: is mentioning it a simple distraction tactic by the Chief Executive.? Had Dr Bawa Garba been white would the decision ever have got close to the Chief Executive?
An earlier case he reviewed and decided successfully to appeal in a Black Doctor was virtually identical to the case of a white doctor that the GMC decided to ignore. The Black doctor signed a document to misappropriate about £30,he was not entitled to, the white doctor pocketed £31,500 with evidence in the public domain ignored by the GMC despite a complaint to them. Was the GMC biased against the Black or towards the White?
Like it or not, the evidence of institutional racism in the GMC is clear and it is time that its Executive and Council set its house in order to protect the public and the profession from an out of date institution led by apparently out of touch Executives.
Competing interests: I consider myself a victim of the GMC’s inadequate and arrogant regulatory processes.