Re: Don’t use our fees to pay Bawa-Garba’s court costs, doctors tell GMC
This case has been so devastating for all involved - Jack, the Adcock family, Nurse Amaro & Dr Bawa Garba. It also has had far reaching implications for clinicians, the general public & society - mostly negative & perpetuated by the GMC’s narrow minded actions. By scapegoating individuals for human error in the context of multi-system failures the CPS, courts & GMC have propagated a blame culture leading to fear, defensive medicine with the increased costs/risks that entails & low morale amongst doctors. It has also caused anger & mistrust for patients which impacts on us providing constructive therapeutic relationships.
Since this case every shift I work there is a niggle at the back of my mind that if I miss a serious illness or misdiagnose a patient & there is a potentially avoidable death I risk being criminalised & struck off. This fear does not make me a better doctor: on the contrary, it makes me question whether I want to be a doctor at all.
Criminalising & striking off individual doctors & nurses for human errors especially when they have unsafe workloads, no senior support & delays receiving diagnostic results is dystopian & I cannot see how society profits. Both Nurse Amaro & Dr Bawa-Garba were dedicated clinicians with unblemished careers. They were not rogue “bad eggs” but rather had mission impossible to provide a safe service that fateful day.
I expected my regulator to be a champion for both doctor & patient safety - demand safe staffing levels, ensure shop floor senior support, robust IT systems & failsafe measures to ensure timely radiology & laboratory reports. This tragic case was a missed opportunity to highlight sepsis awareness & acknowledge it is a serious illness which can present atypically. The GMC could have used this as a learning tool to increase safety in acute units up & down the country to try & prevent further tragedies like the Adcocks have suffered.
The GMC failed to show leadership & an appreciation of frontline realities. They have handled this case appallingly. As a result of their actions doctors have lost faith in their regulator.
The GMC should acknowledge they have got this very wrong & apologise to both Dr Bawa-Garba & the profession. Their punitive actions have also prolonged the distress of a grieving family. Our subscriptions should not be used to fund the GMC’s legal fees, & it is perverse that their employees have private health insurance paid for by NHS doctors.
Rapid Response:
Re: Don’t use our fees to pay Bawa-Garba’s court costs, doctors tell GMC
This case has been so devastating for all involved - Jack, the Adcock family, Nurse Amaro & Dr Bawa Garba. It also has had far reaching implications for clinicians, the general public & society - mostly negative & perpetuated by the GMC’s narrow minded actions. By scapegoating individuals for human error in the context of multi-system failures the CPS, courts & GMC have propagated a blame culture leading to fear, defensive medicine with the increased costs/risks that entails & low morale amongst doctors. It has also caused anger & mistrust for patients which impacts on us providing constructive therapeutic relationships.
Since this case every shift I work there is a niggle at the back of my mind that if I miss a serious illness or misdiagnose a patient & there is a potentially avoidable death I risk being criminalised & struck off. This fear does not make me a better doctor: on the contrary, it makes me question whether I want to be a doctor at all.
Criminalising & striking off individual doctors & nurses for human errors especially when they have unsafe workloads, no senior support & delays receiving diagnostic results is dystopian & I cannot see how society profits. Both Nurse Amaro & Dr Bawa-Garba were dedicated clinicians with unblemished careers. They were not rogue “bad eggs” but rather had mission impossible to provide a safe service that fateful day.
I expected my regulator to be a champion for both doctor & patient safety - demand safe staffing levels, ensure shop floor senior support, robust IT systems & failsafe measures to ensure timely radiology & laboratory reports. This tragic case was a missed opportunity to highlight sepsis awareness & acknowledge it is a serious illness which can present atypically. The GMC could have used this as a learning tool to increase safety in acute units up & down the country to try & prevent further tragedies like the Adcocks have suffered.
The GMC failed to show leadership & an appreciation of frontline realities. They have handled this case appallingly. As a result of their actions doctors have lost faith in their regulator.
The GMC should acknowledge they have got this very wrong & apologise to both Dr Bawa-Garba & the profession. Their punitive actions have also prolonged the distress of a grieving family. Our subscriptions should not be used to fund the GMC’s legal fees, & it is perverse that their employees have private health insurance paid for by NHS doctors.
Competing interests: No competing interests