An out-of-hours doctor who killed a 70-year-old man by injecting him with an overdose of a painkiller could repeat the error, a panel has warned. Nigerian-born Dr Daniel Ubani, 67, injected David Gray, of Manea, Cambridgeshire, with 10 times the recommended dosage of a painkiller. A General Medical Council (GMC) panel is holding a hearing into the case. The panel said Dr Ubani's actions had "brought the profession into disrepute" and questioned his clinical competence.
A retired doctor has been struck off after giving excessively high doses of morphine to 18 dying patients. A disciplinary panel found that former County Durham GP Dr Howard Martin had not acted negligently but had "violated the rights of the terminally ill". He was cleared of murdering three of his patients five years ago. But he has been struck off by the General Medical Council (GMC) for "completely unacceptable" treatment of some patients.
Graeme Catto, former president of the UK General Medical Council, has called for parliament to legalise assisted dying "in some shape or form" for a small number of people experiencing unbearable suffering. Professor Catto said he was expressing his personal view and not that of the GMC, which as the United Kingdom’s regulator for doctors had to support the law of the land and therefore could have no position on assisted suicide. Speaking at a conference on the ethics of assisted suicide at the Royal Society of Medicine on 30 June, he said, "I genuinely believe that if there were a change in the law it would pose no insurmountable problems for doctors."
A Dutch doctor who exploited vulnerable people with multiple sclerosis by charging them thousands of pounds for unproven stem cell treatments has been banned from practice in the UK by the General Medical Council. Robert Trossel, 56, who practised in London and Rotterdam, gave “false hope and made unsubstantiated and exaggerated claims to patients suffering from degenerative and devastating illnesses,” said GMC fitness to practise panel chairman Brian Gomes da Costa. The panel held that Dr Trossel’s misconduct was “fundamentally incompatible with being a doctor” and ordered that his name be erased from the UK medical register with immediate effect.
A cardiac surgeon with an international reputation has been given a formal warning by the General Medical Council for undertaking an “adventurous” procedure for which he was not adequately trained and for which he did not obtain informed consent.
Some doctors are set to argue against moves towards an organ donation system of presumed consent in the UK. Under presumed consent all people are assumed to be willing to donate their organs unless they have opted out. No part of the UK has introduced such a system yet, although the Welsh assembly favours the idea. However, delegates at the British Medical Association's annual conference in Cardiff will debate later whether the move could damage trust in doctors. Those in favour of presumed consent, which has been supported by the BMA for the last 10 years, believe it would help boost UK donation rates, which, despite recent improvements, still lag behind many other countries.
Doctors could risk losing their licence if they fail to report fitness to practise concerns about their colleagues, MPs have recommended. In its first annual review of the functions of the General Medical Council, the House of Commons Health Committee has called for the regulator to send “a clear signal” to doctors that they are at as much risk of being investigated for failing to report concerns about a fellow doctor as they are from poor practice on their own part. Senior doctors and clinical team leaders in hospitals would be most accountable, but there would be “questions asked of everybody,” said Stephen Dorrell MP, chair of the health committee.
Un médecin du centre hospitalier de la côte basque, à Bayonne (Pyrénées-Atlantiques), soupçonné d'euthanasie active sur au moins quatre patients âgés, a été placé en garde à vue mercredi au commissariat de cette ville. Les faits, qui concernent des décès survenus au cours des cinq derniers mois, dont celui d'une patiente âgée de 92 ans le 3 août, se seraient déroulés dans le service des urgences de l'hôpital. Une information préliminaire a été ouverte pour "homicide volontaire avec préméditation". Tous les cas signalés concernent des personnes âgées ayant été admises aux urgences tout en étant classées "en fin de vie", dans l'attente d'un placement dans un service de soins palliatifs, a-t-il encore indiqué. Les faits ont été signalés par des agents du service des urgences à leur hiérarchie, qui a pris la décision d'alerter la police, selon un communiqué diffusé jeudi par l'hôpital.
A man who is almost completely paralysed is taking legal action in a bid to end his life. His solicitors have told the BBC that they believe his case could have major implications for the way prosecutors in England, Wales and Northern Ireland deal with assisted suicides.
A man who was virtually paralysed by a stroke has won the first step in his legal bid to pursue his right-to-die. Known only as Martin, he would require professionals to help as his wife has said she will not assist him. But current guidance suggests they may be prosecuted, where loved ones would not, and Martin's case is this discriminates against him. This High Court judgement means lawyers and doctors can discuss assisted dying with him, but only to prepare his case.
The General Medical Council is launching its first ever guidelines on assisted suicide. The new guidelines will help the GMC decide if doctors should face a disciplinary panel if they are alleged to have encouraged or assisted suicide. A draft version is to be subject to a three month public consultation period. The GMC's chief executive, Niall Dickson said "the main message is that assisting suicide is illegal and doctors should have no part of it". The GMC, which is the regulatory authority for doctors, decided to produce the guidelines after the case of a severely paralysed man, which was highlighted by the BBC last summer. The man, given the pseudonym "Martin", told the PM Programme that he wanted to end his life and was taking legal action to try to get advice and help to do so.
The first-hand experiences of physicians from coast to coast vividly illuminated a paucity of available palliative care, a simmering health-care crisis in Canada as the baby boomer generation enters old age. The association's members had come together on Tuesday to debate whether to revise the current CMA policy on euthanasia and assisted death. The session ended with an overwhelming vote — 90 per cent — in favour of an advisory resolution that supports "the right of all physicians, within the bonds of existing legislation, to follow their conscience when deciding whether to provide so-called medical aid in dying." The CMA defines "medical aid in dying" as, essentially, euthanasia or physician-assisted suicide.