{"id":33546,"date":"2015-03-06T13:49:50","date_gmt":"2015-03-06T12:49:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/?p=33546"},"modified":"2015-03-06T13:50:39","modified_gmt":"2015-03-06T12:50:39","slug":"doctors-manslaughter-and-avoidable-harm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2015\/03\/06\/doctors-manslaughter-and-avoidable-harm\/","title":{"rendered":"Ian Franklin: Doctors, manslaughter, and avoidable harm"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/files\/2015\/03\/ian_franklin.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft  wp-image-33548\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/files\/2015\/03\/ian_franklin-223x300.jpg\" alt=\"ian_franklin\" width=\"135\" height=\"182\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/files\/2015\/03\/ian_franklin-223x300.jpg 223w, https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/files\/2015\/03\/ian_franklin.jpg 640w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 135px) 100vw, 135px\" \/><\/a>The sudden surge in prosecutions of doctors in the criminal courts when patients die is alarming. There is a growing body of opinion that the charge of gross negligence manslaughter is being used inappropriately to prosecute doctors who, in their daily lives, work in an inherently high risk environment.<\/p>\n<p>It is generally accepted that deaths and complications are best discussed in a transparent, no-blame environment, such as M&amp;M (mortality and morbidity) meetings. This allows lessons to be learned and future care to be improved in much the same way that pilots analyse aviation incidents.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>This transparency and openness becomes threatened once the criminal courts become involved. All parties seek to minimise their involvement with a bad outcome case for fear of police investigation, arrest, and prison. Obfuscation and cover-ups will become the norm. This cannot be good for the wellbeing of future patients.<\/p>\n<p>A\u00a0landmark meeting next month will bring together experts from both the medical and legal professions to consider the wider ramifications\u2014both for doctors and for future patient care\u2014of the trend for the criminal courts to become involved after deaths and complications.<\/p>\n<p>The meeting is scheduled for the afternoon of Friday 10 April in Holborn, central London. The provisional programme can be viewed at\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.doctorsandmanslaughter.org.uk\/\">www.doctorsandmanslaughter.org.uk<\/a> and will be updated as final speakers confirm.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Ian Franklin<\/strong> is a consultant vascular surgeon practising in London.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>No conflict of interest to declare other than being friends with a surgeon who is serving a prison sentence for manslaughter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The sudden surge in prosecutions of doctors in the criminal courts when patients die is alarming. There is a growing body of opinion that the charge of gross negligence manslaughter [&#8230;]<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"btn btn-secondary understrap-read-more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2015\/03\/06\/doctors-manslaughter-and-avoidable-harm\/\">More&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33546","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Ian Franklin: Doctors, manslaughter, and avoidable harm - The BMJ<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2015\/03\/06\/doctors-manslaughter-and-avoidable-harm\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ian Franklin: Doctors, manslaughter, and avoidable harm - The BMJ\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The sudden surge in prosecutions of doctors in the criminal courts when patients die is alarming. 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