GMC clears doctors who signed cremation forms for Shipman
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《英国医生杂志》
Four GPs who signed the cremation forms of patients murdered by serial killer Harold Shipman have been cleared of serious professional misconduct by the General Medical Council.
Doctors Jeremy Dirckze, Stephen Farrar, Alastair MacGillivray, and Susan Booth, who all worked close to Dr Shipman's surgery in Hyde, Greater Manchester, between them signed 214 cremation form Cs for Dr Shipman's deceased patients between 1979 and 1997. Of these, 124 were later found to have been unlawfully killed.
The four GPs were accused of failing to notice coincidences between the pattern of Shipman's home visits and the deaths of his patients ( BMJ 2005;331: 68, 9 July). But the GMC panel, sitting in Manchester, accepted the doctors' arguments that they could not have been reasonably expected to account for behaviour as extraordinary as Dr Shipman's.
Summing up, Linda Buchanan, chairing the GMC's Fitness to Practise Panel, said that Dr Shipman was "highly regarded, thought to be a skilled and caring family doctor, and was widely respected among his patients and professional colleagues."
Exonerated (from left to right): Drs Jeremy Dirckze, Stephen Farrar, and Alastair MacGillivray. A GMC panel said that they could not have been expected to account for behaviour as extraordinary as Dr Shipman's
Credit: GARETH COPLEY/PA/EMPICS
"It has subsequently been established that, while the overwhelming majority of doctors are honest and truthful, he was an accomplished liar who set out to deceive his patients and colleagues alike, even going so far as to create false records in his patient notes.
"The extent to which he lied was so extraordinary that it could not have been within the contemplation of any of those who dealt with him. The panel has no doubt that the oral account which he gave... would have been totally convincing. The panel considers that such a person would have created the impression of giving an honest and truthful account which would have been impossible to distinguish from one which was in fact truthful."
Before Dr Shipman's murders came to light, Dr Buchanan noted, "it was generally the practice in England, and specifically in the Hyde area, that further inquiries were not made" when countersigning cremation forms.
The four Hyde GPs just cleared were among six criticised by Dame Janet Smith's Shipman Inquiry for their role in signing cremation certificates. Two other doctors, Peter Bennett and Rajesh Patel, were cleared of similar charges by the GMC last December. (See pp 166, 167.)(Owen Dyer)
Doctors Jeremy Dirckze, Stephen Farrar, Alastair MacGillivray, and Susan Booth, who all worked close to Dr Shipman's surgery in Hyde, Greater Manchester, between them signed 214 cremation form Cs for Dr Shipman's deceased patients between 1979 and 1997. Of these, 124 were later found to have been unlawfully killed.
The four GPs were accused of failing to notice coincidences between the pattern of Shipman's home visits and the deaths of his patients ( BMJ 2005;331: 68, 9 July). But the GMC panel, sitting in Manchester, accepted the doctors' arguments that they could not have been reasonably expected to account for behaviour as extraordinary as Dr Shipman's.
Summing up, Linda Buchanan, chairing the GMC's Fitness to Practise Panel, said that Dr Shipman was "highly regarded, thought to be a skilled and caring family doctor, and was widely respected among his patients and professional colleagues."
Exonerated (from left to right): Drs Jeremy Dirckze, Stephen Farrar, and Alastair MacGillivray. A GMC panel said that they could not have been expected to account for behaviour as extraordinary as Dr Shipman's
Credit: GARETH COPLEY/PA/EMPICS
"It has subsequently been established that, while the overwhelming majority of doctors are honest and truthful, he was an accomplished liar who set out to deceive his patients and colleagues alike, even going so far as to create false records in his patient notes.
"The extent to which he lied was so extraordinary that it could not have been within the contemplation of any of those who dealt with him. The panel has no doubt that the oral account which he gave... would have been totally convincing. The panel considers that such a person would have created the impression of giving an honest and truthful account which would have been impossible to distinguish from one which was in fact truthful."
Before Dr Shipman's murders came to light, Dr Buchanan noted, "it was generally the practice in England, and specifically in the Hyde area, that further inquiries were not made" when countersigning cremation forms.
The four Hyde GPs just cleared were among six criticised by Dame Janet Smith's Shipman Inquiry for their role in signing cremation certificates. Two other doctors, Peter Bennett and Rajesh Patel, were cleared of similar charges by the GMC last December. (See pp 166, 167.)(Owen Dyer)