Alder Hey report condemns doctors, management, and coroner
BMJ 2001; 322 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.322.7281.255 (Published 03 February 2001) Cite this as: BMJ 2001;322:255
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Dr Thomas is right: the photograph is indeed two pictures joined together. This
is because--
a) there was not a picture of Alder Hey with Van Velzen in the same
frame available
b) we had already used a pic of Van Velzen on his own
c) the picture of Alder Hey had already been reproduced copiously
elsewhere
d) and it was also a very dreary pic on its own
It was not an irony, and it wasn't intended to fool people into
thinking it was real.
It was a way of making two images relevant to each other and that would be
uncompromised by
splicing, would take up less space, and appear more interesting than they would
have done separately.
Jan Croot
Pictures editor, BMJ
Competing interests: No competing interests
Dear Sir ,
after reading the news of Alder hey report I felt quite unsure about what
could be happening in my home country Sudan ,then if a country with a
years old tradition of medical ethics like Britain falls prey to organs
burglery ,countries like the one I come from could be the best resource
for all possible organs marketting .
I think medical professionals and the WHO should think seriously about the
establishment of an international protocol ,guidelines and control
programme for the donation and management of human organs as well as an
international unified birth and death certification system.Such a
procedure would definitely even make the obtainment of global mortality
and morbidity data easier.Something definitely required in an age where
death causes have global significance eg. HIV/AIDS.
yours
Magdi Elgizouli
fifth year medical student
University of Khartoum,
Sudan
magdihafiz@usa.net
Competing interests: No competing interests
Alder Hey is yet another sickening example of a betrayal of trust by
clinicians and Health Service managers of ordinary members of the general
public who had trusted them to safeguard their interests in their hours of
grief.
What is extremely alarming is the conspiracy of silence that is
triggered as soon as any members of the general public (and it is they who
have exposed the vast majority of health scandals) voice legitimate
concerns about unethical and often dangerous practices. What often ensues
is a knee-jerk reaction by heath authorities which conceals, obfuscates,
patronises, uses status and power to belittle; to in effect shoot the
messenger - all to the detriment of the public; all to retain confidence
in a rotten system.
In the last few days, from out of the woodwork, the communicators
have appeared, eloquently justifying the unjustifiable. Are such good
communicators needed ? Don't we need honest communicators ?
Lets try some honesty !
All hospitals are communities, very small communities and in these
small communities even the behaviour of maverick clinicians is known,
especially to their colleagues. So why the scapegoating of Van Velsen ?
Who is protecting who ? Van Velsen's clinical practices in my view are in
the very least ghoulish, bizarre and unethical, but he was not the only
maverick clinician working within the health service. Who protects the
public from people like this individual ? Certainly not the Trusts, Health
Authorities, Regional Health Executives nor the Commission for Health
Improvement. Neither do the professional bodies who issue guidance. The
GMC assisted by the Royal Colleges have been completely ineffectual. Not
one body within health has shown itself willing to challenge unethical
practice; not one body in health is proactive in protecting the patient.
The British Health Service desperately needs an Independent Medical
Inspectorate, accountable to the public through Parliament and not in any
way connected to any professional body. The professionals working in the
Health Family have to become far more accountable, open and transparent.
Their allegiance is to the public they serve and not, as happens now, to
their professional bodies and colleagues.
The public are rapidly losing confidence in the health professionals.
It is time to allow the many enlightened dedicated clinicians, who do
believe in openness, gain greater control - it is they who are the ones
who can truly work in genuine partnership with the general public.
Competing interests: No competing interests
Yet again another NHS scandal involving doctors misleading parents
and ignoring thier wishes.
It seems that omitting the "Whole truth" from the necessary paperwork for
consent has become a national epidemic. The words "Common Practice" come
to mind.
More excuses that vital research "For the common good" lies behind the
deception of parents responsible for the unwitting research objects.
What is going so wrong in the medical profession for members to
become so dehuminised they do not see the individual that is their
patient.
Would they treat their own in the same way if it were their child? Would
they allow them to be experimented on dead or alive?
Surely they have to know it would be better to get proper informed co
-operation of parents knowledgable of the benefits and pitfalls of all
interventions rather than hiding behind the misconception "What they do
not see can not hurt them".
Unfortunately it can and does hurt them and their children. They can not
just put it behind them and walk away from the consequecnces.
We have to all work together to once again make medicine an
honourable and caring profession that we can rely on and take pride in.
Competing interests: No competing interests
Alder Hey reportage and photographic misconduct
Dear Editor,
The photograph accompanying the news article regarding the Alder Hey
report on organ retention and falsified records, is a falsification itself
- it consists of at least two superimposed images (1). Why falsify
photographs to make a good image, or was the irony intentional?
Dr. Paul S.Thomas,
Senior Lecturer,
University of New South Wales,
Randwick, Sydney, NSW 2031,
Australia.
(1) Hunter M. Alder Hey report condemns doctors, management, and
coroner. BMJ (News, BMJ 2000; 322: 255 (3rd of February).
Competing interests: No competing interests