GMC apologises for regulatory action against doctors convicted under now repealed homophobic laws

The UK General Medical Council has issued a formal apology for taking regulatory action in historical cases against doctors who had criminal convictions under homophobic laws that have since been repealed. The GMC’s chair, Carrie MacEwen, said the regulator was “truly sorry” for compounding the harm done to doctors who had convictions that would today be considered unjust.1

From 1899 to 1994 the GMC considered cases against at least 40 male doctors for engaging, or attempting to engage, in consensual sexual activity and intimacy with other men. Of those, at least eight were struck off the medical register. The last confirmed …