Rapid Responses to:
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Rapid Responses: Rapid Responses published:
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![[Read Rapid Response]](/icons/misc/sectionDOWN.gif)
The imbalance of power
- Mark Struthers (6 August 2002)
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Re: The imbalance of power
- Michael D Innis (7 August 2002)
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Mea Culpa - Mea Culpa - Mea maxima Culpa
- Michael D Innis (10 August 2002)
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Mark Struthers, GP Bedford MK42
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Congratulations to Dawn Reid and Christopher Lillie for finally winning their libel action against the review team set up by Newcastle City council. In my view, the derisory damages awarded were poor compensation for the unimaginable suffering the pair have endured over so many years. Clare Dyer in her news item gave the misleading impression that the Shieldfield review was inspired by prosecution failure on a technicality in the original trial in 1994. This was not the case. According to other press reports, the High Court judge Mr Justice Holland acquitted the pair because all the evidence emphatically pointed to their innocence. His carefully reasoned and painstaking judgment was ignored in favour of the fallacy that justice had not been done. The rest is simply unbelievable. It is disturbing to learn that at the centre of this extraordinary injustice there appears to have been a toxic mixture of faulty clinical judgment and the exertion of aberrant medical power. Am I alone in feeling profoundly depressed by the story behind this successful libel case? What can be done about the deep malaise that afflicts the medical investigation of child abuse and the specialty of forensic paediatric medicine? What can be done to restore public confidence and trust in the medical profession and prevent hugely damaging and expensive disasters like this one - and others that are about to hatch? |
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Michael D Innis, Director Medisets International
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Editor, Dr Mark Struthers, in referring to the appeal of Dawn Reid and Christopher Lillie, quite rightly "finds it disturbing to learn that at the centre of this extraordinary injustice there appears to have been a toxic mixture of faulty clinical judgement and exertion of aberrant medical power." Another faulty clinical judgement and exertion of aberrant medical power has been brought to my notice by the victims of the slogan "think dirty" which now permeates the forensic Paediatric, Radiological and Pathology services. In this instance a carer was accused of Shaking an Infant to death by Paediatricians, Radiologists and Pathologists when in fact the infant was suffering from and died of Barlow's Disease (Infantile Scurvy). The "scorbutic rosary" clearly demonstrable on X-Ray and at the post-mortem examination was ignored and the calluses on several of the ribs and elsewhere designated "fractures" implying "perpetrator." No carer should be charged with such a crime without the accusers clearly demonstrating that the infant had a normal coagulation profile and a serum Vitamin C level greater than 0.2 mg/dl or a WBC concentration of > 1.1micromol / 10x9 leucocytes In this instance an abnormal Prothrombin Time was dismissed as not significant and no attempt was made to determine the Vitamin C status in spite of a history of bruising, loss of weight and all the other classical symptoms of Infantile Scurvy. Because of this "toxic mixture of faulty clinical judgment and exertion of aberrant medical power" a carer is now imprisoned. "What can be done to restore public confidence and trust in the medical profession …" asks Dr Struthers - "The profession should be taught to THINK CKEAN" - the Public reply. Michael Innis FRCPA. FRCPath |
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Michael D Innis, Director Medisets International
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Editor, Regarding my posting on the infant with Barlow’s Disease misdiagnosed by the Paediatricians, Radiologists and Forensic Pathologists on the Shaken Baby Syndrome circuit, I mistakenly said the carer had been imprisoned. This is incorrect. He has only been charged with Murder and three counts of grievous bodily harm. The Radiologists were able to positively identify at least three separate occasions on which the infant, under 12 weeks of age, had been maliciously assaulted causing fractures of his arms, legs chest and skull (the skull fracture was debated). I made the mistake because I mistook this carer for another with a similar charge of murder for a similar offence accused by the same or similar group of experts and is the one who is in prison. I am sure you will agree that with this epidemic of SBS being uncovered by the experts one can easily confuse those who are already in prison and those waiting to be imprisoned. For the record, and for Judges, may I quote the Oxford Textbook of Medicine. “…the clinical picture of scurvy resembles that of ‘battered baby’…..” Michael Innis Reference. 1. Oxford Textbook of Medicine. Second Edition Vol II Edited by D.J. Weatherall . J.G.G. Ledingam, and D.A.Warrell Oxford Medical Publications Chap 17 p 36 |
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