Archives of Disease in Childhood 2009;94:329-332
LEADING ARTICLES
A way to restore British paediatricians’ engagement with child protection
1 Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia
2 Department of Child Health, Wales College of Medicine, Cardiff University, Cardiff, Wales, UK
3 Paris, France
4 La Mesa, California, USA
Dr Ben Mathews, Queensland University of Technology, GPO Box 2434, Brisbane 4001, Australia; b.mathews@qut.edu.au
Accepted 15 January 2009
| The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below. |
Disciplinary actions brought by the United Kingdom General Medical Council (GMC) against doctors including the eminent paediatricians Sir Roy Meadow and David Southall have been monitored by concerned practitioners and scholars worldwide. In 2004 and 2005, the GMC made findings of serious professional misconduct against four doctors for their testimony in, and/or reporting of, cases of suspected child abuse, despite the doctors’ actions being in good faith.1 This appears to have had damaging consequences for the paediatric profession and, worse, for child protection. Evidence suggests that because of these high profile cases and mounting numbers of complaints, paediatricians are less likely to report suspected child abuse or accept child protection roles.2 3 Anticipated by international experts in 2006,1 this "chilling" of doctors’ willingness to report suspected child abuse and to work in key child protection jobs is now well underway. Since the dangers of complaints and discipline remain, this adverse impact
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