Failure to whistleblow - pure collusion by Doctor
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Failure to whistleblow - pure collusion by Doctor
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We have discussed whistleblowing recently, to me the UK case below is egregious and very sad. I know whistle blowing is exceedingly difficult to do because of concerns about the fear of being v
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Forums » Open clinical » Medicolegal » Failure to whistleblow - pure collusion by Doctor
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Failure to whistleblow - pure collusion by Doctor
posted at 31/12/2012 6:17 PM GMT
on bmj.com
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Posts: 1012
First: 15/7/2011 Last: 15/6/2013 |
We have discussed whistleblowing recently, to me the UK case below is egregious and very sad. I know whistle blowing is exceedingly difficult to do because of concerns about the fear of being victimised subsequently. Sorry this post is long, I just wanted to get the whole story. It is virtually copied from a Newspaper. A former Army doctor has been struck off the medical register after his misconduct over the death of Iraqi detainee Baha Mousa in 2003. Derek Keilloh, of Aberdeen, was a medical officer with the Queen's Lancashire Regiment (QLR) in Basra when Mr Mousa died in British Army custody. The Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service heard he had 93 injuries. The MPTS said Dr Keilloh, was aware of the injuries but failed to report them. He supervised a failed resuscitation attempt to save the life of Mr Mousa, who had been hooded, handcuffed and severely beaten by soldiers. The hotel receptionist (Mr Mousa) had been arrested in a crackdown by soldiers who believed, wrongly, that he was an insurgent involved in the murder of four of their colleagues the month before. The MPTS recognised Dr Keilloh, now a GP, did "everything possible" to save Mr Mousa's life, in a setting that was "highly charged, chaotic, tense and stressful". Dr Keilloh claimed he saw only dried blood around Mr Mousa's nose while giving mouth-to-mouth and CPR “Your misconduct is fundamentally incompatible with continued registration” Dr Brian Alderman MPTS panel chairman said. But the panel ruled he must have seen the injuries and had a duty to act. The MPTS questioned his honesty after he lied to Army investigators about the injuries and, in sticking to his story, giving evidence in subsequent courts-martial and a public inquiry. The panel also said the doctor did not do enough to protect his patients, the other detainees, from further mistreatment, breaking a "fundamental tenet" of the medical profession. He told soldiers not to beat other detainees, but the panel ruled he should have blown the whistle to senior officers about what went on. The MPTS said it was the "repeated dishonesty" in claiming not to have seen injuries to Mr Mousa that was wholly unacceptable .Dr Brian Alderman, the panel chairman, said: "In all the circumstances, the panel determined that erasure is the only appropriate sanction in this case. "It is considered that this action is the only way proper standards of conduct and behaviour may be upheld and trust in the profession as a whole may be restored. "The panel has identified serious breaches of good medical practice and, given the gravity and nature of the extent and context of your dishonesty, it considers that your misconduct is fundamentally incompatible with continued registration." Baha Mousa was arrested when weapons were discovered at the hotel where he worked. Dr Keilloh, a married father of two who qualified in medicine at the University of Aberdeen, has 28 days to appeal against the decision in the High Court .Mr Mousa's death led to a public inquiry, led by Sir William Gage, which concluded that his death was caused by a combination of his weakened physical state and a final struggle with his guards. The final report strongly criticised the "corporate failure" by the Ministry of Defence and the "lack of moral courage to report abuse"within Preston-based QLR. It named 19 soldiers who assaulted Mr Mousa and other detainees and found that many others including a Cpl Donald Payne who became the first member of the British armed forces convicted of a war crime when he pleaded guilty to inhumanely treating civilians. The Ministry of Defence agreed to pay £2.83m in compensation to the families of Mr Mousa and nine other Iraqi men abused by UK troops. |
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Re: Failure to whistleblow - pure collusion by Doctor
posted at 31/12/2012 10:58 PM GMT
on bmj.com
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Posts: 2139
First: 12/3/2010 Last: 19/6/2013 |
I feel very sorry for Dr.Keilloh, caught up in the horrible reversal of normality that is a war. But he was not and will not be the only doctor whose ethics are led astray by that mental conflict. In 2008, Dr.Louay Omar Moahammed al-Taei was a working in a hospital in Kirkuk, during the civil war that followed the Iraq War and the occupation of Iraq by the Coalition. Recruited by an insurgent group, who noted his distress when a child could not be treated for lack of drugs, he began by treating insurgents who could not go to hospital for fear of being incriminated. Thus began his slide away from normal ethics, which eventually led to him depriving an injured policeman of oxygen, then giving wounded soldiers and officials lethal mixtures of drugs. His arrest was widely reported at the time, but I have not been able to find out what happened to Dr.al-Taei. I hope he was treated as justly as Dr.Keilloh, but I fear he was not. In war, we are all required to examine our ethics very closely indeed, and to follow the ideal is far from being easy. When your country is invaded, would you take advantage of your position as a doctor to do harm to the invader, as Dr.al-Taei did? I do not compare the two events, just offer his story as another example of how war distorts our ethics. I think I can understand Dr.Keilloh's conflict, and I am very glad indeed that I have never been in his position. John |
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Re: Failure to whistleblow - pure collusion by Doctor
posted at 1/1/2013 9:21 AM GMT
on bmj.com
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Posts: 1012
First: 15/7/2011 Last: 15/6/2013 |
In Response to Re: Failure to whistleblow - pure collusion by Doctor: I feel very sorry for Dr.Keilloh, caught up in the horrible reversal of normality that is a war. But he was not and will not be the only doctor whose ethics are led astray by that mental conflict. In 2008, Dr.Louay Omar Moahammed al-Taei was a working in a hospital in Kirkuk, during the civil war that followed the Iraq War and the occupation of Iraq by the Coalition. Recruited by an insurgent group, who noted his distress when a child could not be treated for lack of drugs, he began by treating insurgents who could not go to hospital for fear of being incriminated. Thus began his slide away from normal ethics, which eventually led to him depriving an injured policeman of oxygen, then giving wounded soldiers and officials lethal mixtures of drugs. His arrest was widely reported at the time, but I have not been able to find out what happened to Dr.al-Taei. I hope he was treated as justly as Dr.Keilloh, but I fear he was not. In war, we are all required to examine our ethics very closely indeed, and to follow the ideal is far from being easy. When your country is invaded, would you take advantage of your position as a doctor to do harm to the invader, as Dr.al-Taei did? I do not compare the two events, just offer his story as another example of how war distorts our ethics. I think I can understand Dr.Keilloh's conflict, and I am very glad indeed that I have never been in his position. John Posted by John D John I agree, I think that Dr Keilogh was in a very difficult situation. To speak out in such circumstances would have taken great courage, but he had a duty to do what was best for his patient. I like to think that I would have had the courage to do so, but would I?. He was given every opportunity to tell the truth. On numerous occasions and within several formal legal proceedings he continued to lie and perjure himself. The GMC could not have reached any other conclusion. |
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Re: Failure to whistleblow - pure collusion by Doctor
posted at 10/1/2013 2:16 PM GMT
on bmj.com
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Posts: 65
First: 24/10/2011 Last: 19/6/2013 |
I think that Dr Keilloh has been made a scape goat. The "injuries" that we are led to believe should have been obvious from pictures of Baha Mousa were from photographs taken 6 days post mortem. How much bruising would have been visible from fresh blows in a poorly lit prison when the docotr's priority was to attempt resuscitation? Fresh injuries, especially in someone with a fairly dark complexion may not show much at all, but become obvious over a few hours. I wonder if the MPTS actually had the beneft of evidence from a forensic expert on the appearnace of "fresh" bruises? |
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Re: Failure to whistleblow - pure collusion by Doctor
posted at 10/1/2013 6:00 PM GMT
on bmj.com
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Posts: 72
First: 29/8/2010 Last: 11/6/2013 |
In Response to Re: Failure to whistleblow - pure collusion by Doctor: I think that Dr Keilloh has been made a scape goat. The "injuries" that we are led to believe should have been obvious from pictures of Baha Mousa were from photographs taken 6 days post mortem. How much bruising would have been visible from fresh blows in a poorly lit prison when the docotr's priority was to attempt resuscitation? Fresh injuries, especially in someone with a fairly dark complexion may not show much at all, but become obvious over a few hours. I wonder if the MPTS actually had the beneft of evidence from a forensic expert on the appearnace of "fresh" bruises? Posted by doctorg I wondered this myself; Did a pathologist who has experience of immediate versus delayed PM findings comment at the hearing? Also, if Dr Keilloh's first contact was a failed resuscitation, then he acted appropriately to his patient in so far as his treatment of the patient was concerned. This is a different situation from that which would pertain if he had treated the patient prior to the resucitation attempt. Does his duty of care to the patient extend to reporting the full extent of his injuries to the authorities? It will hardly affect the outcome of his treatment. There are certainly implications for those who carried out the beatings, but the omission in the case where Dr Keilloh did not see the patient previously is surely a military disciplinary issue rather than an issue for his registration. And those of us not in a battlefield situation should not underestimate his duty of loyalty to his brothers in arms. And this was to an individual who had been discovered with weapons. In view of the attacks on our Forces personnel by Afghan troops, perhaps those sitting in safety at home (and in safe courtrooms) should beware of being too judgemental. As it is, a doctor whom we have no reason to doubt is a competent GP has lost his livelihood, and the NHS has lost a doctor.
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Forums » Open clinical » Medicolegal » Failure to whistleblow - pure collusion by Doctor
