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GMC drops Fitness to Practise Hearing against Dr Myhill

VERY IMPORTANT NEWS -- GMC CAVES IN AGAIN!! The GMC has dropped the scheduled FtP Hearing against Dr Sarah Myhill with no case to answer. This case against Dr Myhill is now closed.

Of course other legal action may well now occur.

Here is the Press release from supporters FB page:

DOCTOR DIAGNOSES THE GENERAL MEDICAL COUNCIL WITH DEMENTIA

In an astonishing U-turn, the General Medical Council has reinstated Dr. Sarah Myhill to the Medical Register. In the previous twenty one months Dr Myhill was either suspended from the Medical Register or forced to practise medicine under severe restrictions. The GMC has conducted a series of prosecutions against Dr. Myhill since 2001, during which time she has faced the prospect of seven Fitness to Practise Hearings, the most recent having been booked for a full 25 days. All Hearings have been cancelled with no case to answer.

Dr. Myhill has observed The GMC has been incompetently prosecuting me since 2001. In doing so it has broken its own procedures and the laws of the land. Allegations against me have been vexatious, inconsequential and often untrue. The GMC is a dysfunctional organisation, not fit for purpose.

Sources close to the GMC say that this has been an orchestrated witch hunt against Dr. Myhill and that the GMC will be deeply embarrassed by their most recent incompetent handling of her case. Indeed embarrassment might not be the GMCs only problem because, after a recent Freedom Of Information request, it has transpired that, even only considering the most recent action against Dr Myhill alone, the GMC has spent 62,751.60 on solicitors fees and other external costs. In addition the GMCs own internal legal team has clocked up 147 fruitless hours on this most recent case, with the investigation team being unable to disclose its hours!

Dr. Myhill is a private GP with a special interest in treating ME. Indeed she has over 20 years experience in this field and has treated many thousands of patients. She believes she has been targeted by the GMC because she treats ME as a physical, rather than a psychological disorder. The most recent investigation of her was triggered in June 2009, shortly after Dr. Myhill published a scientific paper showing that ME was associated with mitochondrial failure (Ref: Int J Clin Exp Med (2009) 2, 1-16
www.ijcem.com/IJCEM812001). Mitochondria are responsible for energy production in the body.

In its prosecution, the GMC has contravened the 1983 Medical Act by failing to inform Dr. Myhill what charges she faced until after her fourth IOP Hearing.

In addition, the GMC has contravened the 1998 Data Protection Act by taking patients private and confidential NHS medical records without patient knowledge or consent and without informing the patient. This appears to be routine procedure for the GMC it has no respect for patient confidentiality. At one of Dr Myhills public hearings the GMC released so much patient information into the public arena that a seriously ill patient at the centre of one of the complaints could easily be identified. Neither this patient nor the patients family had complained about Dr Myhill and throughout the investigation process, their wishes regarding anonymity were flagrantly disregarded by the GMC. This loss of anonymity caused much distress to the patient and family, distress that was only made worse when malicious and obscene comments were made about the patient on the public forums of the Bad Science website.

By contrast, Dr. Myhill has consistently refused to use the patients notes in her defence because permission to use those notes had not been granted by the patient and family in an attempt to protect anonymity. As a result of this disparity in available evidence, Dr. Myhill was denied a fair trial.

In its prosecution the GMC also broke Human Rights legislation. There was no proper separation of prosecution and adjudication teams, Dr. Myhill did not know what charges she faced, the GMC refused to consider the facts given to them by Dr. Myhill and they unquestionably accepted vexatious and untrue allegations from unqualified members of the public and doctors. Indeed at her third Interim Orders Panel Hearing in October 2010, Dr. Myhill told the General Medical Council it was acting like a kangaroo court. She was immediately suspended from the practise of medicine because, she was told, she lacked respect for her disciplinary body, i.e. the GMC. At her December 2010 hearing the GMC presented Dr Myhill with yet another anonymous complaint from a member of the public reporting that Dr Myhill had acted outside her area of expertise by delivering babies at home. The GMC had not realised this was a spoof featuring Dr Myhills pet pig Rosemary who had indeed delivered 10 healthy piglets that week. It was clear that the GMC had not taken even the most basic investigatory steps, involving merely clicking on a weblink which would have revealed all, before presenting this information before a full session of the Interim Orders Panel. In such circumstances is it any wonder that respect begins to ebb away?

Dr. Myhill has written to the GMC President Professor Peter Rubin to inform him that he was overseeing the activities of a dysfunctional organisation, but he never replied to her letter.

The Trustees of the GMC were similarly informed of all the above issues on two occasions, but again there was no response.

Dr. Myhill formally complained to the GMC about the incompetence and dishonesty of six of its officers, but none of her concerns were addressed. One of these officers briefed an expert witness describing Dr. Myhill as a male consultant anaesthetic. One would think it would be difficult to construct a sentence with four untruths in three words, but in this the GMC has at least succeeded.

No patient has ever complained to the General Medical Council about Dr. Myhill. All complaints have emanated either from other doctors who do not agree with her nutritional approach to medicine and her approach to treating ME, or from anonymous members of the public who do not concur with Dr Myhills opinions which, along with an online book, have been made freely available on her website. As Stephen Fry wrote in his latest autobiography such bloggers grow up to become trawlers on the internet site and specialise in posting barbarous mean, abusive, look at me anonymous comments.. Such swine specialise in second guessing the motives of those who are brave enough to commit to the risk of making fools of themselves in public and they are a blight on the face of the earth. Dr. Myhill said it is not for the GMC to judge whether one doctors opinion is better than another. My opinions, which are evidence based from the scientific literature, have been central to the recovery of thousands of ME patients. In its summing up of my case, the GMC states that I have substantially improved the health of 70% of ME sufferers. This is considerably better than the results of the now discredited regimes of graded exercise therapy and cognitive behaviour therapy. Clearly ME is a physical disorder requiring physical treatment.

Despite prosecuting Dr. Myhill for ten years, a necessarily stressful and time consuming business, the GMC remain unrepentant. It appears that the GMC has no inclination to correct its ways, or to try to restore Dr. Myhills professional reputation. The GMC was similarly heavily criticised by Dame Janet Smith in her report on the Shipman enquiry. Some years later she commented that the GMC was like a leopard it never changes its spots. Dr. Myhill is calling for a full enquiry into GMC incompetence, law breaking and misfeasance in public office. The GMC is the oldest regulatory body in the world and is showing all the symptoms of an advanced senile dementia.
 

Enid

Senior Member
Messages
3,309
Location
UK
Sanity at last - case closed. Never thought it possible in the antiquities of the medical establishment here. Hoooooray. Thanks for this really good news.
 

Mark

Senior Member
Messages
5,238
Location
Sofa, UK
Fantastic news! :victory:

Thanks! :D:D:D

I suppose we should all just take time out to celebrate - but I can't help noticing that what we are celebrating is the restoration of the legitimate right of Dr Myhill to practice medicine, and the restoration of her patients' access to treatment.

And so, although this is a victory, and Dr Myhill and her supporters have been thoroughly vindicated, somehow this does not seem enough. Because this battle has cost so many people so much - in time, effort, stress, loss of medical treatment, loss of earnings...

So as things stand, even though 'we' have won, nevertheless many amongst us have paid a heavy price over the last year or so. If justice is to be done, then those who instigated this latest attack need to be obliged to compensate those whose health has suffered at their hands.

Bad Scientists should not be allowed to attack Good Doctors and get away with it.

And so I'm delighted to learn of the class action law suit being undertaken on behalf of patients who have suffered as a result of the GMC's actions. I sincerely hope that Dr Myhill, and those patients, will eventually be compensated for what they have been put through, and that the GMC and the malicious individuals who reported Dr Myhill to them will be made to pay for what they did.

I'll take this occasion to review one aspect of the role of Bad Science in this affair: their 10,000-post 'uberthread' on this subject - in which patients angered by this attack on their doctor were mercilessly mocked, ridiculed and insulted by self-appointed 'sceptics' - was conveniently lost without trace. Ben Goldacre warned members of his Bad Science forum to behave slightly less outrageously in future - but he nevertheless defended members' rights to call people 'idiots' (and worse, which cannot be quoted on this forum) and praised members for the 'good work' done on that thread.

It turned out that the entire Bad Science site blocks all search engines such that none of the lost thread's content was available via the Wayback Machine or other internet archives (it seems they prefer to work in shadow); the thread was (we are told) accidentally deleted while being moved; and the backup of that thread also failed, meaning that the evidence was lost for ever. That evidence may have been usable in legal actions against Bad Science and its members; it was certainly valuable historical evidence of the character of that forum and I very much regret that it is now unavailable because it demonstrated the arrogance, ignorance, and callousness of the majority of members of that forum extremely well. I do hope that sections of it, at least, have been preserved elsewhere and may one day be used as legal and historical evidence.

So...I'm sorry if I'm tainting the celebrations here, but I can't help feeling unsatisfied. I hope Ben Goldacre and Bad Science members are hanging their heads in shame - they are proven wrong, just as Dr Myhill has been vindicated, and even though they have lost, I hope they will be forced to face the fact that in the course of this battle they have lost considerably less than the sick people and their doctor who they chose to attack so aggressively and unfairly.

Shame on Bad Science, Shame on Ben Goldacre, Shame on the GMC. Let them apologise now, and make amends, and may they all be brought to account for their actions.
 

Enid

Senior Member
Messages
3,309
Location
UK
Quite agree Mark - Shame on them for no attempt to find "truth" of a matter - just stir up trouble through the willing and equally ignorant participants for nothing but the sake of it.
 

taniaaust1

Senior Member
Messages
13,054
Location
Sth Australia
I agree with Mark, thou justice has been done, it hasnt really been done. Why should they be allowed to keep doing this?

Dr. Myhill is calling for a full enquiry into GMC incompetence, law breaking and misfeasance in public office

How can patients around the world aid in getting a full enquiry happening into all this???

It upsets patients worldwide that our doctors are unfairly treated in this way. .. it aids to our stress (so hence isnt good on our health) as it shows the bias around ME/CFS which we so often have to face. Its bad enough their is such bias about our illness but for our doctors to be attacked too!!! Its wrong and does impact on not only them but on us all.

would letters from ME patients around the world saying the GMC gave us stress throu their unfair harrassment help? (and as we all know.. stress dont help our illness, stress is something we best avoid). Where can we write too?? what can we do to help stop all this??????? I know I felt stress over what was being done to Dr Myhill.

We NEED to get this prosecution stopped of our doctors. They should at the very least have to compensate her for all that harrassement. It cannot be said they havent done that.
 

justy

Donate Advocate Demonstrate
Messages
5,524
Location
U.K
Fantastic news -thanks for posting. I cant help but feel this will not be the end of the matter as far as harrasment from the GMC, but for now very happy and wish Dr Myhill all the best!

Justy.
 
Wow, such good points!

I hope you will forgive me if I am obtuse on some points and ignore others!!. I know you will understand. Nothing personal!

Bad Science uberthread - absolutely not lost without trace. In time you will hear more on this.

You can email me at with your comments re GMC sanctions and how they have affected your health if you want to join a 'class action'. Please be patient on this though as it has taken us 2 years to get here!!

If there is anything more personal on these issues, I am happy to receive pms but may be slow in responding. Quite busy atm

Thanks for all your support.
 

Enid

Senior Member
Messages
3,309
Location
UK
I hope we will hear more - Bad Science uberthread and the attempt to bring down such a dedicated Doc and quite simply (4 Docs in my own family) this Doctor.
 

Undisclosed

Senior Member
Messages
10,157
Realistically, Myhill did have some questionable information on her website. Should she have lost her license to practice, probably not but people should be allowed to comment on erroneous information - yes.

I really don't get organizations like the GMC. Make the punishment fit the crime. Bad information should equal remove said information and move on. This is a very personal issue for me. I was seeing a psychiatrist for depression. He was grossly inappropriate to me, I will never say how. He was brought up before the equivalent of the GMC three times for sexual abuse of his patients. What he got was -- issue an apology to abused patients and a 3 monthe re-education thing. It makes me sick that this doctor can still practice.

if you seriously have a copy of the uberthread on BS, please email me, I would love to write a piece about doctors who really don't do a lot of harm as opposed to those who do.
 

Enid

Senior Member
Messages
3,309
Location
UK
Just seen the Press Release - an orchestrated witchhunt - and although parts of the "establishment" would much like to pull the wool over our eyes, it is very clear that this was the work of "cronyism" - guess which ! Motives all too transparent. (for UKers)
 

Yogi

Senior Member
Messages
1,132
Congratulations!!!

Congratulations Dr Myhill.

Dr Myhill's protocol is very beneficial to people with ME and one of the only things that has helped me.

Dr Myhill is a fantastic doctor and those doctors who say they are threatened by patients should perhaps look at what Dr Myhill does and just follow her.

I hope legal action and compensation is pursued by Dr Myhill for the harassment by the GMC.