HC Deb 13 May 1930 vol 238 cc1834-5
Miss LAWRENCE

I beg to move, in page 17, line 33, to leave out paragraph (2), and to insert instead thereof the words: (2) No proceedings, civil or criminal, shall be brought against any person in any court in respect of any such matter as is mentioned in the last preceding sub-section, without the leave of the High Court, and leave shall not be given unless the court is satisfied that there is substantial ground for the contention that the person, against whom it is sought to bring the proceedings, has acted in bad faith or without reasonable care. (3) Notice of any application under the last preceding sub-section shall be given to the person against whom it is sought to bring the proceedings, and that person shall be entitled to be heard against the application. (4) Where on an application under this section leave is given to bring any proceeding, and the proceedings are commenced within four weeks after the date on which leave was so given, the proceedings shall for the purposes of the Public Authorities Protection Act, 1893, be deemed to have been commenced on the date on which notice of the application was given to the person against whom the proceedings are to be brought. It will be remembered that the Royal Commission pointed out that the protection allowed by the law to medical men against whom proceedings were taken was not sufficient and that many doctors would not sign certificates on account of the difficulties in which they might be landed. The Government resolved to carry out the recommendations of the Royal Commission and inserted a form of words that was discussed in Committee. As a result of that discussion, the Minister of Health promised to meet some of the difficulties and objections raised. We have very considerably amended the original Clause which provided that the doctor was obliged to apply to the judge for a stay of proceedings. In this new Clause, proceedings may be conducted in a more appropriate way. Before an action begins, a judge has to be satisfied that there is substantial ground for it. Many people who have undergone treatment have been discharged partially cured, and they are unfortunately very likely to take legal proceedings. The hon. Member for Reading (Dr. Hastings), in the Second Reading discussion, said that there were two classes of insane people, and that one of them included those people who never believed them and bore a grudge against everyone. It is quite likely that there might be a mass of baseless actions against doctors, and we have provided that leave must be given for the initiation of such proceedings against a medical practitioner. That is the main change that we have made in the Bill, and I hope that in its new form it will meet the apprehensions that were expressed by hon. Members.

Amendment agreed to.