§ 63. Mr. Collinsasked the Minister of Health, as representing the Lord President of the Council, if he will request the General Medical Council to include wilful and deliberate neglect of a patient in the list of matters of unprofessional conduct for which a doctor may be removed from the Register.
§ Mr. Walker-SmithThe General Medical Council already has power to remove from the Register any medical practitioner whom it considers to be guilty of infamous conduct in any professional respect. Whilst it is for the Council to determine in individual cases what conduct comes within this definition, my right hon. and noble Friend is satisfied that it is wide enough to include such a breach of duty.
§ Mr. CollinsIs the Minister aware that recently a doctor was severely censured and fined £100 because, without taking steps to ensure proper treatment, he removed from his list a dying patient? Does he regard that particular case as an example of infamous conduct? Although he cannot speak on behalf of the B.M.A., will he say whether in his view such conduct merits dismissal from the National Health Service?
§ Mr. Walker-SmithThe hon. Member will appreciate that I cannot properly comment on an individual case which may be investigated by an executive council in the context of the National Health Service, because in certain circumstances it may come to me on appeal and it would not be proper for me to comment on it now.
§ Mr. CollinsThis case has already been investigated by an executive committee, which severely censured the doctor and fined him £100. I want to know whether the Minister would regard such a case as one of infamous conduct and meriting dismissal from the National Health Service.
§ Mr. Walker-SmithIt would not be proper, in an answer in the House, to attempt to give, on a particular case, what ought to be a considered opinion. That is not the right or proper way, as the hon. Member on reflection will appreciate, to deal with an individual case.