Wilful neglect criminal offences threaten clinical judgment, says MPS
Post date: 07/01/2014 | Time to read article: 1 minsThe information within this article was correct at the time of publishing. Last updated 14/11/2018
Following a debate in the House of Lords yesterday, the Medical Protection Society (MPS) warns that the new wilful neglect criminal offences could threaten doctors’ clinical judgment.1 Whilst MPS agrees that doctors should face tough sanctions for causing deliberate harm to patients, it opposes the new criminal offences because they will have unintended and damaging consequences.
Dr Pallavi Bradshaw, medicolegal adviser at MPS said:
“The new offences may seem uncontentious but in practice they will have a negative impact on healthcare professionals and it is likely to promote an environment of fear.
“There is a risk that routine decisions – such as allocation of resources, triaging of patients or clinical management – could potentially be investigated for wilful neglect.
“We want an explicit exclusion of clinical and resourcing decisions. Otherwise there could be police investigations into issues far beyond what people would consider wilful neglect. This will cause stress and professional damage for the doctor involved as they wait for the prosecutors to exercise their discretion not to pursue a case.
“There should be sufficient safeguards which protect effective clinical management and decisions about the best use of resources in the interests of all patients.”
1. For more information on the second reading of the Criminal Justice and Courts Bill in the House of Lords please click here.
2. To read a one page briefing of MPS’s views on the new criminal offences for wilful neglect please click here.
