Medical watchdog has no duty of care for doctors under investigation, UK court rules following anaesthetist’s suicide
The British Medical Association and AMA both say their governments must change laws to ensure watchdogs have a legal duty of care to practitioners.
The family of an anaesthetist who died by suicide after being investigated by police and the UK medical regulator has lost their legal bid to sue the regulator for negligence.
The UK Court of Appeal has upheld a ruling that the General Medical Council (GMC) only owes a duty of care to the public, not practitioners, in a judgement handed down last month.
The decision echoes the current situation with the AHPRA, despite calls by the AMA for legal changes to protect doctors and other healthcare workers.
Consultant anaesthetist Dr Sridharan Suresh, who also worked for a dental practice, was originally interviewed by police in March 2018 after they received a complaint that a teenage patient had been sexually assaulted.
