Today, the GMC scrutinises medical students but continues to ignore the plight of doctors who have died.
The GMC has never issued a consultation to investigate the conduct of deans or medical schools. Dr Sushant Varma exposed the discriminatory marking system at Sheffield University. The evidence can be read on http://www.examfraud.co.uk.
GMC's Personal Beliefs Guidance and Doctors Who Are Scientologists
There is much debate about the personal beliefs guidance given by the General Medical Council.
There was Dr Thomas Szasz who failed to declare his conflict of interest in a BMJ article on psychiatry. Then there is child psychiatrist Sami Timimi who is seen doing a radio show. Here he is again involved in a press release.
There was Dr Thomas Szasz who failed to declare his conflict of interest in a BMJ article on psychiatry. Then there is child psychiatrist Sami Timimi who is seen doing a radio show. Here he is again involved in a press release.
We quote him
"Consultant child and adolescent psychiatrist, Dr Sami Timimi, who works full time in the NHS in Lincolnshire, is highly critical of the ADHD diagnosis. He says, "The idea that there is such a thing as a test for ADHD is nonsense. There is no such thing."Despite the lack of evidence to support the theory that ADHD is caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain, and that we as doctors know how to work out which children have that chemical imbalance, despite this just being a theory, it’s entered into popular mythology within the profession and accepted as a truth because it’s the theory that’s needed to justify the prescribing of stimulants."
This was presented in the media
Chris Wrapson, an investigator with the CCHR in Birmingham, said: "Psychiatrists are irresponsible.
We could postulate that Scientology and CCHR is irresponsible for their war against child protection and psychiatry.
This was the result of the Scientology treatment of Lisa McPherson.
So given the clinical guidance on ADHD, we ask the General Medical Council whether CCHR and their accompanying specialists are publicising material outside the guidance. If the GMC feels this could very well be a potential, then is the GMC going to investigate these issues?
Afterall, it is only fair that these investigations and the GMC should be questioning all doctors who are Scientologists or are affiliated to that group. CCHR's hatred of psychiatry and medication is well known. That may be acceptable to them but it is not accepted practise in the NHS. Now, we know that the GMC was fond of taking up a number of cases regarding treatments considered "out of protocol". We believe the above press release is " out of NHS protocol". We would also like to know whether Dr Timmi is declaring his conflict of interest to each and every patient he sees. Has he declared his conflict to his own Trust? Is he influencing the public with his own personal beliefs? That is the essential question isn't it?
We provide the GMC permission to print this complaint out as a formal complaint or under the Medical Act 1983 they can take up complaints themselves based on various information received. We also believe the GMC should issue guidance to Scientology doctors advising them to inform all their patients of their associations with CCHR/Scientology in the interests of transparency. Are doctors who are Scientologists or involved with CCHR placing the profession into disrepute? That is the question isn't it?
In any event, if normal psychiatrists and paediatricians are subject to mass scrutiny by Scientologists, there is no reason why Scientology doctors should not be subjected to the identical scrutiny to assess whether they are following current clinical guidance/protocols.
This was presented in the media
Chris Wrapson, an investigator with the CCHR in Birmingham, said: "Psychiatrists are irresponsible.
We could postulate that Scientology and CCHR is irresponsible for their war against child protection and psychiatry.
This was the result of the Scientology treatment of Lisa McPherson.
So given the clinical guidance on ADHD, we ask the General Medical Council whether CCHR and their accompanying specialists are publicising material outside the guidance. If the GMC feels this could very well be a potential, then is the GMC going to investigate these issues?
Afterall, it is only fair that these investigations and the GMC should be questioning all doctors who are Scientologists or are affiliated to that group. CCHR's hatred of psychiatry and medication is well known. That may be acceptable to them but it is not accepted practise in the NHS. Now, we know that the GMC was fond of taking up a number of cases regarding treatments considered "out of protocol". We believe the above press release is " out of NHS protocol". We would also like to know whether Dr Timmi is declaring his conflict of interest to each and every patient he sees. Has he declared his conflict to his own Trust? Is he influencing the public with his own personal beliefs? That is the essential question isn't it?
We provide the GMC permission to print this complaint out as a formal complaint or under the Medical Act 1983 they can take up complaints themselves based on various information received. We also believe the GMC should issue guidance to Scientology doctors advising them to inform all their patients of their associations with CCHR/Scientology in the interests of transparency. Are doctors who are Scientologists or involved with CCHR placing the profession into disrepute? That is the question isn't it?
In any event, if normal psychiatrists and paediatricians are subject to mass scrutiny by Scientologists, there is no reason why Scientology doctors should not be subjected to the identical scrutiny to assess whether they are following current clinical guidance/protocols.
Scientology Conflicts Do not Have to be Declared Says GMC
Following the evidence from Dr Patrick Fin Cosgrove in the BMJ that Scientologists have infiltrated the GMC, we asked the GMC whether there was anything preventing a conflict of interest related to Scientology.
This is what Cosgrove told the BMJ
The GMC responded to our questions as featured below.This essentially means there is nothing stopping a Scientologist at the GMC from pushing a case related doctors referred by CCHR [ Scientology]. As everyone knows, Raj Persaud was referred by CCHR.
This is what Cosgrove told the BMJ
"There is now evidence indicating and suggesting that there are Scientologists working in the Fitness to Practise Directorate of the General Medical Council of the UK. So be careful all you British psychiatrists especially if Szasz's proposed 'Psychiatric Protection Order' comes into being"
The GMC responded to our questions as featured below.This essentially means there is nothing stopping a Scientologist at the GMC from pushing a case related doctors referred by CCHR [ Scientology]. As everyone knows, Raj Persaud was referred by CCHR.
----- Original Message ----- To: xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Thursday, April 03, 2008 4:50 PM
Subject: RE: Scientologist declaration
Dear xxxxx
GMC SPENDS £48,000 of doctors' money on PAPER
In this era of recycling we wondered why the GMC was always insistent on using envelopes and sheets of paper. Take the above response. The GMC had the email address of the requester and could have emailed the response. As anyone who has had dealings with the GMC will know, the GMC wastes paper like they waste money. The GMC clearly pays no heed to the importance of cutting down paper use.
The day-to-day demand for paper is putting immense pressure on the world's forests
The Wild Life Federation states
Printing
Circle of Life Foundation has the following suggestions
Ways to Reduce Paper Use
Paper efficiency is much like energy efficiency. A more effecient car needs less gas to go the same distance as a less efficient car. However, just as energy efficiency is not about "freezing in the dark," improving paper efficiency does not mean losing any of the wanted information on the paper.
Getting MORE text and images onto the same amount of paper
- Duplexing: Print on both sides of the paper (approximately two-thirds of all copy machines in the U.S. are duplex-capable, yet the duplexing rate is only 15%)
- Paper Reuse: Use the blank side of a previously used sheet for a new purpose.
- Reduce Images: Reduce the size of images and put more of them per page. Even better, send them electronically and just view them onscreen.
- Scrap Paper: There's always space on used paper for more notes!
More Ways to Save
- Find an alternative: Instead of writing a note or posting messages, try using a small chalkboard or whiteboard.
- Envelopes: Always reuse envelopes, especially large ones, either to send out again or to reuse for writing notes and lists.
- Recycle: Use recycled paper as much as you can, and always recycle the paper that you use.
- Inspire: Inspire others to conserve paper too!
- Find Your Own Ways: There's lots of them.
Anthony Omo, a GMC lawyer for instance pays no heed to saving paper. When asked whether documents could be emailed to him, he insisted they be posted. He continued to insist on this despite the fact that the civil procedure rules make no specifications on service of documents by post.
From the actions of the GMC, we note that the GMC has no concern for the environment or recycling or saving paper. They also have no concern about the level of paper being used and the amount of doctor's finances being wasted on this.
Don't Say Sorry
The true extent of human behaviour is interesting especially when it comes to revenge by members of the public. If a doctor made an accidental error, most members of the public would be happy to obtain an apologetic letter from the doctor. In fact, the BMJ once mooted the idea that apologising was a good thing. Studies in the US show that relatives tend to litigate less. People though are rather different especially when motivated by revenge. Of course, that's where the GMC comes in - an instrument of harassment and revenge. Very rarely does the GMC dispense justice to those who have really suffered.
This is Bristol quotes an interesting case of a doctor who took the time to apologise for an error. I know no doctor who would actually apologise so he is someone special. A man who recognise the damage caused and sought to rectify it. The mother of course had other ideas. She clearly wants Dr Stephen Kwaku Boateng's career to be shot to flinders. Even I could understand her actions if the child had died but the child didn't die.
" Dr Stephen Kwaku-Boateng is due to go before the General Medical Council at a hearing in Manchester that will last until July 1. The panel will look into the allegation that Dr Kwaku-Boateng gave a three-month-old patient an excessive dose of an inappropriate drug in June 2006 at Weston General Hospital"
This is Bristol quotes an interesting case of a doctor who took the time to apologise for an error. I know no doctor who would actually apologise so he is someone special. A man who recognise the damage caused and sought to rectify it. The mother of course had other ideas. She clearly wants Dr Stephen Kwaku Boateng's career to be shot to flinders. Even I could understand her actions if the child had died but the child didn't die.
" Dr Stephen Kwaku-Boateng is due to go before the General Medical Council at a hearing in Manchester that will last until July 1. The panel will look into the allegation that Dr Kwaku-Boateng gave a three-month-old patient an excessive dose of an inappropriate drug in June 2006 at Weston General Hospital"
"Following the overdose in 2006, Dr Kwaku-Boateng sent a letter to Karson's mum Jodie Rodgers, who lives in Church Road, Weston" "In it he apologised, saying he had been "very tired and exhausted during that shift and was working in a mechanical way". "He added that he had worked three consecutive overnight shifts in Portsmouth that week for a different out-of-hours clinic".
"Dr Kwaku-Boateng wrote me a letter at the time apologising but that didn't make up for what he did."
I wanted to know what the GMC is going to do with a doctor who was clearly tired at the time due to overwork. This is the sort of issue that could have been dealt with by the NCAA. I would of course like to ask the mother whether she has ever made a mistake in her entire life while being exhausted and whether for each of her mistakes, she would like to be harangued by her regulatory body. She moans that it has taken 2 years to reach the stage of hearing. Well, parents whose children have DIED have never received a hearing at the GMC. She should therefore stop moaning and consider herself lucky that the GMC have considered her a special case having pounced on the kind admission and apology by the doctor who will no doubt be strung up for public show. This will of course be further evidence that plumbers have more rights than the average doctor.
One more point to be raised here, I have come across a number of cases where defence unions have pushed doctors into making admissions unecessarily. As soon as you admit whatever you are accused of, you can say good bye to being sanction free. I think the defence unions seem to be of the view that they can wrap up the issues quickly. I am not saying one must not admit guilt. I am simply saying doctors should consider the impact on their defence especially if they are innocent. Sadly, with the civil standard of proof looming, more complaints will be passed through the system of the GMC and more doctors will be subjected to public humiliation. As the above example shows - even an apology to the mother is not enough. She wants the doctor to be struck off and wants the GMC to do it.
"Dr Kwaku-Boateng wrote me a letter at the time apologising but that didn't make up for what he did."
I wanted to know what the GMC is going to do with a doctor who was clearly tired at the time due to overwork. This is the sort of issue that could have been dealt with by the NCAA. I would of course like to ask the mother whether she has ever made a mistake in her entire life while being exhausted and whether for each of her mistakes, she would like to be harangued by her regulatory body. She moans that it has taken 2 years to reach the stage of hearing. Well, parents whose children have DIED have never received a hearing at the GMC. She should therefore stop moaning and consider herself lucky that the GMC have considered her a special case having pounced on the kind admission and apology by the doctor who will no doubt be strung up for public show. This will of course be further evidence that plumbers have more rights than the average doctor.
One more point to be raised here, I have come across a number of cases where defence unions have pushed doctors into making admissions unecessarily. As soon as you admit whatever you are accused of, you can say good bye to being sanction free. I think the defence unions seem to be of the view that they can wrap up the issues quickly. I am not saying one must not admit guilt. I am simply saying doctors should consider the impact on their defence especially if they are innocent. Sadly, with the civil standard of proof looming, more complaints will be passed through the system of the GMC and more doctors will be subjected to public humiliation. As the above example shows - even an apology to the mother is not enough. She wants the doctor to be struck off and wants the GMC to do it.
GET THE GMC INJUSTICES DEBATED IN PARLIAMENT. ASK YOUR MP TO SIGN THIS EDM
EDM In Parliament. Click here for the entire link.
Kawczynski, Daniel
Kawczynski, Daniel
That this House believes that the General Medical Council’s (GMC) complaints mechanism fails to comply with standards of fairness and due process required by Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights; observes that the GMC's role in investigating, prosecuting and sentencing falls below the standard required of an independent and impartial tribunal; notes that in practice the GMC represents the interest of parents in cases where doctors suspect abuse; further notes that children themselves have no independent representation to present a doctor's concerns; further believes that no published guidelines appear to guide prosecution decisions and that, as prosecutor, the GMC amends and adds charges in an ad hoc fashion; considers that doctors are uncertain of the allegations they face, compromising their ability to mount a cogent defence; further considers that the GMC calls expert witnesses with clear conflicts of interest in the proceedings who are unrepresentative of mainstream practice or opinion, and that the GMC adopts a populist, punitive, deterrent and disproportionate approach to sentencing; further considers that the GMC’s apparently arbitrary admission and exclusion of evidence extends to ignoring the findings of previous investigations into a case conducted by an accused doctor's employer; further believes that the GMC values the public perception and integrity of the profession above individual rights; and further observes that, contrary to basic principles of justice, the GMC appears to assume the guilt of doctors before it, and refuses to acquit when a conviction is impossible, instead finding 'no realistic prospect of prosecution'.
Cut and Paste. Raj Persaud Shows Us How Its Done
The problem with being in the media is that they often build a person's reputation up and are then quick to take it down. This is what has been happening to Raj Persaud. The psychiatrist was the apple of every one's eye and nothing wrong could be said about him. Everyone worshipped him. We knew Raj just stated the obvious but we are doctors and we recognise these things. Nevertheless, Raj has minted his millions from being famous. This is Raj's website. The King of Media Shrinking is now having his crown removed off him faster than he could cut and paste. In true honesty, those involved in book work or research papers are regularly found to be cut and pasting. Raj recognised his faults and should have just been given a warning.
Just that no one recognises it. In the grand scale of things this is a minor offence compared to say killing a patient. Many doctors who have killed patients are not subject to GMC procedures and their complaints screened out. One such complaint is regarding Mr Andrew Hall. Andrew Hall's case has not even reached hearing yet. The GMC initially let him off with a warning and the complainant has been inconvenienced considerably. Indeed, the complaint is back in action although the GMC are playing their usual games.
Raj Persaud though is an easy target for the GMC. We cannot see that cut and pasting amounts to Serious Professional Misconduct. We though know that the GMC has no definition of Serious Professional Misconduct. We ask ourselves why Dr Persaud was not just let off with a warning. We know Raj Persaud went to University College London in 1992 and was always known as a bit of a geeky thing.
The Independent reports as follows [ we are now cut and pasting the quote]
"In The Motivated Mind, the book he published before the one on "How to Catch and Keep your Perfect Partner", he describes the habits he pursued in studying for his degree. He was, he says, "the first to arrive in the library each day and the last to leave", so that "eventually the librarian would consult me if she couldn't find something". After gaining his degree ("First Class Honours" he tells us three times in three pages), he pursued his other goals – clinical psychiatrist, media rent-a-gob – with similar dogged determination. Motivation, he explains "is clearly a psychological conundrum because on the one hand it is what takes us to the pinnacle of success, but on the other it plunges us into the abyss of hopelessness when we encounter setbacks."
He isn't our favourite man but then we don't think he deserves to be dragged through a public hearing. The Guardian Reported the issue today saying
Just that no one recognises it. In the grand scale of things this is a minor offence compared to say killing a patient. Many doctors who have killed patients are not subject to GMC procedures and their complaints screened out. One such complaint is regarding Mr Andrew Hall. Andrew Hall's case has not even reached hearing yet. The GMC initially let him off with a warning and the complainant has been inconvenienced considerably. Indeed, the complaint is back in action although the GMC are playing their usual games.
Raj Persaud though is an easy target for the GMC. We cannot see that cut and pasting amounts to Serious Professional Misconduct. We though know that the GMC has no definition of Serious Professional Misconduct. We ask ourselves why Dr Persaud was not just let off with a warning. We know Raj Persaud went to University College London in 1992 and was always known as a bit of a geeky thing.
The Independent reports as follows [ we are now cut and pasting the quote]
"In The Motivated Mind, the book he published before the one on "How to Catch and Keep your Perfect Partner", he describes the habits he pursued in studying for his degree. He was, he says, "the first to arrive in the library each day and the last to leave", so that "eventually the librarian would consult me if she couldn't find something". After gaining his degree ("First Class Honours" he tells us three times in three pages), he pursued his other goals – clinical psychiatrist, media rent-a-gob – with similar dogged determination. Motivation, he explains "is clearly a psychological conundrum because on the one hand it is what takes us to the pinnacle of success, but on the other it plunges us into the abyss of hopelessness when we encounter setbacks."
He isn't our favourite man but then we don't think he deserves to be dragged through a public hearing. The Guardian Reported the issue today saying
"The celebrity psychiatrist Raj Persaud, who is struggling to save his career from dishonesty claims at a medical tribunal, was described yesterday by one of the experts whose work he plagiarised as a baffling mixture of skill and stupidity.
Professor Richard Bentall, whose work was passed off as Persaud's own in a highly publicised book by the accused doctor, said he was "flabbergasted" at the blatancy of his colleague's cheating"
In mitigation, Persaud stated
""At the time, given the stress I was under, given the deadlines and my other work I thought I was adequately attributing work." He said: "I think I made some serious errors. It wasn't my intention to pass off other people's work as mine."
The Independent ends with the following
"Whatever else is said in the General Medical Council's disciplinary panel in Manchester this week, it's a fair bet that Raj Persaud will not be praised for the "staggering" originality of his ideas. He may be praised for his consistency, in excuses he has offered for allegedly producing work that bears a Menard-like resemblance to the published work of others (excuses ranging from "cut-and-paste" computer errors to variations on "the dog ate my homework", involving sub-editors). He may be praised for his energy, and he may be praised for his drive. And on these counts, the praise would be entirely justified"
General Medical Council Debated In Parliament
Early Day Motion
EDM 1745
GENERAL MEDICAL COUNCIL COMPLAINTS SYSTEM
GENERAL MEDICAL COUNCIL COMPLAINTS SYSTEM
10.06.2008
Kawczynski, Daniel
That this House believes that the General Medical Council’s (GMC) complaints mechanism fails to comply with standards of fairness and due process required by Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights; observes that the GMC's role in investigating, prosecuting and sentencing falls below the standard required of an independent and impartial tribunal; notes that in practice the GMC represents the interest of parents in cases where doctors suspect abuse; further notes that children themselves have no independent representation to present a doctor's concerns; further believes that no published guidelines appear to guide prosecution decisions and that, as prosecutor, the GMC amends and adds charges in an ad hoc fashion; considers that doctors are uncertain of the allegations they face, compromising their ability to mount a cogent defence; further considers that the GMC calls expert witnesses with clear conflicts of interest in the proceedings who are unrepresentative of mainstream practice or opinion, and that the GMC adopts a populist, punitive, deterrent and disproportionate approach to sentencing; further considers that the GMC’s apparently arbitrary admission and exclusion of evidence extends to ignoring the findings of previous investigations into a case conducted by an accused doctor's employer; further believes that the GMC values the public perception and integrity of the profession above individual rights; and further observes that, contrary to basic principles of justice, the GMC appears to assume the guilt of doctors before it, and refuses to acquit when a conviction is impossible, instead finding 'no realistic prospect of prosecution'.
GMC SLAMMED BY DR ELIZABETH MILLER. DOCTORS SUPPORT
The GMC today faces harsh criticism from a leading doctor's campaigning group. Dr Elizabeth Miller issued a blistering attack on the regulatory body for failing sick doctors. This is one of many criticisms by doctors against the General Medical Council. Dr Pal follows this up on the NHS Behind the Headlines Blog.
Doctor's orders
Guardian Newspapers
Liz Miller was a successful surgeon when depression hit. Now the Mind Champion of the Year wants the medical profession to take mental health seriously. By Mary O'Hara
When Liz Miller is told that a blogger recently described her as "a cool chick" and "an inspiration to the public and doctors", it takes some time before she stops laughing and says: "Really? Someone said that?"
It is four weeks since Miller was voted Mind Champion of the Year for her campaigning on mental health issues, yet the award and the praise that has come with it still don't seem to have sunk in. "It came totally out of the blue," she says. "I thought, 'Who's going to vote for me when there's all of these big names?'"
Miller, a GP who specialises in occupational health, has been a well-known figure in the medical and mental health sectors for a while, but she first came to broader public attention in Stephen Fry's 2007 documentary series, The Secret Life of the Manic Depressive. "I think that programme was fantastic," she says. "It stood out a mile from other stuff."
Miller was a central figure in the programme, which garnered awards for Fry and its producers. She spent three days filming with Fry, during which she talked candidly about being sectioned three times and about her diagnosis with bipolar disorder. She spoke of how the mania that came with the illness impacted on her demanding career - when her first manic episode happened in the early 1990s, Miller was working in the highly competitive field of neurosurgery - and of how she rebuilt a life for herself despite the difficulties. "I'd been wandering around thinking, 'I've failed at neurosurgery,'" she explains. "I went mad. I failed. In those days, I was kind of the only female neurosurgeon in the UK, so you had to be 10 times better than the guys."
The mania crept up on Miller. There was no sudden realisation that something very serious was wrong. "You think you are a bit anxious, but you don't necessarily know there's anything wrong," she says of the time leading up to being sectioned for the first time. Being a doctor didn't help, she says. "The thing is, in medicine we live on this myth that illness is for other people. Doctors don't get ill. Illness is for the patients. And so I'd swallowed it - the whole medical thing."
Coming from a high-achieving family, "with enough doctors to staff a small hospital", meant giving up neurosurgery was both a public humiliation and a personal wrench. "Neurosurgery was the first time I felt I was getting some respect in the family," Miller says. "In the past, I'd prided myself on my brain. I could get by on my wits. And suddenly your mind goes, and it actually goes to the core of who you are. It says something about you as a person. You ask yourself, 'Why me?'"
As many people diagnosed with bipolar disorder do, Miller fell into a long depression. "I was depressed for three years," she recalls. "Every time I was alone, I wept. The thing about mental illness is the awful isolation. You think you are the only person there. And you're so ashamed of it. There's the external stigmatising behaviours from society, but there's also the internal shame. How could you let yourself do this? I was so ashamed. You can't talk to anybody about it."
But for all the hardship during this period of trying to come to terms with the fact that her future was no longer mapped out, it also provided the catalyst for her future campaigning.
Miller was far from satisfied with the quality of care she was getting. "The psychiatrists I've seen have not been that helpful," she says. "You get to the end [of the time in hospital] and they say, 'You've got manic depression, now take these [pills].' And I took them."
While sectioned for the third time, she became aware that there were other doctors on the ward. "I finally realised it wasn't just me." She approached the psychiatrist who ran the ward and asked if she should join the charity the Manic Depression Fellowship. "He said, 'Yes, but don't make a career out of it,'" Miller recalls, descending into a long, loud peel of laughter. "[That's] more psychiatric advice I haven't taken. If anyone's made a career of it, I have."
Liz Miller receives her Mind award from Lord (Melvyn) Bragg. Photograph: Martin Usborne
Soon after, Miller co-founded the Doctors Support Network (DSN). "I saw an advert in the British Medical Journal from another doctor," she says. "It was asking if any other doctors had mental health problems, and I answered. Maybe 20 or 30 other people did, and we set up this group."
If Miller dreamed that campaigning would open the eyes of the medical establishment to the difficulties of doctors dealing with mental ill-health, she was quickly brought back down to earth. "We went to see the British Medical Association, the General Medical Council [GMC], and the Royal College of Psychiatrists. We thought, 'This will be a good thing.' And the universal answer from all of these sources was, 'Doctors don't have mental health problems. Good luck to you. You need it.'" Miller says she and her new colleagues were "gobsmacked".
There is a tinge of toughness about Miller, and this comes into sharp focus when she talks about the injustices she believes the medical establishment unleashes on doctors in her situation. "It really put fire in my belly," she says. Even though there have been improvements in the decade since DSN was established, Miller believes many doctors continue to be treated as outcasts, and she lays most of the blame at the door of the GMC. "The GMC is medieval in its treatment of mental health problems."
Inhuman procedures
Even now, after a decade? "Still. There is a complete lack of understanding. Their procedures are inhuman. It's like going through a tribunal." She offers a hypothetical situation. "Maybe you once had a touch of depression. Someone falls out with you, and reports you [to the GMC]. It has to investigate and you end up with a situation where you are being interrogated by two GMC psychiatrists. It's a bit like dunking witches, because if you survive the process you are obviously quite mad because you have no contact with what's happening to you. And if you sink …"
She quotes statistics. "In 2003/04, nine of the 215 doctors under GMC investigation [for mental health problems] died. It is a process that makes the illness worse. It's so unjust."
Miller puts the GMC's attitude down to "hundreds of years" of entrenched bureaucratic defensive posturing. "They do not track what happens to doctors who have been through their procedures. I don't believe the burden of being investigated [for having a mental illness] by your regulatory body does not have an impact."
But if the problems encountered by doctors with mental ill-health galvanise Miller, in many ways it is the plight of patients that has shaped her career and propelled her into campaigning on a much wider range of issues. She retrained as a psychologist, but now mostly works in occupational health, dealing in many instances with patients struggling to get the kind of help and support they need.
"I sort of think doctors don't like their patients," she says. "There is a contempt for the patient." Doctors can become "de-humanised" to a degree in order to survive being confronted day in day out with sickness, and this might lead some to be less sympathetic, Miller suggests. But she insists that this culture should and can be challenged, especially when it comes to dealing with vulnerable people with mental health problems. "A lot of occupational health is now about mental health," she says. "It's about stress."
But it is not just down to doctors being inconsiderate or overworked, Miller argues. Employers have a big part to play. Miller says "it is absolutely in their financial interests" to work with staff with mental health problems. "A lot of people I see are coming from dysfunctional workplaces. Workplaces have become unbalanced."
A regular blogger, Miller has embraced the internet as a pivotal way of getting her many messages across. She uses blogging to explore issues ranging from intellectual arguments around new systems of psychology to her more prosaic preoccupations, such as patient-doctor interaction. Whatever the subject, however, her blogs are accessible and straightforward. She says this is a deliberate attempt to demystify mental health, and to arm people with information that might help. "Because of the internet, ideas can just spread," she enthuses. "I've been lucky. I've had access to the information to make the most of it."
Unlikely champion
For all her success and recognition, Miller still sees herself as an unlikely champion. "Before I went through all this, my attitude to medicine was if you can't stand the heat get out of the kitchen," she explains. "Mental ill-health was for softies."
So what drives her? "It's injustice. If someone's hurting, I'm compelled to help." Looking slightly embarrassed, she laughs. "Does that sound a bit icky? The thing that annoys me about psychologists is they say, 'Oh, you're a serial rescuer.' And I say, 'Yeah, that's it.'"
Member of the Public Reviews the GMC
The GMC works so hard on its public "image". It has its own PR Agency and this is what all that results in.
Zyra says as follows.
"Despite giving the impression there is an overseeing body of good practice in the medical profession, the General Medical Council has not convinced me that it is any better than a back-patting hand-shaking club for doctors to hide their mistakes behind. Please let me know if there is evidence otherwise. I'd like to believe better of the GMC. I've always thought well of doctors, until something rather nasty happened, that is, and when I complained the GMC sent me a fobbing-off letter"
Zyra says as follows.
"Despite giving the impression there is an overseeing body of good practice in the medical profession, the General Medical Council has not convinced me that it is any better than a back-patting hand-shaking club for doctors to hide their mistakes behind. Please let me know if there is evidence otherwise. I'd like to believe better of the GMC. I've always thought well of doctors, until something rather nasty happened, that is, and when I complained the GMC sent me a fobbing-off letter"
