MORBIDITY AND MORTALITY IN
DOCTORS VISITED BY MEDICAL MISFORTUNE.
The
purpose of this paper is to raise further concerns about medical practitioners
visited by medical misfortune.
The
paper describes how social medicine focuses on the social determinants of
health but it rarely focuses on the social determinants of the health of
medical practitioners who may be visited by ill health or medical misfortune
leading to disciplinary processes and ill health.
There
is little written formally about the epidemiology of medical misfortune but we
know that it may occur unexpectedly challenging the practitioner and
demonstrating that in these situations the practitioner may well be on his or
her own, frequently deserted by colleagues.
In
2004, in the United Kingdom, sanctions were made against 315 doctors; 82
erasures, 116 suspensions (64 on health grounds) and 117 conditions on
registration (64 on health grounds). In 2003, of 214 doctors subject to GMC
supervision, nine died, giving a case fatality rate of 4.2%, twice the death
rate from coronary artery by-pass surgery. After the deaths of four soldiers at
Deepcut Barracks in Surrey, a mortality of 0.03 per cent (throughput of 12,000
soldiers), Amnesty International called for a Public Inquiry. The trend has
been downward since the National Audit Office documented the £40m spent on
suspensions (the most frequent challenge) to the Public Accounts Committee..
If
the morbidity and mortality amongst such medical practitioners is not
addressed, more health service resources will be wasted, morale amongst medical
practitioners will continue to fall and recruitment to the medical profession
may adversely be affected.
1.
General Medical Council. Annual Report 2004. General Medical Council. London,
2004.
