Many doctors have died while investigated by the General Medical Council. Their names are kept secret. Doctors4Justice went to court in an attempt to get the disclosure. The chair of the tribunal hearing was one of BMA lawyers. Tribunal decided that names should not be disclosed. There has been no independent investigation into hundreds of deaths.
However, GMC had their own little exercise and produced a report following the court decision in their favour and the refusal of the permission to appeal made promptly by D4J. The refusal decision was made by the same judge.
Recently, it has been suggested that doctors should receive resilience training. This allegedly is based on army training. The President of The Royal College of Psychiatrists is somebody who had something to do with working for the British army and is married to somebody who is GMC's expert witness in cases against doctors and also run state sponsored clinic for stressed doctors. It has been declared that most doctors who killed themselves while investigated by GMC were mentally ill. Just simply mad, you see, nothing to worry about.
So, what is the evidence for resilience training from scientific point of view?
1. Prolonged stress is known to cause immune system problems. So, one would expect increased mortality in investigated doctors from many causes not just suicides. The fact is that most did not die from suicides so why stress that so much? Ah?
2. Dr Miles Herkenham's team in National Institute of Health in Bethesda, Maryland investigated the immune system response to stress. They noticed that most of the research has been on so called innate branch of immune system (the cells that mount the first response to pathogens). They wondered if there was such a thing as learning as in adaptive branch of the immune system that could learn in order to respond fast the next time the pathogen appears.
They did their research on mice. The introduction of an aggressive competitor mouse into the cage of male mice caused a bit of stress, bullied mice cowered, seem depressed, placing themselves in the dark corners and showing no interest in the scent of females.
When scientists injected their adaptive immune cells into another set of mice bred to lack these cells these mice were more likely to explore the open areas and were more interested in females compared to similar mice that didn't receive the injection. (Journal of Neuroscience, DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.2278-14.2015).
The cells were injected into another strain of mice known for their unresponsiveness and these also were soon running around.
But the scientists were at a loss as to why is it that bullied mice (the donors of the adaptive cells) did not become themselves better with coping with the bullies and why chronically stressed people, sorry, mice often have weak immune system.
It is known that mice who receive a transplant of innate immune cells can show symptoms of anxiety and depression.
3. Why mice are not given the credit for being intelligent and noticing that the bully was not removed or that men in the lab coats may put more in their cages?
4. The medical regulator continues to collude with NHS and other bullies, killing doctors ( and patients) and happily watching as some of the bullies get even promoted to the positions such as, wait for it, providing professional opinions on sudden deaths of patients. And as the old Latin saying goes De gustibus nihil disputandum.
However, GMC had their own little exercise and produced a report following the court decision in their favour and the refusal of the permission to appeal made promptly by D4J. The refusal decision was made by the same judge.
Recently, it has been suggested that doctors should receive resilience training. This allegedly is based on army training. The President of The Royal College of Psychiatrists is somebody who had something to do with working for the British army and is married to somebody who is GMC's expert witness in cases against doctors and also run state sponsored clinic for stressed doctors. It has been declared that most doctors who killed themselves while investigated by GMC were mentally ill. Just simply mad, you see, nothing to worry about.
So, what is the evidence for resilience training from scientific point of view?
1. Prolonged stress is known to cause immune system problems. So, one would expect increased mortality in investigated doctors from many causes not just suicides. The fact is that most did not die from suicides so why stress that so much? Ah?
2. Dr Miles Herkenham's team in National Institute of Health in Bethesda, Maryland investigated the immune system response to stress. They noticed that most of the research has been on so called innate branch of immune system (the cells that mount the first response to pathogens). They wondered if there was such a thing as learning as in adaptive branch of the immune system that could learn in order to respond fast the next time the pathogen appears.
They did their research on mice. The introduction of an aggressive competitor mouse into the cage of male mice caused a bit of stress, bullied mice cowered, seem depressed, placing themselves in the dark corners and showing no interest in the scent of females.
When scientists injected their adaptive immune cells into another set of mice bred to lack these cells these mice were more likely to explore the open areas and were more interested in females compared to similar mice that didn't receive the injection. (Journal of Neuroscience, DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.2278-14.2015).
The cells were injected into another strain of mice known for their unresponsiveness and these also were soon running around.
But the scientists were at a loss as to why is it that bullied mice (the donors of the adaptive cells) did not become themselves better with coping with the bullies and why chronically stressed people, sorry, mice often have weak immune system.
It is known that mice who receive a transplant of innate immune cells can show symptoms of anxiety and depression.
3. Why mice are not given the credit for being intelligent and noticing that the bully was not removed or that men in the lab coats may put more in their cages?
4. The medical regulator continues to collude with NHS and other bullies, killing doctors ( and patients) and happily watching as some of the bullies get even promoted to the positions such as, wait for it, providing professional opinions on sudden deaths of patients. And as the old Latin saying goes De gustibus nihil disputandum.
