Medical expert witnesses should consider systems that doctors work in, says defence body

Expert witnesses who report on doctors’ conduct for courts, coroners, or regulators should be obliged to consider the system in which the doctor was working, the Medical Protection Society has urged.1Reports currently focus on the failings of the individual doctor and risk scapegoating them for the failures of the settings in which they work, said the MPS, which helps members faced with legal and regulatory action. It called on the General Medical Council to make the requirement mandatory in its guidance on good medical practice. The GMC is currently consulting on updates to the guidance, “so there is an opportunity to make this important change swiftly,” said Rob Hendry, the MPS’s medical director. “We hope it will be seized.”He added, “Adding this requirement into the good medical practice guide would reinforce it and empower doctors, many of whom believe their expert reports must focus solely on the individual.”The call followed…
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