to all GN's living in France 4 year old boy missing

I usually find Max Pemberton's articles full of compassion and good old fashioned common sense but not today. I read his article this morning and it is worth reading the comments from his readers. They overwhelmingly don't agree with him. Doctors are only human. Some are pompous, authoritarian, lacking any empathy. Some are not. Some are known for their tendency to close ranks and protect each other. Hopefully Max Pemberton will read the comments and feedback from his readers.

It is the way that the media are encouraging blame that is unedifying and pointless.

The hospital have acted properly - they reported that a child with a life-threatening illness had left hospital against medical advice and was at risk of dying if his feeding machine failed. The subsequent actions were out of their hands. They have not accused the family of breaking the law; they have just informed the right authorities of the possibility of risk to the child out of the hospital setting.

Doctors do indeed cover their backs (as do other professions) when negligence is alleged - but there is no negligence, no case to answer here. They have given proper treatment (surgery etc.) and subsequent advice to the parents, and then taken steps to safeguard the child when he left hospital. All right and proper.

We must stop finding people to blame and try and approach this with some thought for ALL the parties involved, who have all acted in good faith. Walking in the shoes of each party and thinking how we might have dealt with it ourselves, with all it's subtleties and pitfalls, would seem a good way forward.

Mishap of course I realise that sometimes parents, under tremendous strain, blame doctors irrationally but this does not satisfactorily explain every case.

I worked in a hospital myself for a while and I saw nurses covering for a doctor who had nipped out to the Bank in the middle of his clinic, keeping patients waiting for ages, a surgeon who cancelled his operating list one afternoon at short notice because he wanted to meet his mistress and other things I don't have the time to go into. So I am not naïve about what goes on in hospitals.

It seems obvious that in the case we are discussing, the relationship between parents and consultants had completely broken down. However, the parents seem to me to be behaving in a rational manner and the behaviour of the consultants leaves a lot of be desired.

I would like to see a case brought against the hospital so that more of the facts can come to light. Bad practice in such an important profession needs to be rooted out where possible.

Holly - there is nothing to "punish" the hospital for - they have acted properly throughout as far as one can tell on the information released.

How can the hospital have acted properly when the parents did not break any law?

The implication about "breaking ranks" is that the doctors are engaged in some sort of conspiracy. Of course they are not;

Doctors do cover each others backs when a problem arises - I know because I've been caught up in one such incident (I could have sued but chose not to).

Mishap, you say it is unedifying and pointless" (media attention).

I think you are wrong. If anything needs the force of media coverage behind it, this does.

I should have added that my post 09:50 - that equates to one quarter of the budget for the NHS is ringfenced to fight claims of medical negligence and payouts on those claims.

Thank you for posting that article jane - it is exactly what I have been attempting to say all along and he expresses it much better than I can.

petallus - most of my career has been spent working in hospitals, and, take my word for it, the sort of irrationality that is being described is exactly what can happen in these extreme situations - doctors are dealing with this all the time and it is a minefield for everyone. The families are grieving and irrational anger is a common response to this. This is not to denigrate these people as "mad", but to recognise the normal human responses that follow from such extreme stressors.

The implication about "breaking ranks" is that the doctors are engaged in some sort of conspiracy. Of course they are not; there is no earthly reason to think that. They are trying to do the best they can in an impossible impasse.

We live in a blame culture, and, rather than seeing the situation for what it is and all parties acting in good faith from their standpoint, we are being encouraged to look for someone to blame. That is not a good way forward.

Holly - there is nothing to "punish" the hospital for - they have acted properly throughout as far as one can tell on the information released.

The media are whipping people up into a blame frenzy and encouraging them to take sides - it is unedifying and pointless.

(Sorry for misreading the tone of your previous post ja)

That article is patronising in the extreme! "it is right for the police to act for the sake of the parents themselves."

Oh, is that what they're doing? Nothing to with "We got it wrong but we're not admitting it now"?

It is a good article but it still implies that doctors always know best and that nothing ever goes wrong or poor decisons are never made that have an adverse effect on patients.

A surge in the number of claims made by NHS patients or their families led to the health service paying out £1.2 billion for its clinical negligence compensation bill between 2011 and 2012.

In its 2013/14 budget the NHS has set aside a whopping £22.7 billion to cover Medical Negligence liabilities.

I also hope that the family do sue the hospital, even if it does mean a few lawyers making money out of it.

The family have been caused pain and suffering for no good reason and that should not just be brushed under the carpet.

janeainsworth I did not find the article balanced at all. Written by a member of the medical profession it suggests that parents undergoing the strain of dealing with a child with cancer become irrational and angry, often directing this unfairly at the blameless medics who are treating their child.

I'd like to see just one medical professional breaking ranks.

The news this morning said that the case is being 'urgently' looked at again with a view to dropping the charges - that, no doubt, has come about because of media attention.

I hope they do sue Southampton Hospital - at the very least for obstruction, pain and suffering. If they go unpunished, what's to stop them doing it again? Wouldn't that be stating that they were within their rights to act the way they did?

They had no right to put that family through the anguish they have gone through; they were already going through enough.

I agree !!

Good, balanced article by Dr Max Pemberton in the Daily Telegraph

Oh yes the lawyers must be dancing all the way to the bank,,,,,

Just get the family back together and allow them to get on with their lives, I notice it does not seem to be top of the BBC news reports anymore, perhaps if the media let it die down a bit rationality can be restored.

Possibly the lawyer feels there is a case against Southampton Hosp. as they refused to forward the MRI scan to the Spanish hospital.

It seems that the Spanish lawyer acting for the parents is to try and sue S'ton hospital - for what? Being the bearer of bad news? Making clinical judgements that were hard to swallow? Seeking to safeguard a child who had left hospital apparently without the equipment necessary to sustain his life? What purpose will be served by suing them? - a fine that drains the NHS of more cash?

We do not need a blaming scenario here with lawyers raking in cash, but a genuine attempt to deal with this situation with humanity and a recognition that all parties have acted in good faith.

Sorry Jingl, I was agreeing with you. I didn't mean to sound disparaging.

Of course a hospital should pass on notes on a patient ... how petty.

Newsnight had a good report - it seems the CPS issued the warrant on the grounds of suspected 'cruelty to a person under the age of 16'.

It beggars belief.

I find this whole case baffling - once they knew the child had his food, etc and that the parents were seeking treatment elsewhere the warrant should have been cancelled

I am also furious that there are childhood cancer treatments available in the EU and USA that we are denied in the UK - my DDs friend just lost her lovely daughter aged 3, they were desperately trying to raise the money tp get her treatment in the USA that she couldn't have here

The family must have been desperate, and felt the risk of a journey was worth taking - and after all , he was in a car with his siblings, not beif made to tramp across the outback, so I doubt it had any more of an impact than being stuck on his own in a foreign hospital without his mummy and daddy,, which is what our wonderful government has done to him

Yes janeainsworth. That is exactly what I was referring to. Of course records etc have to be passed on.

I don't understand your comment. Or the disparaging tone used to make it.

Jingl if hospitals 'just took on' another hospital's patients, as you put it, without a proper referral, ie full notes, images, test results etc, it would mean that the patient, in this case a poor 5 year old who has already suffered greatly, would have to undergo all those distressing diagnostic procedures all over again.

Succinctly put Mishap