1432

arrangements for medical evidence to be provided in someform in such cases." It is not clear if the D.H.S.S. is now

hoping doctors will consent to help social-security fraudinvestigators in their delicate work.

RODNEY DEITCH

Medicine and the Law

Suspension from the Medical Register and N.H.S.Contracts

IN July, 1969, the Disciplinary Committee ofthe General MedicalCouncil found a consultant psychiatrist guilty of infamous conductin a professional respect and directed that his name be erased fromthe Register. By the time an appeal was heard, in July, 1970, theMedical Act 1969 had made available an alternative sentence of

suspension of registration and the Privy Council substituted asentence of suspension for 12 months. The health authority thentold the doctor that, on legal advice, it regarded his N.H.S. contractas at an end. In an action against the health authority, the doctorclaimed a declaration that his contract of employment was still inforce. Mr Justice NEILL rejected the claim, holding, inter alia, thatthe continuance of the contract was made unlawful by section 28(1)of the Medical Act 1956, which provides: "... no person, not beingfully registered, shall hold any appointment as physician, surgeonor other medical officer... (c) in any hospital ..." The Court ofAppeal by a majority (Lord Justice ROSKILL and Lord JusticeBRIGHTMAN, Lord Justice BRANDON dissenting) dismissed an

appeal by the doctor (see Lancet 1980; i: 495). The doctor appealedby leave of the House of Lords, and this appeal was heard on June 4,1981.Lord RUSSELL of KILLOWEN said that erasure of the doctor’s name

from the register would clearly have brought about the statutory banin section 28(l) of the 1956 Act and an automatic termination by lawof the doctor’s appointment, and of the contract with the board thatwas the basis of that appointment. The doctor contended that theappointment was one thing and the contract another, section 28(1)affecting only the appointment, but his Lordship could not acceptthat. The contract of employment and the appointment were nottwo things but one. It followed from section 33(1) and (lb) of the1956 Act (substituted by section 13(l) of the 1969 Act) thatsuspension equally operated the ban imposed by section 28(1) andhad the effect of terminating by law the appointment and thecontract of employment that was the appointment.Lord BRIDGE of HARWICH, in an opinion concurring in dismissing

the appeal, said that paragraph 193 of the Terms and Conditions ofService of Hospital Medical and Dental Staff (England and Wales)(1971) provided, in effect, for an employed doctor whose

registration was suspended to be suspended from duty without paybut for his contract of employment to continue unless terminated inaccordance with the regular procedure for termination. It did notseem to have occurred to anyone to doubt the legality of thatcontractual provision, and no doubt it had been happily acted on byhospital medical staff and their employers ever since. The

reasoning that led to the dismissal of the appeal led, however,inexorably also to the conclusion that paragraph 193 was void. Thatwas a hitherto unsuspected and most unfortunate situation, whichcalled for legislation to remedy it.Lord WILBERFORCE agreed with Lord BRIDGE of HARWICH, Lord

FRASER Of TULLYBELTON agreed with Lord RUSSELL ofKrLLowENand Lord BRIDGE of HARWICH, and Lord LOWRY delivered anopinion concurring with that of Lord RUSSELL of KILLOWEN.The appeal was dismissed.

Tarnesby v. Kensington and Chelsea and Westminster Area Health Authority (Teaching).House of Lords. Lord WILBERFORCE, Lord FRASER of TULLEYBELTON, LordRUSSELL ofKILLOWEN, Lord LOWRY, and Lord BRIDGE ofHARWICH, June 4,1981. Counsel and solicitors: Simon Goldblatt, Q.C , and Barry Green (Le Brasseur &

Bury); Roy Beldam, Q.C., and Stanley Burnton (Beachcroft, Hyman Isaacs).

MICHAEL GARDNER,Barrister-at-Law

Obituary

HARALD RICHARD HERMANN REINERTM.D. Berlin

Dr Reinert was an expert pharmacologist and toxicologistwho worked largely in the pharmaceutical industry. He diedon March 27, aged 60.He studied medicine at the Universities of Hamburg and Berlin,

graduating in 1948. In 1949-52, he was assistant to Prof. W.Heubner in the Pharmacological Institute of the Free University ofBerlin, where he became deeply interested in pharmacology. In1953 he joined the scientific staff of the National Institute forMedical Research, Mill Hill, and worked in the department ofbiological standards, then under the directorship of Dr WalterPerry. In 1955 he was appointed pharmacology and toxicologyresearch director to Pfizer Ltd, Sandwich, Kent, and over the nextfifteen years he built up a very effective and productive department.His main scientific work and interest lay in cardiovascular

pharmacology and neurophysiology. In 1970-76 he was director ofthe Pfizer Research Centre in Amboise, France, where he developedmethods for the safety evaluation of drugs for use in human andveterinary medicine. In 1979, after senior appointments withInveresk International, Scotland, and Ifreb, Lyon, he became,under licence from the French Ministry of Helath, an indpendentconsultant in pharmacology and toxicology. He was a stalwartmember of the British and German Pharmaceutical Societies; and ofthe British, European and American Societies of Toxicology. Hewas an enthusiastic research worker, fearlessly defending what hebelieved to be scientific truth. Although at times a formidableadversary, he was beloved and respected by all his friends andcolleagues.He is survived by his wife, Rene, and their son.

G. M. W.

International Diary

Annual meeting of American Academy of Ophthalmology on Eye Care:Atlanta, Georgia, Nov. 1-6 (American Academy of Ophthalmology, 1833Fillmore Street, P. 0. Box 7424, San Francisco, California 94120, U.S.A.).

1st Mexican-American congress of Allergy and Clinical Immunology:Tijuana, Mexico, and San Diego, California, Nov. 16-20 (Dr R. N.Hamburger, Immunology and Allergy Division, University of California, SanDiego (M-009D), La Jolla, California 92093, U.S.A.).

2nd world congress on Cardiac Rehabilitation: Jerusalem, Israel, Nov.30-Dec. 3 (Dr J. J. Kellerman, P. 0. Box 16271, Tel Aviv).

1982

16th congress of Pan-Pacific Surgical Association: Honolulu, Hawaii,Jan. 9-15 (Pan-Pacific Surgical Association, 236 Alexander Young Building,Honolulu, Hawaii 96813, U.S.A.).

Meeting of International Rehabilitation Medicine Association: SanJuan, Puerto Rico, April 18-24 (Dr H. J. Flax, IRMA IV, Luhn 2, Guaynabo,Puerto Rico 00657, U.S.A.).

Congress of International Federation of Infectious/ParasiticDiseases: Stockholm, Sweden, June 7-11 (SCB-Jakobs Torg 3, S-111 52Stockholm).

1 lth international congress of International Society of Haematology:Budapest, Hungary, Aug. 1-7 (ISH Congress, MOTSZ Congress Bureau,P.O. Box 32, Budapest, H-1361).

15th congress of International Association of Individual Psychology:Vienna, Austria, Aug. 2-6 (Dr Anton Remelt, Lazarettgasse 14,1090 Vienna).

Meeting of European Society for Clinical Respiratory Physiology onHypoxia: Palermo, Sicily, Oct. 5-8 (Dr D. W. Empey, The London Hospital,Whitechapel, London E1 1BB, U.K.).