556

PENAL CASES IN CAMERA BEFORE THEG.M.C.

THE prolonged hearings in camera recently ofpenal cases coming under the consideration ofthe General Medical Council may have been takenas evidence of a tendency on the part of the Councilto conduct more of such proceedings without apublic audience. But as a matter of fact thesituation is not so, and the circumstances at thelast session of the Council were quite fortuitous.It is inadvisable, however, that an impressionshould remain that the G.M.C. is embarking upona new policy of secrecy.The penal jurisdiction of the Council rests sub-

stantially on these three words in the MedicalActs-" after due inquiry." The Acts providethat, in cases other than those based on convic-tions of felony or misdemeanour, the Council, ifit finds " after due inquiry " that the practitionerhas been guilty of infamous conduct in a profes-sional respect, may direct the Registrar to erasethe practitioner’s name from the Register. Weneed not now refer to the unfortunate phraseologywhich has led to frequent protest. The wordinfamous has a technical legal meaning explainedby the judges as disgraceful or dishonourable ina qualified professional man acting as such ; butthe scope of the words " after due inquiry hasnever been exactly defined. When an action ofthe Council has been the subject of legal inquirythe Law Courts have taken the view that the Councilcan be trusted to manage its own business properlyand competently, and they will not interfereunless the complainant can show a substantial

impropriety of procedure. The Council’s procedureis governed by its standing orders, which

probably lack the statutory force comparable withthe by-laws of some other semi-public bodies. Butthe orders give the Council wide powers of discre-tion in deciding which, if any, parts of the case shallbe heard in camera. The Council is obliged onlyto open the case, that is to have the charge read,and to give the judgment in public, and variationfrom procedure in courts of law is conspicuous.All courts are open to the public unless in theopinion of the judge it would be clearly impossibleto do justice at a public hearing, and the judge’sdiscretion here is limited. The class of cases inwhich courts have restricted publicity are thosein which the subject matter of the action hasbeen some secret process ; those where a witnessmust give evidence of such a distressing kind thathe would not bring his complaint at all if he knewthat the hearing would be public ; and thirdly,where disorder is held reasonably certain to breakout in court during the hearing. The GeneralMedical Council is only concerned with cases ofthe second class, and has interpreted its discretionwidely. The criterion applied by the Council itwould seem is not whether justice can be done atall in public but whether it can be better done inprivate, while taking note of the fact that in theinterests of decency some cases had better be heardin camera. Anyone who has followed the penalprocedure of the Council at aU closely will know

how few are the cases that fall under the latter

heading ; and it must be remembered that medicalmen summoned to appear before the Councilmay be willing, and naturally would be when

innocent, to have the procedure a perfectly publicone, the decision to hold the inquiry in camerabeing that of the Council.When public attention is arrested by penal

cases before the G.M.C., there is a natural surprisethat the verdict of the Council, though it maydeprive a professional man of his livelihood, is

subject to no appeal. The victim’s friends, think-ing him innocent, attack the doctor’s professionfor an act of injustice which is final. This absenceof appeal is due not to the caprice of the profes-sion but to the will of Parliament as declared inthe Medical Acts. From disciplinary decisions inother professions—dentists and solicitors, veteri-

nary surgeons and architects-there is in eachcase an appeal to the High Court under the corre-sponding statute. The Medical Acts alone makeno such provision. Consequently, as Lord JusticeBOWEN observed, when " due inquiry " has beenmade by the G.M.C., " the jurisdiction of thedomestic tribunal, which has been clothed by theLegislature with the duty of discipline in respectof a great profession, must be left untouched bycourts of law." But the courts of law will inter-vene fast enough if the tribunal displays bias ortransgresses the rules of what is rather vaguelycalled " natural justice " in its inquiry. In thatevent, it is safe to predict, amendment of theMedical Acts will follow.

ON Tuesday, March 24th, at 5 P.M., Sir ThomasBarlow will take the chair at the hundredth annualgeneral meeting of the Royal Medical BenevolentFund, which is being held at 11, Chandos-street,London, W.1.THE appointment of Mr. Wilfred Trotter, F.R.S.,

to a chair of surgery in the University of London,tenable at University College Hospital medical school,is recorded in another page. No academic honourcould enhance the reputation of one who has longbeen recognised not only as a master of his craftbut as a scholar whose ripe philosophy pervades allhis activities. But by consenting to sacrifice theleisure gained through retirement from privatepractice he confers additional distinction on theinstitution which he has already served for many years.

Mr. GEORGE VERITY, who died at his home atChesham Bois on Feb. 28th, was a truly practicalfriend to the cause of medicine. He was for closeupon thirty years chairman of the governors of

Charing Cross Hospital, and everyone concerned withthe welfare and organisation of the great Londonhospitals knew of the work which he did at CharingCross and admired the foresight and energy displayed.He accepted the responsibilities of chairmanship at 6critical period in the history of the hospital whichwas suffering perhaps more acutely than any otherof the metropolitan institutions from financialdepression. The fine position in public and scientificesteem in which the hospital is now held was greatlydue to Verity, for whom, in his labours, no idealwas too large to aim at and no detail was too smallfor attention. He has left a great name in thehospital world.