David Southall to Appeal

Anti Msbp Group Hunting Down David Southall

Rumour on the grapevine is that David Southall is due to appeal his judgment. It is a real tragedy that the real case was never heard and evidence not considered. I love the way Ms M is portrayed as some innocent bystander when Dora Black says something completely different about her. Then North Staffordshire NHS Trust know about that :). It is quite amusing that the GMC portrays a witness in an angelic manner. The anti msbp group has gone some way into concealing the actual documentation on Ms M. Indeed, the hapless North Staffordshire NHS Trust weighed in to threaten me with litigation if the details were found on the internet. I didn't have to feature it of course and indeed I didn't. Nevertheless, it isn't my problem if their legal team can't track down the actual person[s] responsible for data leaking. Afterall, everything leaks these days.

So we ask ourselves, what could they all be concealing? That would be Dora Black's comments and internal documentation perhaps?. I am very surprised that his two QCs did not use this documentation to challenge the credibility of the main witness. This case of course means that chaperones will not be believed in any setting. So it is quite a damaging verdict.

I think it is great that David Southall is appealing. I should though say that his campaign group PACA has been a catastrophic failure in defending him or making the public understand child protection. The holier than thou approach that exudes the arrogance of senior doctors clearly has not worked at all.

Any failure in these court hearings should be laid partly at their door because it is clear they have been unable to communicate the importance of child protection to the general public which include the judiciary. PACA have stuck to their safe haven ie the BMJ and failed to progress out of the BMJ to communicate the importance of the child protection with the outside world. I suspect progress by them is measured by how many articles are printed by Fiona Godlee but in truth few people read it now apart from die hard academics. The world has indeed changed when it comes to communication. This lack of insight of PACA will cause the downfall of David Southall but I suspect David would want it that way. For some reason there does not appear to be an approach to examine the faults in their own campaign. Their aim is to examine the faults of the rest of the system. The system may be faulty but the biggest problem at present lies in the lack of communication between child protection professional and the public. More importantly, PACA's failure to address the catastrophic problems faced by those who are cleared by the courts ie the post child protection investigation effects have not placed them in a good light. What we have here is an campaign group living in their own ivory tower with a failure to understand what the public need to understand. Without that communication, children will continue to die.

I have written on David Southall throughout all his previous hearings bar this one. My logic was that PACA should be able to fight their own battles for once. I was very saddened to hear of the verdict only because everyone deserves a fair trial and David Southall did not get one due to a multiplicity of factors such as prior vilification by the media, negligence in due process by the General Medical Council, failures by his defence union to curb negative publicity and the list could go on. Whats my perspective on this?

Well, I believe that David Southall has been a victim of a well coordinated and orchestrated campaign led by Penny Mellor. Her technique which is very effective is to coordinate multiples of complaints against one doctor. The GMC's logic is that the more complaints a doctor has, the more likely they are to take that doctor down the fitness to practise processes. The GMC manufactures facts, often lies outrageously and cobbles together cases for a proper hanging in the public fora. This satisfies the public appetite. The complexity of child protection makes matters worse since David Southall's case is full of misunderstandings, factual inaccuracies, faulty assessments and to top it all off a faulty legal system. Essentially, David didn't stand a chance, not without a effective campaign by PACA. As that didn't happen, it wasn't possible to dispel myths created in the case. As matters progress down the GMC's inept procedures, a lie becomes a fact and the progress of this is amazing. So, the above processes provide those with a vendetta with an open season of repeated complaints with nothing at the GMC to prevent them. The methodology used by the anti msbp group is also used by Scientology. It is probably a mere coincidence that Penny Mellor is a Scientology award winner. The yodas there have taught her well - well enough to render straight line thinkers such as PACA redundant. PACA fail to understand that the greatest challenge to the Scientology methodology is opposition publicity.

So overall, the anti msbp group led by Penny Mellor is a tactical campaigning group which takes advantage of the system faults and is very effective in doing so. This is one example but while we could lay the blame at her door [ and I frequently do], the broader picture is a system problem. She simply accentuates the system flaws for us, a catalyst if you like. It has taken me a while to understand that Mellor could be anyone. There are many other people with personality disorders who abuse the system. The problem lies with the General Medical Council and the very nature of the courts - both systems just do not work effectively at all.

The Independent has the best write up on child protection. Lawrence has some insight into the matters at play. I probably have more insight because I have been caught in the crosswinds of the methods used by the anti msbp group. I can therefore confirm that a complaint in its simplest form causes undue questions in the mind of those uneducated in the ways of medicine or medical careers. Therefore from a misinterpretation by the complainants, to a lack of knowledge by the GMC, to a lack of knowledge by the GMC legal team, to a lack of knowledge by counsel for the GMC.

The complaint by Mellor was that I cannot call myself a Psychiatrist because I was not on the specialist register. This was interesting as she failed to understand that more than 1000 doctors are deemed Psychiatrists without being on the specialist register.

Shaw QC Counsel for the GMC fell head first when he admitted that I was a "psychiatric doctor" [Adjournment application]. A few days late the GMC stated in a email to a different person

"A psychiatric doctor – or psychiatrist – is a doctor who has undergone basic medical training then specialises in psychiatry, that is treating people affected by mental illness"

In the end, the judge in the case R v GMC Ex Parte Pal was so confused that he never ruled on this point. If Mr Shaw's logic and Penny Mellor's logic is right then 1000 plus doctors would be investigated by the GMC :) on Stream 1 in order to make up for the lack of knowledge of those initially assessing a complaint at the GMC. Lets face it, the airhead Anna Neill much like Mellor had no idea that Psychiatrists don't have to be on the specialist register. And we know that because Ben Goldacre isn't on the specialist register :). I am positive Ben would object to being dragged down Stream 1 because the Registrar had no idea about the definition of a Psychiatrist.

That is simply a mild description of how a simple allegation can be blown out of proportion. What really amused me was that following this issue, the Trust I was working at changed the titles to Staff Grade Practitioner :) :)>. And that is what happens with a series of numskulls running the GMC plus the NHS. They follow each other around like Pavlovs dogs, digging one hole after another.

This example is a simple one that clearly shows how allegations without merit can be blown out of proportion as they progress down the systems - from the GMC to the Courts. Then, you have to witness the stupidity of the GMC to really believe it.