The published figures for the cost of litigation in the NHS are not related to the problem the Saatchi Bill claims to solve. Patients may still be able to sue for bad practice, but post-Saatchi they would have to fight the Bill before they can fight their claim, which would be more expensive, more complex, and more unfair on patients…
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A Fundamental Flaw
Re-blogged with permission from A Fundamental Flaw by Nigel Poole QC If your house is built on soft sand you will not prevent it falling down by mending the roof. The continuing attempts to amend Lord Saatchi’s Medical Innovation Bill will not cure its fundamental flaw. This Bill needs more than patching up, it needs to be be completely rebuilt. The…
Report and Round Table Revelations
The Medical Innovation Bill — dubbed the Medical Anecdote Bill by Dr Sarah Wollaston in her adjournment debate in the House of Commons on Tuesday — reaches Report Stage in the House of Lords tomorrow. Yet an astounding revelation today undermines the whole basis for the Bill. Writing in the Telegraph (the Bill’s media partner) in April, one of the Bill’s…
Why the Saatchi Bill Cannot Work
While the team promoting the Medical Innovation Bill have continued to claim that it protects patients — indeed that it strengthens patient protections — they have been quietly chipping away at those protections. Even if the Saatchi team’s claims about innovation were true, the Bill cannot succeed in its aims. Bill’s adviser and government minister admit that if it worked…
The Medical Anecdote Bill
MP Dr Sarah Wollaston was able to instigate an Adjournment Debate in the House of Commons yesterday on the Medical Innovation Bill. The former GP gave an excellent summary of the very many serious concerns many informed doctors, researchers, lawyers and others have that the Bill will be a disaster for patients and research. She was ably assisted by former research…
Lords of the Round Table
We have heard in today’s important debate that noble Lords want dialogue and discussion with the noble Lord, Lord Saatchi, and indeed he has said that himself. Is he prepared to consider hosting a round-table discussion with all those Peers who have an interest in the matters before us today? That would be a very helpful way forward. — Baroness…
Watering Down Patient Protection
Re-blogged with permission from Watering Down Patient Protection by Nigel Poole QC The Medical Innovation Bill was promoted on the basis that patients would be protected by stringent requirements for doctors to secure agreement to proposed innovative treatment. In its current form the Bill does not require doctors to obtain any agreement to proposed treatments and the Saatchi Bill team has…
Without A Parachute
Reblogged with permission from Without A Parachute by David Hills In which Saatchi Bill rhetoric takes a bit of a nose dive In a piece on Sputnik News today, the Saatchi Bill’s campaign director — Dominic Nutt — responds to criticism of the bill by The Lancet, which follows on from previous criticism by more than 100 oncologists. Actually, he doesn’t respond…
Treating Children under the Saatchi Bill
Re-blogged with permission from Treating Children under the Saatchi Bill by Nigel Poole QC If the Saatchi Bill is passed there will come a time when a child is seriously harmed by negligent treatment and the child receives no compensation because the doctor has a “Saatchi defence”. Some supporters of the Saatchi Bill believe that its opponents lack compassion and are…
Perception and Reality
Re-blogged with permission from Perception and Reality by Nigel Poole QC “In democratic politics, perception is reality” wrote Lord Saatchi in The Telegraph earlier this year. In his days in advertising and PR he learned all about the power of the word and of the image. We can all remember the line, “Labour Isn’t Working” and the images of slashed purple…
