Are 'gagging Orders' Hiding The True Cost Of Medical Negligence?

A report by the charity group Action Against Medical Accidents (AvMA) suggests that the cost of medical negligence claims could be in excess of 100 million pounds per year. However, a recent report by Channel 4 Television and the Bureau of Investigative Journalism suggests that the real figure is being 'covered up' and could be much higher.

Confidentiality clauses

According to the report, around 90% of severance agreements between doctors and the NHS contain confidentiality clauses. These clauses forbid the doctors to speak out about inadequacies within the Health Service and deaths and injuries caused as a direct result of medical negligence. These 'gagging orders' are often accompanied by substantial sums of money - in effect, buying doctors' silence. The report states that at least 170 doctors have already signed these gagging orders to the sum total of around 3 million pounds. These statistics were obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, although the actual figures, again, could be much higher as many of the doctors contacted failed to respond. Of 71 NHS trusts contacted, 40 revealed that they had spent around 3 million pounds on confidentiality payouts. A further 31 refused to say just how much they had spent on ensuring doctors remained silent.

It is suggested by campaign groups that the NHS will resort to 'bullying tactics' to ensure that medical staff maintain their silence, whatever the cost. Mike Parker, of the Royal College of Surgeons, said, "The trusts find something upon which they can influence this individual and hold them virtually to ransom, and say: 'You speak up and this will happen'." Those that do decide to take a stand against the NHS can expect to face years of expense and uncertainty before their cases reach court. It seems that most simply adhere to the confidentiality clause to protect their careers and avoid the financial implications of tackling the NHS in a courtroom.

A bleak picture

Combined with a new report by the AvMA which suggests that the NHS has failed to implement the majority of the 57 alerts and recommendations that they have made over the last five years, the results of Channel 4's joint investigation paints a bleak picture of the NHS - one where the true extent of medical negligence is being covered up at the taxpayers' expense.

Those who do want to speak out, regardless of whether they have signed a gagging order or not, are protected by the Public Interest Disclosure Act of 1999. This prevents so-called 'whistleblowers' from being victimized or dismissed without appropriate reason. This Act was brought into being after a whistleblower's concerns about the Bristol Royal Infirmary were repeatedly ignored. The results were the deaths of 29 babies and children.

As if to spur on those thinking about speaking out, Dr Ramon Niekrash, a consultant urologist at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in London has recently won a case against NHS managers who tried to silence him from speaking out against cuts. He said, "Managers used substantial amounts of taxpayers' money with no accountability to silence a critic who in actual fact was trying to defend and support the patient. The taxpayers' money hasn't gone towards medical care; it has been spent on silencing me."