Item first published on F.A.C.T website on 13th May 2005
This press release was issued by F.A.C.T on the 13th May 2005 in response to the GMC decision not to find Dr San Lazaro guilty of serious professional misconduct following her admissions that she made exaggerated and inaccurate statements in the Shieldfield nursery nurse case.
RELEASE
The decision of the General Medical Council's 'Fitness to Practice Committee' not to regard Dr San Lazaro's admitted conduct in exaggerating and distorting the facts, and misdiagnosis in child abuse investigations not only calls into question her conduct but also that of the General Medical Council itself. There is an urgent need for GMC to restore the public's confidence in medical practitioners involvement in child protection cases. What this judgment does is send out a message that it is alright for paediatricians to mislead Courts and exaggerate the truth. Doesn’t the GMC realise that public confidence in doctors handling of child protection cases needs restoring.
Dr Lazaro is a senior consultant paediatrician who the general public expects to maintain the highest professional standards at all times. She was not a junior doctor whose mistakes might be understandable and more easily forgiven. It is of no defence that she was overworked. As a result of her mistakes two people were wrongly accused of child abuse, with devastating consequences, and children unnecessarily subjected to intrusive medical examinations. The public were misled.
Despite the fact that a high court judge (Mr Justice Eady) has called her obsessive and over emotional and the GMC acknowledge that some of her statements were untrue, misleading or otherwise improper she is being allowed to continue in practice and continue to teach other medical students. Despite her mistakes she has hardly been admonished. This does nothing to restore the public's confidence in paediatricians or in the medical profession to regulate itself. There is no room in child protection investigative work for any one who cannot meet the exacting standards which the general public and the Courts expect. The General Medical Council seriously need to review their decision in this case.
F.A.C.T.
F.A.C.T. is grateful for all its members and supporters who mounted a lobby of the GMC on the opening day of Dr Lazaro's hearing.