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Perceptions and deceptions: a personal blog by the editor 4 July 2016

I would like to take this opportunity to share a blog with Chris Day and the other junior doctors to talk about ‘whistle blowing’ and what it means. Typically, it refers to people who “speak out of turn”, “wash the...

EAFPS 2023: 46th Annual Meeting

Dario Bertossi presenting the conference bell to Alwyn D’Souza, starting a new tradition. Riccardo Nocini, EAFPS Fellow. The 46th annual meeting of the European Academy of Facial Plastic Surgery (EAFPS) was held at the iconic Palazzo della Gran Guardia in...

Perceptions and deceptions a personal blog by the editor 27 June 2016

I left the last blog with the statement that Zoey had been unlawfully killed. That is a pretty bold statement to make when the legal verdict is death by misadventure. But that was not a verdict based on validated evidence....

Letter from Hong Kong (1 June 2020)

It will be essential for there to be a full and impartial review of the response of each and every country to the global pandemic. That is the nature of science, accountability and responsibility.

Letter from Hong Kong (1 October 2020)

Today is National Day in Hong Kong. A celebration of the founding of the People’s Republic of China on 1 October 1949.

Gross Negligence Manslaughter in Healthcare: The medico-legal dilemma (part 15) – Duty of Care

Just to recap; I have been looking at the Reasons for Sentence in the case of HKSAR and Kwan Hau chi, Vanessa. The verdict had been declared: “guilty”. Now, on 4 October 2021, the Hon D’Almada Remedios J is going to present her review of the case and the factors she has taken into account when deciding the sentence. I am referring to an official document which is in the public domain. The case reference is HCCC 200/2018. It is a shameful document, but we must all share in that shame.

NHS must accept its responsibility for facial palsy patients

Patients with facial palsy report huge social and psychological impacts of living with the condition which is poorly understood by many health professionals. This is compounded by the struggle to get an appropriate specialist referral when recovery from facial palsy...

Gross Negligence Manslaughter in Healthcare: The medico-legal dilemma (part 1)

On the 8 December 2020, Justice Judianna Barnes sentenced Dr Mak Wan-ling to three and a half years in prison. The charge for which she was found guilty was gross negligence manslaughter (GNM). She had injected a contaminated blood sample into a patient and the patient had died. The conviction was fundamentally flawed.

Gross Negligence Manslaughter in Healthcare: The medico-legal dilemma (part 4)

I want to return to the case of Dr Mak, who was, from the available evidence, caught up in a miscarriage of justice that arose because of a lack of effective interprofessional communication in the legal process.