Inquiry will ‘restore confidence’

Press, 8 October 1988, Page 6

Inquiry will ‘restore confidence’

PA Auckland The Medical Association says its call for an investigation into the doctors involved in the cervical cancer research trials at National Women’s Hospital will help restore public confidence in the medical profession. The association’s president, Dr Roger Hilliker, said he hoped the decision would answer some

of the criticisms people have of the doctors’ organisation. Dr Hilliker had unanimous backing from the M.A.’s executive committee when he asked the New Zealand Medical Council to investigate the conduct of Professors Herbert Green and Dennis Bonham. The Medical Council, the profession’s disciplinary body, has also been

asked to deal with any other doctors its investigations may reveal at fault. Professor Green, the instigator of the research trials, retired in 1982. Professor Bonham, who had ultimate responsibility for the cervical cancer experiments, retires as head of the postgraduate school of obstetrics and gynaecology at the end of the year. Dr Hilliker said he had

not made a complaint to the Medical Council about doctors mentioned in the Cartwright report. The association has asked for an investigation. “We want a full investigation and we want it done quickly, within months rather than years,” he said. “We are distressed about what happened to patients. We are here to help rather than harm.”