HUMAN APPEALS TO MEDICAL COUNCIL

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23393, 7 January 1938, Page 14

HUMAN APPEALS TO MEDICAL COUNCIL

FATHER PLEADS IN TEARS FOR SON WIFE URGES MERCY FOR SICK HUSBAND A father pleaded in tears before the General Medical Council on November 24 that his son, a doctor in India, should not be struck off the Medical Register. His appeal was successful. The doctor, while in England, had been convicted once in 1934 for driving dangerously and twice in 1937 for drink offences while driving, and had been summoned to appear before the council. The solicitor who appeared for him appealed for leniency for his client, “of whom everyone speaks highly.” Then he added: “ His father, a retired gentleman, is hero this afternoon to say that his son, as a son and as a doctor, is everything he could wish him to be.” The president of the council (Sir Norman Walker) indicated that the father could be called. The father, with tears in his eyes and wiping his hands nervously with his handkerchief, went into the witness box. He started to speak, but emotion prevented him from continuing. The doctors on the Bench and in the crowded room waited, looking hard at their desks. At last the father said: “My boy, right through his life, has been the most wonderful fellow. . . . He worked hard at his studies and got through them in less than the average time. Since he has been in India not a single

week has passed but we have received a long letier giving full details of his life out there. “ When I retired I went to India and travelled his district. Everywhere he was thought to be a fine and good doctor. Everyone liked him. I never saw him the worse for drink. Even where the temptation is very great I never saw him. . . .” After describing how his son spent his day when he was back in England on “ study leave ’’—when the two most recent offences happened—the father and everyone else left the council chamber while the council deliberated. When he returned, he stood, his face pale, to hear the decision. The president said that the council had not seen fit to instruct the registrar to erase the doctor’s name. A smile transformed the father’s face. Bowing, he hurried away to cable the news to his son. There was another drama during the afternoon. A doctor convicted of five drunkenness offences and of another for the non-insurance of a motor car, had been ordered to appear before the council. Mr Harper, the solicitor appearing for the council, said that the doctor was so ill that it was doubtful if he would ever be there. The doctor’s wife had written that her husband was so ill that it was inadmissible for me to leave hi? sick bed.” “ In the circumstances,” the wile

pleaded, “I hope you will deal with my husband’s case as leniently as possiblc.** Sir Norman Walker announced that the case would be adjourned until the next sitting in May. , , , On behalf of a doctor who had been convicted twice of being drunk in charge of a car, it was stated by his counsel, Mr W. A. Macfarlane, that after serving with distinction for 10 years in the medical services in Kenya, he bought a consultant's practice in England, and was “disappointed by the results.” The president announced that the council, while taking a grave view of the offences, was " ready to afford him an opportunity of overcoming the tendencies that caused him to be summoned there,” and postponed its decision for 12 months. The doctor, whose haggard face showed great strain, bowed and walked ° U Another doctor, sitting with folded hands and pale face, heard the president announce that his name was to be erased from the medical register.