CASE IN CAMERA

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23691, 24 December 1938, Page 12

CASE IN CAMERA

DOCTOR ACQUITTED WOMAN 4| HOURS IN BOX (From Our Own Correspondent) (By At Main LONDON, Nov. 28. After a two-day hearing in camera the General Medical Council -acquitted a London doctor of a charge brought against him by the husband of a patient. The doctor':? name was not disclosed in open court. The alleged offences were said to have taken place last year and this year. The wife of the complainant, an engineer, was in the witness-box for four hours and a-half, and the doctor nearly as long. Witnesses were called for both sides. The husband conducted" his own case. The doctor was defended by Mr Oswald Hempson, solicitor. It was submitted that, in relation to the facts alleged, the doctor had been guilty of infamous conduct in a professional respect. At the end of the hearing, the president of the council, Sir Nor-' man Walker, indicated that it was not necessary to call upon Mr Hempson for his final speech on behalf of the doctor. The court was then ODened to the public, and the president announced: "Doctor, I have to inform you that the facts have not been proved to the satisfaction of the council, and the complaint against you is dismissed." Among the first to congratulate the doctor were his wife and son, who had given evidence on his behalf. The son is due to sit for his final medical examinations in December. An interesting feature of the case, though not unprecedented, is that, before the General Medical Council's hearing, it had not been the subject of any proceedings in the matrimonial or other courts.