 |
| Enduring Memories Second Edition |
Prof Walker-Smith had this to say:
“The General Medical Council hearing was the longest
ever held and I spent more time giving evidence than any doctor ever has.
“I felt I had the mark of Cain on
my head. It was an utterly terrible time for me and my family.
“The hearing was Kafkaesque, and I
have called the new chapter ‘The Trial’ because it felt like I was in that
nightmarish world for much of the time.”
Professor Walker-Smith published his first edition in 2003. |
| Enduring Memories First Edition |
Professor Walker-Smith has become well known on the internet
and in the press because of his involvement in a GMC Hearing (2007-2010), where
he and his colleagues, Dr. Andrew Wakefield, and Professor Simon Murch faced
charges concerning a paper in the Lancet published in 1998. This article
described the clinico-pathological features of a group of 12 children with
features suggesting autism who also had bowel problems, significant enough to
be investigated by means of colonoscopy for possible bowel inflammation. The
paper also speculated that there was an environmental trigger to this syndrome,
which could have been measles mumps rubella immunization, MMR. He was accused
of performing research on these children rather than clinical care in a
tertiary referral unit. The GMC Panel in May 2010 determined that he was
performing research on the 12 children and recommended he be struck off.
However in February 2012 Mr. Justice Mitting in the High Court quashed the GMC
findings. This was a triumphant vindication for Professor Walker-Smith. This
has proved to have been an historic judgement as Mr. Justice Mitting stated “it
would be most unfortunate if this were to happen again”. Subsequently the GMC
has proposed a new tribunal conducted by a judge, some have seen this as the
biggest change in 150 years.
Professor Walker-Smith describes his personal experience
over an eight year period after the allegations were made against him, by a
journalist, and the GMC Hearing itself as well as his successful appeal, in a
Chapter entitled the Trial. He draws attention to a number of parallels with
Franz Kafka’s The Trial.
However this book is much more than this. It gives a
detailed account of academic and hospital specialist medical practice
(paediatric gastroenterology) from the inside, for a period over 40 years.
Professor Walker-Smith was both an academic and a consultant working in the
NHS from 1973-2000.
.jpg) |
| Professor Walker-Smith and his book |
His book launch was at The Village Bookshop in Woodford Green on the 6th October 2012 at 5 p.m. The launch was a success. View the link below to find out more.
REVIEW
Price £9.95 P & P £2.50 UK £3.75 Europe £9.50 ROW
Available on http://www.thememoirclub.co.uk/ email: memoirclub@msn.com or tel 01913735660 with card details and address
No comments:
Post a Comment