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Found 179 results
  1. News Article
    A health worker has been arrested on suspicion of administering poison with intent to endanger life after a child died at Birmingham Children's Hospital. The 27-year-old woman was arrested on Thursday and has been suspended from her role at the hospital. The child was being treated in the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit, a spokesperson for the hospital said. Police said the woman had been released while investigations continued and forensic tests were being examined. A spokesperson for Birmingham Women's and Children's NHS Foundation Trust said it was "supporting the infant's family at this distressing time and ask that privacy is respected during this process". "Following the death of an infant at our Paediatric Intensive Care Unit at Birmingham Children's Hospital, we have asked West Midlands Police to examine what has happened, in line with our own safeguarding policy," it added. "The staff member involved has been suspended by the Trust following the national process on the sudden unexpected death of a child." Read full story Source: BBC News, 23 May 2022
  2. News Article
    Nurses from across the country are heading to Washington, D.C., and Nashville, Tenn., this week to march for better working conditions and to show support for nurse RaDonda Vaught. Ms. Vaught, 38, was convicted of criminally negligent homicide and abuse of an impaired adult for a fatal medication error she made in December 2017 after overriding an electronic medical cabinet as a nurse at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville. Her case has spurred a national outcry from nurses who argue the ruling sets a dangerous precedent for the profession and will discourage nurses from speaking up about errors. Ms. Vaught's sentencing is scheduled for 13 May in Nashville, and she faces up to eight years in prison. Hundreds of nurses are planning to march in Nashville the day of the hearing to show their support for Ms. Vaught and to fight for better protection for nurses against criminal prosecution of errors. "We expect a large number of people to show up … just to show our strength in numbers and hope that the judge takes this into consideration and makes it slightly better by not sentencing her to any prison time," said Erica, a Las Vegas-based hospice nurse who is attending the sentencing. Read full story Source: Becker's Hospital Review, 13 May 2022
  3. News Article
    Three Senegalese midwives involved in the death of a woman in labour have been found guilty of not assisting someone in danger. They received six-month suspended sentences, after Astou Sokhna died while reportedly begging for a Caesarean. Her unborn child also died. Three other midwives who were also on trial were not found guilty The case caused a national outcry with President Macky Sall ordering an investigation. Mrs Sokhna was in her 30s when she passed away at a hospital in the northern town of Louga. During her reported 20-hour labour ordeal, her pleas to doctors to carry out a Caesarean were ignored because it had not been planned in advance, local media reported. The hospital even threatened to send her away if she kept insisting on the procedure, according to the press reports. Her husband, Modou Mboup, who was in court, told the AFP news agency that bringing the case to light was necessary. "We highlighted something that all Senegalese deplore about their hospitals," "If we stand idly by, there could be other Astou Sokhnas. We have to stand up so that something like this doesn't happen again." Read full story Source: BBC News, 11 May 2022
  4. News Article
    A nurse who filmed up the gowns of unconscious women patients and recorded staff using the toilet at a large teaching hospital has been jailed for 12 years by a judge who said he had "brought shame on an honourable profession". Paul Grayson, 51, was also told by the judge he must serve an extended licence period of 4 years when he is eventually released. The judge described how four patients were targeted as they recovered from surgery at Sheffield's Royal Hallamshire Hospital – one of whom has never been identified from the footage. Sentencing Grayson on Tuesday, Judge Jeremy Richardson QC said: "You have betrayed every ounce of trust reposed in you. Earlier this week, the court heard one victim, who was secretly filmed in the shower by Grayson over a number of years, face him directly in court as she told him his "sick and disgusting perversions" and "evil actions" were crimes that "have torn me into pieces". The court heard that one victim was unconscious after an eye operation when Grayson filmed her up her gown, and could be seen moving her underwear. The woman told police she had "put her trust in staff at the hospital to keep her safe". The victim said that she has since been due to have an operation at another hospital but she "can't bring myself to go". Read full story Source: Medscape UK, 11 May 2022
  5. News Article
    Five healthcare staff have been charged with criminal offences as part of a major investigation into the ill-treatment of hospital patients. Concerns had been raised over the welfare of some patients on the stroke unit at Blackpool Victoria Hospital. Three nurses and two healthcare assistants will appear at court for offences including unlawful sedation of patients and theft, police said. The charges relate to a period between August 2014 and November 2018. Those charged are Catherine Hudson, 52, of Coriander Close, Blackpool; Charlotte Wilmot, 47, of Bowland Crescent, Blackpool; Matthew Pover, 39, of Bearwood Road in Smethwick; Victoria Holehouse, 31, of Riverside Drive, Hambleton, and Marek Grabianowski, 45, of Montpelier Avenue, Bispham. They face charges including ill-treatment or wilful neglect, encouraging a nurse to sedate a patient, theft, supplying drugs and perverting the course of justice. Read full story Source: BBC News, 6 May 2022
  6. News Article
    In an unprecedented murder case in the United States about end-of-life care, a physician accused of killing 14 critically ill patients with opioid overdoses in a Columbus, Ohio hospital ICU over a period of 4 years was found not guilty by a jury Wednesday. The jury, after a 7-week trial featuring more than 50 witnesses in the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas, declared William Huse not guilty on 14 counts of murder and attempted murder. In a news conference after the verdict was announced, lead defense attorney Jose Baez said Husel, whom he called a "great doctor," hopes to practice medicine again in the future. The verdict, he argued, offers an encouraging sign that physicians and other providers won't face prosecution for providing "comfort care" to patients suffering pain. "They don't need to be looking over their shoulders worrying about whether they'll get charged with crimes," he said. The trial raised the specific issue of what constitutes a medically justifiable dose of opioid painkillers during the end-of-life procedure known as palliative extubation, in which critically ill patients are withdrawn from the ventilator when they are expected to die. Under medicine's so-called double-effect principle, physicians must weigh the benefits and risks of ordering potentially lethal doses of painkillers and sedatives to provide comfort care for critically ill patients. To many observers, however, the case really centered on the largely hidden debate over whether it's acceptable to hasten the deaths of dying patients who haven't chosen that path. That's called euthanasia, which is illegal in the United States. In contrast, 10 states plus the District of Columbia allow physicians to prescribe lethal drugs to terminally ill, mentally competent adults who can self-administer them. That's called medical aid in dying, or physician-assisted dying or suicide. Read full story Source: Medscape, 27 April 2022
  7. Content Article
    Dr Robert D. Glatter, medical advisor for Medscape Emergency Medicine, Dr Megan Ranney, professor of emergency medicine and the academic dean at Brown University School of Public Health and Dr Jane Barnsteiner, emeritus professor at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing, discuss the tragic case involving RaDonda Vaught, who was an ICU nurse who was recently convicted in Tennessee of criminally negligent homicide and gross neglect following a medical error due to administration of the wrong medication that led to a patient's death.
  8. News Article
    A doctor from North Lanarkshire has been found guilty of 54 sex offence charges against women over 35 years. Krishna Singh, 72, kissed, groped, gave inappropriate examinations and made sleazy comments to 48 patients during appointments in various medical settings. Prosecutors described how the sexual predator was "hiding in plain sight" over nearly four decades. The offences mainly occurred at medical practices in North Lanarkshire, but also at a hospital accident and emergency department, a police station and during visits to patients' homes. An investigation was launched into his behaviour when one woman reported him to authorities in 2018. A letter was then sent to all patients at the practice to see if they could help in the police inquiry. Many women became so uncomfortable going to see the GP that they brought a friend or relative to appointments. One woman tried to make her medication last longer to delay having to go back and see him. Prosecutor Angela Gray told the jury during the trial that Singh had been in a routine of abusing his position to offend against women. She said: "Sexual offending was part of his working life. Access to women as and when the situation arose and taking the chances when he could." Read full story Source: BBC News, 14 April 2022
  9. News Article
    On 25 March2022, a Tennessee jury convicted RaDonda Vaught, a nurse at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, of criminally negligent homicide and impaired adult abuse in a 2017 medication administration error that tragically resulted in a patient death. The Washington State Nurses Association have issued a joint statement adamantly opposed to criminalization of patient care errors. "Focusing on blame and punishment solves nothing. It can only discourage reporting and drive errors underground. It not only undermines patient safety; it fosters an environment of fear and lack of respect for health care workers." "The Vaught case has drawn intense national attention and concern. We join with health care workers and patient safety experts around the country and the world in rejecting the criminalization of medical errors. Further, we are committed to redoubling our efforts to achieve health care environments that are safe for patients and health care workers alike. This includes the ongoing, critical fight to achieve safe staffing standards in Washington state." Read full statement Source: Washington State Nurses Association, 8 April 2022
  10. News Article
    Emma Moore felt cornered. At a community health clinic in Portland, Oregon, USA, the 29-year-old nurse practitioner said she felt overwhelmed and undertrained. Coronavirus patients flooded the clinic for two years, and Moore struggled to keep up. Then the stakes became clear. On 25 March, about 2,400 miles away in a Tennessee courtroom, former nurse RaDonda Vaught was convicted of two felonies and facing eight years in prison for a fatal medication mistake. Like many nurses, Moore wondered if that could be her. She'd made medication errors before, although none so grievous. But what about the next one? In the pressure cooker of pandemic-era health care, another mistake felt inevitable. Four days after Vaught's verdict, Moore quit. She said Vaught's verdict contributed to her decision. "It's not worth the possibility or the likelihood that this will happen," Moore said, "if I'm in a situation where I'm set up to fail." In the wake of Vaught's trial ― an extremely rare case of a health care worker being criminally prosecuted for a medical error ― nurses and nursing organizations have condemned the verdict through tens of thousands of social media posts, shares, comments, and videos. They warn that the fallout will ripple through their profession, demoralizing and depleting the ranks of nurses already stretched thin by the pandemic. Ultimately, they say, it will worsen health care for all. Read full story Source: Kaiser Health News, 5 April 2022
  11. News Article
    Detectives have begun an investigation into the deaths of two babies at the hospital trust at the centre of the largest maternity scandal in NHS history. The babies died in separate incidents last year at the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust, both during birth. One of them was a twin. The cases were among 600 examined by West Mercia police alongside an inquiry by Donna Ockenden, a senior midwife and manager, into failings at the trust. Her report revealed last week that 201 babies had died and 94 suffered brain damage as a result of avoidable mistakes. Nine mothers also died because of errors in care. Detectives are working with prosecutors to determine whether charges should be brought over the two deaths last year, after years of warnings that maternity services were in crisis. West Mercia police said they were investigating the trust as an organisation as well as individuals. The trust could face a charge of corporate manslaughter if it is found that the way the hospital organised and managed its services caused a death that amounted to a “gross breach” of its duty of care. If found guilty, the trust would face an unlimited fine. Individuals charged with gross negligence manslaughter could go to jail if convicted. The move by the police comes amid growing fears that the unsafe care identified in the report could be taking place in maternity services in other parts of the country. Read full story (paywalled) Source: The Times, 3 April 2022
  12. News Article
    RaDonda Vaught's conviction for a fatal medical error has already damaged patient safety and should serve as a wake-up call for health system leaders to improve harm prevention efforts, the Institute for Healthcare Improvement has said. Ms. Vaught was convicted 25 March of criminally negligent homicide and abuse of an impaired adult for a fatal medication error she made in December 2017 while working as a nurse at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tenn. "We know from decades of work in hospitals and other care settings that most medical errors result from flawed systems, not reckless practitioners," IHI said. "We also know that systems can learn from errors and improve, but only when those systems encourage reporting, transparently acknowledge their mistakes and are held accountable for those errors." The organization said criminal prosecution of errors over-focuses on the individual and diverts attention from necessary system-level issues and improvements. "Were this practice to be repeated in future cases of a serious or fatal error, there will be more damage, less transparency, less accountability and more lives lost," IHI said. "Instead, this case should be a wake-up call to health system leaders who need to proactively identify system faults and risks and prevent harm to patients and those who care for them."
  13. Content Article
    In this video, Dr Zubin Damania discusses the recent criminal conviction of US nurse RaDonda Vaught for a medical error and why this is terrible for patient safety, moral and the future of nursing and medicine.
  14. News Article
    Patient safety and nursing groups around the country are lamenting the guilty verdict in the trial of a former nurse in Tennessee, USA. The moment nurse RaDonda Vaught realised she had given a patient the wrong medication, she rushed to the doctors working to revive 75-year-old Charlene Murphey and told them what she had done. Within hours, she made a full report of her mistake to the Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Murphey died the next day, on 27 December 2017. On Friday, a jury found Vaught guilty of criminally negligent homicide and gross neglect. That verdict — and the fact that Vaught was charged at all — worries patient safety and nursing groups that have worked for years to move hospital culture away from cover-ups, blame and punishment, and toward the honest reporting of mistakes. The move to a “Just Culture" seeks to improve safety by analyzing human errors and making systemic changes to prevent their recurrence. And that can't happen if providers think they could go to prison, they say. “The criminalization of medical errors is unnerving, and this verdict sets into motion a dangerous precedent,” the American Nurses Association said. “Health care delivery is highly complex. It is inevitable that mistakes will happen. ... It is completely unrealistic to think otherwise.” Read full story Source: The Independent, 31 March 2022
  15. Content Article
    RaDonda Leanne Vaught faced criminal charges over a fatal medication error she made in 2017. Her trial has raised important questions over medical errors, reporting and process improvement, as well as who bears responsibility for widespread use of tech overrides in hospitals.  There is debate over whether automated dispensing cabinet overrides are a reckless act or institutionalised as ordinary given the widespread use of IT workarounds among healthcare professionals. The Nashville District Attorney's Office described this override as a reckless act and a foundation for Ms. Vaught's reckless homicide charge, while some experts have said cabinet overrides are used daily at many hospitals.
  16. News Article
    The carer who admitted the manslaughter of Adelaide woman Ann Marie Smith, who had cerebral palsy, has been jailed for at least five years and three months for her criminal neglect. Sentencing Rosa Maria Maione in the Supreme Court, Justice Anne Bampton said the 70-year-old was grossly negligent, with her care for Smith falling well short of the standard expected. “You did not mobilise her from the chair in which she was found. You did not toilet her properly and you did not clean her properly,” she told Maione on Friday. “You did not feed her a nutritional diet or monitor her intake. You knew you were not capable of properly supporting her and you did not seek assistance in providing for Ms Smith’s needs." “Despite the deterioration in Ms Smith’s health, you did not seek assistance from your supervisor or medical professionals until it was too late.” Justice Bampton said Maione had absolutely no insight into Smith’s physical condition leading up to her death. “Your incompetence, lack of training, lack of assertiveness and lack of supervision produced an environment where you failed to provide appropriate care,” she said. “Every person living with a disability, every person who requires support, every parent, carer and support worker of persons living with a disability, I have no doubt shudders with fear when they hear of the utter lack of care and human dignity afforded to Ms Smith in those last months of her life.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 18 March 2022
  17. News Article
    A Wisconsin dentist was found guilty of healthcare fraud and other charges after he intentionally damaged his patients’ teeth to boost profits, raking in millions from his scheme. Scott Charmoli, 61, was convicted of five counts of healthcare fraud and two counts of making false claims about his clients’ treatment last Thursday, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. With his sentencing scheduled for June, Charmoli faces up to 10 years for each healthcare fraud charge and a maximum of five years for each of the two other charges. Prosecutors say that Charmoli had routinely drilled or broken his clients’ teeth on purpose, charging them for additional treatment services to fix the damage he had just done. As a result, Charmoli’s profits ballooned, with the dentist going from making $1.4m and installing 434 crowns in 2014 to $2.5m in 2015, installing over 1,000 crowns, reported the Washington Post. According to prosecutors, in 2015, Charmoli began pressuring his clients into getting unnecessary crowns, a dental procedure where a tooth-shaped cap is placed on a damaged tooth. Charmoli would drill or break his client’s teeth and send X-rays of the intentional damage to insurance as “before” photos to justify the crown procedures. One client, Todd Tedeschi, testified that Charmoli pressured him into getting two crowns in one appointment, despite Tedeschi believing that his teeth were fine. “It seemed excessive, but I didn’t know any better,” said Tedeschi. “He was the professional. I just trusted him.” Some of the patients that Charmoli badgered into unnecessary procedures were also vulnerable, said prosecutors. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 16 March 2022
  18. News Article
    Ambulance staff are experiencing “horrific” abuse from the public as attacks on workers increased by 23% in the wake of the pandemic. Assaults against female ambulance staff have risen by 48% in the last five years, according to a new report from the Association of Ambulance Chief Executives (AACE). In response to rising attacks, the NHS has launched a #workwithoutfear campaign to prevent abuse of ambulance staff. Last year there were 11,749 attacks against ambulance staff, equating to 32 workers being abused or attacked every day. AACE said incidents included kicking, slapping, headbutting and verbal abuse, and ranged from common assault to serious attacks involving knives and weapons. Daren Mochrie, chair of AACE and chief executive of North West Ambulance Service said ambulance staff “face the possibility of violence, assault and aggression” on every shift. “When they occur, these attacks have a significant and lasting impact on the team member, affecting every aspect of their life." Read full story Source: The Independent, 28 February 2022
  19. News Article
    The police are investigating the death of a young person at a mental health hospital, The Independent can reveal. Police are investigating the death of a young girl at The Huntercombe Maidenhead mental health hospital in February. In a statement to The Independent: Thames Valley Police, said: “Thames Valley Police is conducting an investigation after the death of a girl following an incident at Huntercombe Hospital in Maidenhead on Saturday 12 February. The girl’s next of kin have been informed and our officers are supporting them. Our thoughts remain with them at this very difficult time. An investigation is ongoing to understand the circumstances around this tragic incident.” The Care Quality Commission has also said it was notified of the young girls death. The care regulator said it could not comment further. The NHS confirmed to The Independent admissions to one of the hospital’s wards have been suspended. The 60-bed hospital was rated Inadequate and placed in special measures by the CQC in February 2021 following serious concerns over care of patients. Read full story Source: The Independent, 26 February 2022
  20. News Article
    Nearly 150 doctors have been disciplined for sexual misconduct in the last five years, as surgeons call for action on the “systemic” and “cultural” problem of sexual assault within healthcare, The Independent can reveal. Doctors campaigning for the UK’s healthcare services to address widespread problems with sexual harassment and assault in medicine have warned that people do not feel safe to come forward with allegations amid deep-seated “hierarchies” within healthcare. The Royal College of Surgeons’ Women in Surgery chair has said the issues are “widespread” across the health services and improvements to protecting whistleblowers needed to be made nationally. Last year, surgeons Becky Fisher and Simon Fleming wrote an academic paper exposing the problem of sexual assault, harassment and rape in surgery and surgical training. In interviews with The Independent, both have warned the “institutional” problem goes beyond surgery and across all of the healthcare services. Mr Fleming said the figures from the GMC were the “the very tip of the iceberg” in terms of actual levels of sexual assault within healthcare. Talking about the role of the GMC, Mr Fleming said he’d been told “by more than one person” that when they’ve reached out to the GMC over sexual assault or misconduct they were “failed” by the regulator and were “either not helped, abandoned or told to deal with it locally”. Read full story Source: The Independent, 15 February 2022
  21. News Article
    Two NHS hospital trusts are working with police after a doctor was arrested on suspicion of sexual assault. Staffordshire Police has launched a major incident review of the doctor's work at hospitals in Dudley, West Midlands, and Stoke-on-Trent, The Sunday Times reported. The force said the 34-year-old man from the West Midlands was arrested in December and released on bail. It is reviewing an investigation into the same suspect it undertook in 2018. The doctor was suspended from seeing patients at the Royal Stoke University Hospital in Staffordshire when the parents of a vulnerable female raised concerns about his examination of her, the Sunday Times reported. The case was referred to police in 2018 who said there was "insufficient evidence to take further action" at the time. The Staffordshire force has now reported itself to the Independent Office for Police Conduct. University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust, which runs the Royal Stoke, said it was working with police and had set up a helpline for any patient and guardian who may have concerns. Read full story Source: BBC News, 13 February 2022
  22. News Article
    A formal complaint accuses the British Government of facilitating ‘the largest single health and safety disaster to befall the United Kingdom workforce since the introduction of asbestos products’. An expert letter to the UK Government’s Health & Safety Executive (HSE) from one of its own advisors accuses the agency of failing to use its statutory authority to correct “seriously flawed” guidance on infection protection and control (IPC), imperilling “the health and safety of healthcare workers by failing to provide for suitable respiratory protection”. The continued failure to protect healthcare workers by ensuring they are wearing the appropriate form of PPE (personal protective equipment) to minimise the risk of infection from COVID-19 airborne transmission, the letter says, has led to thousands of avoidable deaths. The failures amount both to “gross negligence” and serious “criminal offences”, claims the letter seen by Byline Times. The letter addressed to HSE chief executive Sarah Albon is authored by 27-year chartered health and safety consultant David Osborn, who is a ‘consultee member’ of the HSE’s COSHH (Control of Substances Hazardous to Health) Essentials Working Group, where he has helped HSE to prepare guidance for employers and employees. Written in his own personal capacity, the letter is a formal complaint accusing the members of the Government’s “IPC Cell” – a group of experts behind official guidance on infection protection and control – along with other senior Government officials of committing a “criminal offence… ultimately punishable by fine and/or imprisonment” by breaching Section 36 of the Health and Safety at Work Act. The letter argues that a police investigation is needed. The guidance, Osborn writes in his letter, has failed to ensure that healthcare workers understand that they should wear and have access to respiratory protection equipment (RPE) designed to protect from COVID-19 airborne transmission. “There is sufficient prima-facie evidence to suggest that the offence has led to the potentially avoidable deaths of hundreds of healthcare workers and the debilitating disease known as Long COVID in thousands of other healthcare workers,” the letter says. “I firmly believe that the primary source of infection was the inhalation of aerosols whilst caring for infected patients at close quarter,” says Osborn in his letter. Read full story Source: Byline Times, 10 February 2022
  23. News Article
    A hospital trust has apologised to a mental health patient who reported being sexually assaulted in its A&E department – after it emerged in a safety review that staff wrote ‘this has not happened’ and dismissed her claims of the attack. The victim was admitted to West Suffolk Hospital’s emergency department following an overdose in January last year. While waiting in A&E for a mental health assessment from a specialist team employed by Norfolk and Suffolk Foundation Trust, she reported being sexually assaulted by a male patient who had also been admitted to A&E. Yet a review into the incident, published several months later and shared with HSJ, reveals that after the victim reported the attack to a nurse, the staff member recorded “this has not happened”. They stated that the male suspect in the cubicle next to her had not left his bed and was under constant observation. However, the patient safety review, drawn up after a serious incident probe was launched, adds that this statement was “incorrect, as the [male] patient was not under constant observation”. “There were witnesses to this incident, and CCTV, and yet it was not escalated until I contacted the trust myself to complain,” the victim said. She added that she pursued the complaint, which resulted in a serious incident probe that took several months to conclude, “to prevent others from being failed” in the same way. She said she was left “shocked, confused and furious” to discover staff had dismissed her assault and claimed the male suspect had not been admitted for an assessment on the day of the attack. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 7 February 2022
  24. News Article
    The inquiry into sex offences carried out in a hospital mortuary will consider whether the trust board ‘received sufficient assurance’ about the issues raised by the assaults, documents shared with HSJ show. The draft terms of reference for the independent inquiry have been shared with the families of women and girls abused by maintenance supervisor David Fuller for comment. The inquiry will take place in two phases. The first phase – which will concentrate on Mr Fuller’s actions in Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells Trust – will look at his initial employment and access to the mortuary and other areas, and whether processes were appropriate. It will also in this phase “consider whether the trust’s board received sufficient assurance on the issues raised by the case”. But it will also seek to identify any evidence of “other inappropriate or unlawful activities” by Mr Fuller elsewhere on trust premises. It will review any evidence of concerns around his behaviour, and how the trust and the private contractors who later employed him addressed them. In a letter to the families, inquiry chair Sir Jonathan Michael says it is intended that the evidence sessions will be held in private “primarily to protect and safeguard the dignity and anonymity of those people that Fuller abused” but also to encourage people to be “candid”. It is unclear whether families or their legal representatives will be able to attend these private sessions – other than when they are giving evidence – and to raise questions. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 28 January 2022
  25. News Article
    NHS officials who accepted £70,000 in bribes to promote prescription drugs visited GP surgeries to “switch” patients’ medication, a court has heard. Paul Jerram and Dr David Turner have been accused of arriving at surgeries claiming to be on official business and changing a patient’s medication – a practice known as “switching”. James Hines QC prosecuting, told a trial at Southampton Crown Court that the two men had used their positions with the medicine management team of Isle of Wight Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and that if the doctors at the surgeries had known it was “not an official visit, they would have not allowed them to [make the changes]”. “They were effectively using their position with the NHS to farm out the services of the medicine management team and they received money to do so,” the court was told. Mr Hines QC said: “The prosecution case is that it is completely improper for an NHS professional secretly to promote a particular drug within the NHS to his fellow NHS healthcare professionals when he is in effect in the position of a paid influencer for the pharma company that manufactures that drug. “That is what was happening on the Isle of Wight for some years. “If it is your job within the NHS to review medication and drugs, and make recommendations or suggestions for alternative medicines to fellow NHS healthcare professionals, you are acting improperly if you secretly accept money from pharma companies, either directly or indirectly, to promote a particular medicine. Read full story Source: The Telegraph, 27 January 2022
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