20/20 Programme Highlights Secrecy Of Medical Council Hearings And Abuse Of Legal Loopholes

The Rt Hon Winston Peters MP, Leader of New Zealand First, today said that another alleged case of medical misadventure against Dr Graham Parry, which was documented on TV 3’s 20/20 programme last night, raised several serious issues of accountability regarding the Medical Council.

“First, if it is true that hearings of the Medical Council are held in secret why is this the case? The secrecy of these meetings, as depicted on 20/20, does nothing but increase the public’s distrust of these procedures where doctors are judging their colleagues and fellow doctors. This closed doors judging of one’s peers only serves to increase the public’s perception that the medical profession protects their own – often at the expense of the public.

“Second, if legal loopholes are preventing serious cases of malpractice being brought to court there needs to be a change in the law that addresses this,” said Mr Peters.

ENDS

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Gordon Campbell: On the Sony cyber attack

Given the layers of meta-irony involved, the saga of the Sony cyber attack seemed at the outset more like a snarky European art film than a popcorn entry at the multiplex.

Yet now with (a) President Barack Obama weighing in on the side of artistic freedom and calling for the US to make a ‘proportionate response’quickly followed by (b) North Korea’s entire Internet service going down, and with both these events being followed by (c) Sony deciding to backtrack and release The Interview film that had made it a target for the dastardly North Koreans in the first place, then ay caramba…the whole world will now be watching how this affair pans out. More>>