{"id":2963,"date":"2015-10-14T16:00:48","date_gmt":"2015-10-14T15:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stg-blogs.bmj.com\/medical-ethics\/?p=2963"},"modified":"2015-10-14T16:03:16","modified_gmt":"2015-10-14T15:03:16","slug":"stop-what-youre-doing-this-is-important","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stg-blogs.bmj.com\/medical-ethics\/2015\/10\/14\/stop-what-youre-doing-this-is-important\/","title":{"rendered":"Stop What You’re Doing: This is Important."},"content":{"rendered":"

I’d not realised it, but the latest iteration of the erstwhile Medical Innovation Bill – colloquially known as the Saatchi Bill – is up for debate in the Commons on Friday.\u00a0 This is it in its latest form<\/a><\/span>: to all intents and purposes, though, it’s the same thing about which I’ve blogged before<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n

In a nutshell, the Bill does nothing except remove protections from patients who would (under the current law)\u00a0be able to sue for negligence in the event that their doctor’s “innovative” treatment is ill-founded.<\/p>\n

Much more articulate summaries of what’s wrong with the Bill can be found here and here<\/a><\/span>, with academic commentary here<\/a><\/span> (mirrored here on SSRN<\/a><\/span> for those without insitutional access).\u00a0 There have been amendments to the Bill that make the version to be discussed on Friday slightly different from that analysed – but they are only cosmetic; the important parts remain.<\/p>\n

Ranged against the Bill<\/a><\/span> are the Medical professional bodies, the personal injuries profession, patient bodies, and research charities.\u00a0 In favour of the Bill are\u00a0the Daily\u00a0Telegraph,<\/em>\u00a0a few people in the Lords who should know better (Lord Woolf, Lady Butler-Sloss: this means you), and Commons MPs who – understandably – don’t want to be seen as the one who voted against the cure for cancer.<\/p>\n

Gloriously, Christ Heaton-Harris, who introduced the Bill, did so only after winning the ballot for Private Members’ Bills.\u00a0 In a nutshell, he was allotted Parliamentary time, and then began the process of wondering what to do with it – which suggests that even the Bill’s sponsor doesn’t have a burning commitment to the cause<\/em> – or, at least, didn’t when he took it on.<\/p>\n

Still, the Bill has the support of Government; as it stands, there’s a good chance that it’ll pass.<\/p>\n

SO: Take a few minutes to look up your MP’s email address – you can do that by following this link<\/a><\/span> – and drop him\/ her a line to encourage them to vote against the Bill.<\/p>\n

Do it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’d not realised it, but the latest iteration of the erstwhile Medical Innovation Bill – colloquially known as the Saatchi Bill – is up for debate in the Commons on Friday.\u00a0 This is it in its latest form: to all intents and purposes, though, it’s the same thing about which I’ve blogged before. In a […]<\/p>\n

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