About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline

LOG IN
LOG IN


51 Medico-Legal J. 3 (1983)

handle is hein.journals/medlgjr51 and id is 1 raw text is: THE MEDICO-LEGAL JOURNAL Founded 1901 1983 Vol. LI Part One EDITORIAL The Role of the Society In this, my last Editorial, I make no apology for returning to the theme of my Presidential address, namely the role of the Society. On my desk as I write, without burrowing too deeply I can find copies of the Health and Social Services and Society Security Adjudications Bill; the Dentists Bill; the Data Protection Bill, and the Police and Criminal Evidence Bill, all at present on their way through Parliament. Recently come into operation is the Administration of Justice Act 1982, which contains the first tentative steps into the Pearson Commission recommendations some 5 years following the publication of that report. The Warnock Committee is looking into human fertilisation and embryology, and the D.H.S.S. is seeking the views of numerous bodies which view such matters from many varying standpoints. The latest attempt to amend the Abortion Act has recently failed; a Private Members' Bill seeks to impose strict liability on pharmaceutical manufacturers; an Act to consolidate the last three Medical Acts is at the drafting stage, and in Europe product liability has become bogged down over the definition of defective, and the state of the art defence. The Medical Research Council's trial into neural tube defects, with its ethical and legal overtones has been questioned in Parliament and discussed in the medical, legal and lay press. Never has the media shown greater interest in medico-legal matters. The programme on radio and television may vary from the admirable to the abysmal, but can the majority of listeners or viewers distinguish one from the other? The very production of such programmes is of course evidence of the public concern in such matters, concern which the medico-legal practitioner in whatever field ignores at his peril. As regards the control of the profession, the Health and Social Services and Social Security Adjudications Bill seeks to safeguard the jobs of doctors who are suspended by the General Medical Council on health grounds. It makes no such provision for those suspended on grounds of discipline, who must, following the Tarnesby Judgement, lose their posts. Suspension then becomes so close to erasure in its effects, that it will likely largely cease to be used as a punishment by the