LETTERS

摘要

Unnecessary, mistargeted, and will put vulnerable patients at risk The Medical Innovation Bill is unnecessary, mistargeted, and will put vulnerable patients at risk. In its response to the public consultation, the BMA said it "strongly believes that the draft bill should not become law."I agree. The bill's laudable aim is to promote responsible medical innovation, butthe draft on which the government has consulted seeks to do so by providing that doctors who give treatment that no responsible body of medical opinion would support shall not be negligent. The bill is aimed at the wrong target. As the Medical Defence Union said, medical negligence law does not prevent responsible innovation. Doctors who act in accordance with a responsible body of medical opinion are not negligent, even if most otherdoctors would not support the treatment given (the Bolam test). Sir Michael misunderstands the judgment of Lady Butler-Sloss in Simms. Farfrom holding that the Bolam test obstructed innovative treatment, she deployed it to justify allowing untried treatment to be given to two patients with variant Creutzfeldt-jakob disease. Whetherthat was a good decision or not, it cannot be used to argue that the current law impedes innovation.