GP's book stirs holy row

[JustMe]

While it may have been ill advised for Dr. Russon to publish a booklet about an extreme view of Christianity as indeed it would be ill advised for any working doctor to publish anything about religion or politics I have to question if the patients of his practices in Hillswick and Lerwick are best served by his suspension pending enquiries. Surely a simple promise not to do it or anything similar again until the enquiry is complete would have sufficed.

 

As for suspension on full salary, if that is what has happened, I would like to remind the health board that the people of Shetland have been working hard to raise funds for a scanner which I, while in no way wanting to belittle the fund-raisers efforts, believe should have been considered an essential piece of equipment for a hospital in the 21st century and funded accordingly. Suspending a working doctor and presumably then employing a locum on the basis of one letter of complaint seems to me to be other than the best use of funds.

[Jonners]

While it may have been ill advised for Dr. Russon to publish a booklet about an extreme view of Christianity as indeed it would be ill advised for any working doctor to publish anything about religion or politics I have to question if the patients of his practices in Hillswick and Lerwick are best served by his suspension pending enquiries. Surely a simple promise not to do it or anything similar again until the enquiry is complete would have sufficed.

 

I basically agree with you JustMe.

 

I think it's important to know here how exactly Dr. Russon was handing out these pamphlets. If he was giving them to his patients in the surgery during or just after consultation then I don't think that's right, and it would certainly seem to contravene guidelines.

 

If however he was just handing them around the doors in his spare time - which the article doesn't make clear, but reading between the lines this is what I presume has happened - then I don't think his suspension is justified. He's entitled to freedom of speech.

 

It's not as if people are boycotting him because of his beliefs and I also think it's ridiculously jumpy of NHS Shetland to suspend him after one complaint.

[david_jam]

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[david_jam]

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[JustMe]

david_jam wrote

When it arrives in the post, personally addressed, you feel very targetted. You turned it over, read the back to find the quote "our thoughts are with you in this troubled time", and your head instantly thinks *what troubled time, do they mean

 

The Times photo says "difficult time" which I think is a little bit less worrying then "troubled time" but having said that I do accept that a few people could have been worried about seeing that. However as long as he did not use the surgery records for his mailing list I fail to see that he has done anything wrong. Using his own funds to send a Christian message to people who live in a particular area might be unwise but unless it is a medical decision he has been unwise about I do not see how it affects his work.

 

After all, if any of his patients refused to see him they would have had the choice to see another doctor from the practice (someone do correct me if I am wrong about that) and they certainly could have gone to the weekend open access clinics at the Gilbert Bain Hospital

[david_jam]

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[grumpyoldman]

It seems ridiculous to me if the guy doesn't get his pay while under suspension when you consider that people in very high profile jobs, who have done (or have been accused of doing) some heinous crimes, get suspended on full pay. All he has done is state his beliefs.

[Ghostrider]

Surely the point here, which isn't really made clear in the 'Times' report or elsewhere, is whether these tracts were delivered to their recipients in Hillswick as a communiction from Dr. Mick Russon G.P. to the area, or a communication from Mr Mick Russon, UK citizen with a particular interest in the area and it's residents.

 

If it were while wearing the former hat, obviously the terms and conditions of his contract of employment and the rules of his profession's governing body require to be adhered to. If it were whilst wearing this hat, then as has been stated, it was almost certainly unwise to try to be an amateur preacher on the fly whilst also being a professional GP, if it contravenes any of the terms of his employment, it can only be termed as rash and foolhardy. I would very much doubt either the Health Board or the GMC appreciate him pursuing a "hobby" of his in "their" time, although I would tend to agree with others that suspension seems somewhat OTT in the circumstances.

 

If he undertook this wearing the latter hat, then unless employment or governing body conditions implicitly state how he conducts himself in his private life, (which would seem rather unreasonable and potentially discriminatory in most employment conditions) I cannot see what the fuss is about.

 

I can't be further from Hillswick than I am without going to sea, so definitely no axe to grind, but I know if a local GP mailed me religious material I'd feel somewhat unsettled and view them in a quite dubious light thereafter. However, if they mailed it as Mr/Ms X, I'd see it as being no different than any other unsolicited bumpf that daily fills the letterbox.

 

I no more expect a GP to start advising me on religious matters than I expect a Minister to start advising me on health matters. Both roles are professional ones, as a matter of professional respect each one should stay within their own professions boundaries and respect the boundaries of their fellow professionals. Likewise they should concentrate 100% upon their own profession when delivering service to their clients, thus ensuring they provide as high quality service as possible and not blur the lines of their roles by wandering in to other professionals domains.

[BlackEagle]

Surely the point here, which isn't really made clear in the 'Times' report or elsewhere, is whether these tracts were delivered to their recipients in Hillswick as a communiction from Dr. Mick Russon G.P. to the area, or a communication from Mr Mick Russon, UK citizen with a particular interest in the area and it's residents.

 

I completely agree--If he was doing this as a private citizen then what's the problem? We all get junk mail from public citizens on a regular basis asking us to vote for them, and if we don't agree with them we simply bin the missives. Although elections may be a trying time for us, we don't consider this information to be an intrusion into our privacy.

 

The thing about this that really bothers me is the way it was carried out. As has been pointed out it was on the basis of one letter of complaint. There is no question about his professional ability to carry out his duties as a doctor--there have been no complaints from his former practice, and no complaints from ethnic minorities in his current practice. Under Nazi rule in Germany and Communist rule in Russia, a person could denounce someone to the government. This reeks of that same practice. It seems wrong to me that a respectable person in the community should be thus suspended and humiliated on the basis of a single complaint from an anonymous faceless "member of the public".

[Njugle]

It's not so long ago that doctors were considered doctors 24 hours a day seven days a week. To the majority (elder) population this is probably still thought to be the case. Hence i can understand why anyone of a sensitive nature would have a bad reaction to the actions of Mr Russon.

 

I agree that the suspension is an extreme reaction, but by the same token, there are/have been those amongst the practising GP's in the central mainland who have, in the not so distant past, recommended prayer as part of their consultation with patients. And if the grapevine is to be in any ways believed have alledgedly, to some extent, in the past treated good christians a little differently to to the unwwashed masses.

 

It is a very tough call as to whether a doctor should engage in any activity of this sort (leafleting) whether on the job or not. Doctors are very well paid for their contribution to society, especially since the opt-out of 24 hour availibilty by some. They also hold a uniquely omnipotent position in society. Whether as a paid professional or a private individual a doctor demonising 22% of the worlds population is a very serious issue, whatever your beliefs.

 

I could extend these points to a very boring extent, but in summary;

If he was a plumber he could say what he wants, but he is not.

[BigMouth]

........snip....They also hold a uniquely omnipotent position in society. Whether as a paid professional or a private individual a doctor demonising 22% of the worlds population is a very serious issue, whatever your beliefs.

 

I could extend these points to a very boring extent, but in summary;

If he was a plumber he could say what he wants, but he is not.

 

They are just doctors - just fellow human beings. Like plumbers some of them are good and some of them are less than good. I speak about the profession as a whole, not just the Shetlandic variety. The trouble is that they are often treated like gods, which they are not. Some of them are apt to believe it.

 

Remember though that first and foremost a doctor's surgery is a business and recently that was brought home to me when I asked for a letter to be written on my behalf. It would be written, but would take some weeks. When I explained that the letter would be paid for by those that had requested it there was suddenly no problem, in fact it was handwritten there and then!

 

I have to admit the service that I have had from Doctors here has far surpassed anything that I have ever received in the past and for that I am grateful. If the doctor I was talking to started to preach religion to me I would soon put them straight.

[Colin]

I could extend these points to a very boring extent, but in summary;

If he was a plumber he could say what he wants, but he is not.

 

I have to disagree with this.

 

It doesn't matter much to me whether he is a plumber, doctor or a member of any other profession that is not politically affiliated. He has as much right to voice/publish an opinion as anyone else.

 

To me, the issue should revolve around the mechanisms he used to distribute it.

If was distributed by 'Doctor xxx' as opposed to 'Dr xxx' then, patently, he is abusing his official position.

Did he use NHS resources to produce the pamphlet?

If he did then, presumably, he is clear breach of his position although I have read that a sum of £700 was paid to produce it.

Did he use NHS resources to compile his mailing list or did he hand deliver?

Compiling a mailing list from NHS patient records would be against the Data Protection Act and, probably, his terms of employment.

 

Perhaps, given that only 1 written complaint was received, the reaction of NHS Shetland was a little to PC and a bit of a 'knee jerk' but, it is an internal disciplinary matter and, rightly, no real detail has been released for public consumption.

It is also likely that the content of the letter set some alarm bells ringing obliging a standard 'suspend and investigate' procedure.

 

Maybe I'm judging the man unfairly but, possibly, he crossed the line between being a devout christian and a zealot and spreading 'the word' has become an obsession that is interfering with the proper conduct of his practice. In which case, to protect themselves and the public, NHS Shetland are right to intervene.

[vailron]

the babylonian moon god is in fact "sin"

[NewMagnie]

Very cryptic vailron.

 

I understood that the babalonyian moon god was one of a pantheon of gods worshipped by the Arab peoples, including Mohammed prior to his conversion to monotheism.

 

While Mohamed's adherents have since maintained this belief and the old Bab' moon god has been ditched, lunar symbolism in the form of the crescent moon is still a symbol of islam and any invocation of the BMG, in a theological context, cannot really be seen as a reference to anything other than islam.

[vailron]

why cryptic, the babylonian moon god is named "sin" not "satan"