Doctors who criticise vaccines or lockdown policies on social media could face being struck off if regulators rule they are guilty of spreading ‘fake news’, according to new guidance from the GMC. The Telegraph has the story.
The core guidance for medics has been updated for the first time in almost a decade to cover media such as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. The rules on use of social media include a duty to be “honest” and “not to mislead”, as well as to avoid abuse or bullying.
The draft regulations from the General Medical Council (GMC) – which the watchdog describes as a 21st-century version of the Hippocratic Oath – also say doctors must speak out if they encounter “toxic” workplace cultures that threaten patient safety. And they say medics must take action if they encounter workplace bullying, harassment or discrimination.
The watchdog regulates doctors, who can face a range of sanctions – including being struck off the medical register – if they are found to have failed in their duties.
Charlie Massey, the Chief Executive of the GMC, said… the fundamental principles of the guidance remained the same, but had been updated to reflect the modern world.
“We’ve had feedback that doctors want more clarity on using social media. We are already clear that doctors must be honest and trustworthy in their communications, and are now emphasising that this applies to all forms of communication. The principles remain the same whether the communication is written, spoken or via social media,” he said.
The use of social media by medics has become an increasingly vexed issue during the pandemic, the report adds.
In December a judge ruled that the GMC’s interim orders tribunal had made an “error of law” when it ordered a GP accused of spreading misinformation to stop discussing Covid on social media.
Dr. Samuel White, who was a partner at a practice in Hampshire, raised concerns about vaccines and claimed “masks do nothing” in a video posted last June.
The GMC’s Interim Orders Tribunal imposed restrictions on Dr. White’s registration as a result. But the High Court said this decision was “wrong” under human rights law.
He had claimed “lies” around the NHS and Government approach to the pandemic were “so vast” that he could no longer “stomach or tolerate” them.
In August, the tribunal concluded Dr. White’s way of sharing his views “may have a real impact on patient safety”. It found Dr. White allegedly shared information to a “wide and possibly uninformed audience” and did not give an opportunity for “a holistic consideration of COVID-19, its implications and possible treatments”.
But the GP’s barrister, Francis Hoar, argued the restrictions imposed on his client’s registration were a “severe imposition” on his freedom of expression.
The draft guidance says doctors can be held accountable for promoting misleading information or stepping outside areas of their expertise. They are told to “be honest and trustworthy … make clear the limits of your knowledge.. [and to] make reasonable checks to make sure any information you give is not misleading.
“This applies to all forms of written, spoken and digital communication,” the draft guidance states. And doctors are warned that online rows and trolling could jeopardise their professional futures.
It is of course outrageous that medics should be at risk of losing their career for questioning on Twitter the Government line on its draconian public health interventions. If there’s one thing we were lacking during the pandemic it was not an excess of conformity amongst doctors. The right of medics to ‘informed dissent’ should be strengthened, as per the High Court ruling in favour of Dr. White, not weakened.
On the other hand, there are plenty of Government advisers I can think of who could do with being penalised for “stepping outside areas of their expertise”. Somehow I doubt anything similar will ever be applied to them, however.
Worth reading in full.
Stop Press: The GMC guidance is still the subject of a public consultation – and anyone can contribute. Click here to begin the process.
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Doctors have failed in their duties for the past two years and are continuing to do so. So no change there then!!
Those doctors are not spreading “fake news” but highlighting the real vaccine issues which we all need to be aware of as opposed to the lies of government.
Please think more carefully about using headlines like the one to this article.
It is creating and spreading the fear those who [in my opinion and experience] manipulate the GMC for inappropriate purposes in this case dumbing down comment from doctors like Sam White which comment IS in the public interest.
It is doing the work of those behind the GMC who – in my opinion and experience – manipulate the purposes of the GMC to support bad and harmful government policies and to support drug industry interests against the interests of patients and the public generally.
Naturally those who do operate, control or influence the operation of the GMC will dispute this – but then that is what freedom of speech is about.
And there are laws to protect it.
Doctors should be free to express their views.
If other doctors do not like that or if the government do not like that they can also express their views.
But what we have now is totalitarianism – only one set of views are allowed – those that come from the Department for Health and Social Care under serious behind-the-scenes influences directly and indirectly of commercial and industrial lobbyists to… Read more »
GPs need guidance on how to express themselves on social media
These people are supposed to educated, I guess they get training on how to talk to people, eg to deliver a frightening diagnosis, they should know how to use social media.
Would the “disliker” of my post care to say why?
That would require either a brain or a set of balls which your disliker obviously doesn’t have.
Anyone voting for LIB/LAB/CON/GREEN on the 5th May is voting to edge us closer to state tyranny.
The rules on use of social media include a duty to be “honest” and “not to mislead”, as well as to avoid abuse or bullying.
Being honest and not misleading means speaking out and telling the truth that these “vaccines” are unsafe, to put it mildly. This is not a matte of opinion but a matter of fact. Clown World. To tell the truth as you understand it is to mislead. Madness.
If you want to have your say on the GMC consultation re Diversity of everything except Diversity of opinion then here is the link. Takes a while though… (They are also keen on Critical Race Theory it seems).
https://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/RUZJCV/?lang=658754
Another VERY good reason why we need anonymity online.
it is nieve to assume clinicians interrogated the data. The problem lay with determining a Worldwide Public Health Emergency. These,previously irrelevant individuals, were now given power. The vaccination were never scrutinised – but if you wanted funds for research you supported vaccination masks etc. The GMC should consider if VanTam and Whitty are in breach of guidelines by promoting vaccination in the 5-11yr old rather than the irrational acceptance of an mRNA therapy with no long term control data
As no doctor knows what is in the mRNA treatments how can they recommend it? Nobody can give “informed consent” to having the injection. I can get more information on just about every item in the supermarket. Why? Makes me very suspicious.
‘…..did not give an opportunity for “a holistic consideration of COVID-19, its implications and possible treatments”.’
The blatant hypocrisy leaves one breathless. An holistic consideration or debate is precisely what has been totally lacking. We continue to function under a narrow-minded distortion of the ‘truth’.
And the next crisis?
In the not too distant future no doctor will want to work within the NHS, or even within the GMC system.
Might not be a bad thing though as others may do as Sam White has done and established an alternative medicine practice. There is considerable knowledge within ‘conventional’ medicine which could be put to good use elsewhere, nor do I mean anything to do with big pharma drugs, but rather the knowledge GP’s have that could be put to better use than flogging pills.
What these guys need to figure out is an intelligent, collective means of funding their healthcare. The elderly care demographic time bomb is coming home to roost and there is simply no provision to deal with it under the current system.
We have got to stop our government recklessly spunking money up the wall on things like foreign aid and wars that have absolutely nothing to do with us. Why are we now chucking money at Ukraine? It’s not a NATO member, it’s not even an EU member (although we’ve left that money pit as well, evidently to little avail) so what the hell has it got to do with us?… Read more »
“But it’s a free country!”.
Those were the days. Things just keep getting more depressing.
Free country? PCR test at 180 Euros to depart for the UK, and two PCR tests at £99 each to be bought off a mate of Sajid Javid’s on arrival plus 10 days quarantine. Plus further persecution if either of the latter two tests comes out as a ‘positive’.
£2,400 for a quarantine hotel if you came from a ‘red country’.
Countries will follow Denmark’s example and suspend the clot shot. This will be just an attempt to buy time. Who knows what will happen when the truth comes out. I imagine a maelstrom of hatred and vengeance against a backdrop of economc collapse and civil unrest. It won’t be pleasant but it will be much needed. Does the West have the will to survive or not? Trump asked the question a couple of years ago and was largely ignored.
On the other side of the Irish Sea, GPs have been suspended for refusing to deal with the clot shot. Admittedly, they have not been permanently struck off, but as far as I know, more than one year on, their suspensions have not yet been lifted.
https://www.irishtimes.com/news/health/gp-suspended-by-medical-council-over-refusal-to-give-covid-19-vaccine-1.4516239
Another suspension for refusing to abide by the narrative. This one in Northern Ireland.
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-foyle-west-58667747
She spoke out a long time ago – away last year – her predictions then that the health service is being dismantled around us have since proved to be completely true. A brave and principled lady.
I think this is too pessimistic. It does state the trajectory that we might be on in the absence of a counterveiling force but it will not come to pass. The very lesson of our times is that we are moving beyond Ahrimanic forces into something else, which we can’t see clearly yet. Some of the more visionary medics already sense this and are doing their best to accommodate this advancement. It is very important to accentuate the positive. It is a pity that more doctors don’t have much wisdom but then you don’t get a lot of wisdom in science A levels and you certainly won’t gain wisdom if you choose the path of corporate pharmacology. The best and brightest know that they have nothing to lose and everything to gain by embracing the true human path.
As a Member of a ‘Royal’ profession, I was under the impression that such a member was obliged to act within their code of ethics, i.e. In their clients’ best interest. I always understood that in the medical profession this meant their patients’ best interest. As such, a member of a profession was unable to abrogate their responsibility by saying my employer mademe do it. The common comparison was a taxi driver acting on their fare payer instructions. What has changed or am I wrong?
If anyone wishes to send their views to the Head of the Spanish Inquisition, so sorry, ‘the CEO of the GMC’, here are the contact details:
[email protected]
No profanity or abuse, please …
Struck off for telling the truth.
The National Hell Service in a nutshell.
Do you remember the days when doctors said smoking was good for you or that pregnant women were OK to take Thalidomide?
Then other doctors started disputing what was accepted .
If this idea was around then who would have been struck off and when?
Science and medicine needs to be discussed openly.
What a country
Doctors who tell the truth about mass murder are silenced whilst Piers Morgan is given a platform
They are afraid of the truth. Wicked people.
They should be struck off for going along with the illegal forcing of jabs and lockups that didn’t work.
Wasn’t Earth orbiting the Sun and not being the centre of the Universe fake news at one time. Anyone printing and publishing the Bible in English (misinformation) was burnt at the stake.
Glad we live in enlightened times.
JXB
Off topic but was your moniker inspired by the TV series “Chancer” ?
GMC: tendance Stalin, as yer frogs might say.
Isn’t it amazing how these new rules come in all over the world, almost like their is a global cabal of politicians all following the same agenda.
California is imposing just such a system as we speak.
Surely it couldn’t just be a case of “great minds think alike” – like it was with the same playbook being used all over the world to defeat a respiratory virus?
Didn’t think so.
Most in the media including the sceptic GB News subscribe to cock up theory, the idea that once you’ve made the wrong turn you can’t admit it and carry on driving etc. Everything seems to lockstep for my suspicious mind anyway.
They could have got out in summer 2020 and blamed it on a combination of being really cutious and duff advice.
“and did not give an opportunity for “a holistic consideration of COVID-19, its implications and possible treatments”.
If he gave Ivermectin as a treatment he’d be struck off anyway.
Only a total moron (which there are many of) would believe anything a politician says without questioning what they say first.
Personally I lost all faith and trust in politicians in 2003 (I didn’t have much to start with) when the UK was taken to war on lies. I now assume anything a politicians says is a lie and they are the fake news.
Unless it is officially denied.
Is it possible to contract privately with an individual who is medically qualified in such a way as to indemnify him against liability to you as determined by the state?
In other words, it is one thing for doctors to be struck off for incompetence, quite another to be struck off for “thought-crime”.
If state-backed entities are going to go full Orwellian, perhaps it is time to build an infrastructure to allow us to ignore them?
The GMC taking their cue from New Zealand, which is currently trying to do the same to Dr Sam Bailey, who you may recall was the subject to a guest writer hit piece (IMHO) on this site and who was given no right of reply in article form.