Doctors and nurses at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital will be gagged from revealing details of talks by visiting experts amid concerns they could leave themselves open to complaints to the medical regulator.<\/p>\n
A week after The West Australian revealed a senior Perth doctor had complained to the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency about a talk given by voluntary euthanasia advocate Philip Nitschke, the hospital\u2019s department of pain management has instituted the Chatham House Rule.<\/p>\n
The rule aims to prevent attendees from identifying who said what at the department\u2019s regular Tuesday seminars.<\/p>\n
According to an internal email, the complaint about Dr Nitschke \u2013 that could lead to him losing his medical licence \u2013 prompted several speakers, including a cancer researcher, to cancel.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo many of the invited speakers AHPRA registration is essential so they can continue practising,\u201d the email, which was sent by a staff doctor, said. \u201cWe all realise it is unlikely that they would say anything controversial for any of us to contact AHPTA> However they have no idea who is in the audience or how the audience will react. The AHPRA complaint has concerned many of them and (they) have therefore cancelled their talks.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnyone who comes to the meeting is free to quote from the discussion, but is not allowed tosay who made any comment.\u201d<\/p>\n
SCGH said its pain management department was \u201cseeking to support a culture which encourages open and frank discussion at its weekly meetings without fear of adverse professional impact\u201d.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Journalist: Kate Emery<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Doctors and nurses at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital will be gagged from revealing details of talks by visiting experts amid concerns they could leave themselves open to complaints to the medical regulator. A week after The West Australian revealed a senior Perth doctor had complained to the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency about a talk […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n