Bloodgate physio wins high court appeal
Moving back to the theme of HPC sanctions, do you remember Bloodgate?
On 12 April 2009, Harlequins rugby player Tom Williams was taken off the pitch by the team physiotherapist, Steph Brennan, with blood pouring from his mouth. As he approached the Harlequins' bench, Williams grinned at his teammates, arousing such suspicion in Quins' Heineken Cup opponents, Leinster, that the Leinster team doctor requested to see the injury at the end of the match.
The problem was that there was no injury: Brennan had carried a fake blood capsule onto the pitch and Williams had bitten it in order to fake an injury which would allow him to be benched in favour of another key player. In a panic, Williams approached the Harlequins' team doctor, Wendy Chapman, and asked her to cut his lip, so that he would have an injury to show the Leinster doctor. Initially, she turned down his request but eventually gave in to the pressure and made a cut with a scalpel, as requested.
Following an investigation, the Rugby Football Union discovered that there had been four other incidents in which Brennan had facilitated the fake blood injuries. He was banned from working in rugby for two years, while the chairman Dean Richards was banned for three years and the player, Tom Williams, for 12 months, reduced to four on appeal.
Chapman, the doctor who had deliberately cut her patient, was initially suspended by the General Medical Council (GMC) but the suspension was lifted in August 2010 when the GMC decided that her fitness to practise was not impaired.
In contrast, Brennan, the physiotherapist who had facilitated cheating but who had not injured a patient and whose physiotherapy expertise was not in doubt (at the time of the scandal, he had been about to take up a post with the England rugby team) was struck off by the Health Professions Council (HPC), meaning that he could no longer work as a physiotherapist.
As I'm sure you can imagine, this was pretty controversial, certainly within the physiotherapy community - a super-hot topic of debate on online physiotherapy forums. Some felt that striking off served him right for cheating; more felt that the rugby ban was enough of a punishment in itself and an online petition asking the HPC to reconsider has so far gained 1175 signatures.
I think I agree with the petitioners. Steph Brennan was clearly wrong to provide Tom Williams with a blood capsule, so the ban from rugby is fair; but his actions were not in any way dangerous. The HPC's own Indicative Sanctions Policy states that a sanction such as striking-off is not to be used to punish wrongdoing, but to protect the public. I'm not sure how striking off an experienced and well-regarded - albeit misguided in this instance - physiotherapist who has done no harm, is a move towards public protection.
Last week, Steph Brennan's lawyers successfully argued that his actions had not merited a sanction of such "gross severity" and Mr Justice Ouseley at the High Court ordered the HPC's Conduct and Competence Committee to reconsider the case.
Currently, the HPC are refusing to do so, saying that the striking-off order is not open to legal challenge.
So, should Brennan have been banned altogether from practising his profession - or just banned from rugby? It's an interesting debate - what do you think?
Blog for Victory
Hi, I'm Nell Mead. I'm a former Army physiotherapist and I specialise in sports medicine and back pain. This is my blog, where I write about issues that are on my mind. Some of these are about issues that are specific to particular injuries or medical conditions but I will also be updating you on events occurring inside Victory and in the wider world of medical rehabilitation. I also publish guest posts by Victory's other therapists whenever I can persuade them to sit still for long enough to write something!
When we're not writing, we're offering appointments at The Foundry in Liverpool Street. We'd love to see your comments on our posts - and we'd love to meet you even more, so do pop by and meet the team.
Posted by Denny at 23:00 on 3 Feb 2011
Initially I was inclined to agree with you - there's no question of incompetence, and so the professional ban seems uncalled for. Then I started wondering how I'd feel about being treated by a medical practitioner who'd proven themselves dishonest... even if it was in a non-harmful fashion, it's still not a comforting thought. Perhaps the HPC is right to have acted to protect the reputation of the profession?
Of course, Brendan would presumably have suffered reputational harm to his career from this incident anyway.
Posted by Denny at 23:03 on 3 Feb 2011
Incidentally, I'm more concerned that the doctor's ban was lifted. Deliberately injuring someone, even in a minor way, doesn't sound particularly in line with acceptable medical ethics to me.
@Denny
Posted by Nell Mead at 11:07 on 4 Feb 2011
It's certainly a debate to be had. I take your point about dishonesty; but from a personal perspective I think I'd rather be treated by someone proven to be great at treating me (albeit someone who had succumbed to pressure and facilitated cheating in sport) than by someone of lesser ability - the outcome of the treatment matters more to me than the character of the therapist. Not sure if that makes me bad or just pragmatic! But top class physios (to be fair, top class *anything*) are relatively rare and it feels a shame to throw out the baby with the bathwater, so to speak.
I have to say that when I first saw this story I had a moment of "there but for the grace of god" - the guy was clearly under a lot of pressure from Dean Richards and while I like to think I wouldn't react in the way he did, i.e. by agreeing to take blood capsules onto the pitch, it's hard to be sure until you've been there. Bigger guys than Brennan have caved to Deano before ;-)
One positive outcome of the HPC ruling is that it should now be easier for physios to stand up to pressure like this, as they can point to the Brennan case and say "no, I'll get struck off." It's now very clear that it's better to stand up for yourself and potentially get sacked, than to give in and lose your professional status.
By the way I totally agree that in comparison, the GMC response is laughable; the doctor in question also did her reputation no favours by stating that she cut the player because she was depressed at the time of the incident.
Human Health
Posted by sandy at 04:49 on 26 Apr 2011
I know That testimony led to then-director of rugby Dean Richards being banned from coaching for three years and physio Steph Brennan being handed a two-year suspension, while the club were fined just under £260,000. If I have power then i will do same .....
REGARDS
SANDY