NI chief scientific advisor loses bid to block medical council investigation

Northern Ireland's chief scientific adviser has lost a legal bid to block an investigation by the General Medical Council (GMC) into allegations he did not tell the family of a nine-year-old girl, who died in hospital in 1996, about "failings" in her treatment.

The challenge by Prof Ian Young was dismissed in the High Court on Tuesday.

Mr Justice Holgate found that an earlier decision by the GMC not to investigate the claims was "wholly unsustainable", and the regulatory body had been right to conclude that there were "material flaws" in the original decision.

Prof Young’s legal representative said he was “disappointed” with the decision.

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A spokeswoman for the GMC said the body was “pleased the court has decided that our decision to investigate in this case was lawful and will now continue.”

Claire Roberts died from hyponatraemia, which is linked to a shortage of sodium in the blood, in Belfast's Royal Hospital for Sick Children in 1996.

Prof Young was asked to review the case in 2004 and provide an assessment on whether hyponatraemia contributed to Claire's death. He was not involved in her treatment, or that of four other children who died of the condition in Northern Ireland.

A public inquiry into their deaths later found that Prof Young did not inform Claire’s parents about failings in her care and gave “misleading” evidence to the original inquest into her death.

The inquiry’s report, published in 2018, said that Prof Young had “shifted from his initial independent role ... to one of protecting the hospital and its doctors”. A new inquest concluded that the child’s death had been “caused by the treatment that she received in hospital”.

Prof Young referred himself to the GMC shortly after the inquiry’s report was published. In 2020 the body decided its original decision not to prosecute was “materially flawed” and it was “in the public interest” for the allegations against Prof Young to proceed to an investigation.

Prof Young challenged this in the High Court in January, arguing that the GMC's original decision was "lawful and rational." His barrister, Robert Kellar QC, said the GMC's second decision "unfairly mischaracterised Prof Young's conduct" and wrongly suggested he was involved in a "cover-up".

In his ruling Mr Justice Holgate said the original decision-maker had failed “to appreciate key elements of the inquiry’s findings going both to the seriousness of the allegations and the public interest issues involved.”

The judge said the GMC explained in its second decision that the allegations against Prof Young were “plainly very serious and involve, at their highest, ‘an allegation of deliberately misleading the family of a deceased child and a coroner in relation to cause of death’”.

The criticism of the use of the word ‘cover-up’, he said, “has no legal merit at all”, and added that Claire Roberts’s father, in his complaint to the GMC about Prof Young, “did use the term ‘cover-up’”.

Mr Justice Holgate also said: “It is not the court’s role in these proceedings to express any conclusions about the merits of (the allegations). This judgment should not be treated as if it does.”

In a statement issued after the ruling, Prof Young’s legal representative said his client “continues to acknowledge the ongoing suffering of Mr and Mrs Roberts and their family in relation to Claire’s death in 1996 and subsequent events.

“He has apologised previously if any of his actions have inadvertently contributed to their distress, and would like to do so again,” his legal representative said.

“Throughout these events, Professor Young believes that he has acted with integrity, to the best of his ability, to give clear and honest opinions which reflected his knowledge and understanding of the evidence at the time.

“In particular, he denies completely any suggestion that he sought to mislead the coroner or Claire’s parents in any way.

“Indeed, he believes that the record is clear that on every possible occasion he has sought and supported further independent external scrutiny of Claire’s care.”

The GMC said it was a “difficult time for all concerned and our thoughts remain with those families who lost children to hyponatraemia in Northern Ireland.

“As in any case, we will look at all the evidence before making a decision.”

Additional reporting – PA