Bishop Hill Why do good intentions in the public sector lead to evil?
Jan 3, 2015 Climate: Sceptics NHS The tactic of demonising dissenters from the global warming orthodoxy has a long and dishonourable history now, and I'm sure that readers scarcely need me to recount the instances of bad behaviour that have made it to the public record. I was struck by the parallels between these stories and the experiences of Professor Joseph Meirion Thomas, a cancer surgeon who had the temerity to write a series of articles questioning certain aspects of the way health services are run in the UK.
The resultant Twitter storm would have looked entirely familiar to BH readers, with GPs and nurses all over the country flinging vulgar abuse at the good professor. This probably all falls under the heading of "free speech" (although also under the heading of "bad manners"), but as ever with these things there were less reputable ideas floating around, with one GP trying to organise a complaint to the General Medical Council and, in a painful echo of Andrew Dessler's contemptible behaviour during the Bengtsson affair, a GP from Fulham asked if the professor was "unwell". A letter describing Meirion Thomas as "vile" and "evil" was circulated to doctors in the area where the professor worked.
Also familiar were the attempts by those at the head of the relevant institutions to retaliate: Dr Maureen Baker, chair of the Royal College of General Practitioners called for Barnardo's to refuse a donation from Professor Meirion Thomas. An email from one Professor Azeem Majeed of Imperial College, was sent to his employers, asking them to dissociate themselves from the articles and insinuating that local doctors would stop referring patients if he was not dealt with. The result was a fortnight's gardening leave and then a gagging order being imposed.
It's interesting to see Prof Majeed's attempts to defend himself on his twitter feed:
@Azeem_Majeed it was the kind of questions -which could even be seen as covertly veiled threats- though wasn't it?! @spectator @Freddygray31
— ndeaks (@ndeaks) January 1, 2015
He clearly has no idea that he has done anything wrong. His mind seems to struggle with the idea that his implied threats might have overstepped the mark.
Of course Majeed probably believes that Meirion Thomas's complaints are wrong or misguided; he probably believes that he is doing the right thing in trying to get him silenced. But why does a mere difference of opinion over the views of a middle manager in the NHS end up in a situation where we are discussing freedom of speech and what many would take to be outright fascism? I can't remember anything like this when working in big businesses in my younger days. In fact it's hard to imagine a business having anything other than a passing interest in the views of a middle manager of one of its suppliers.
What is it about the public sector that makes differences of opinion among well-meaning people lead to evil?
Reader Comments (106)
TerryS
Some news about it here:
http://www.pulsetoday.co.uk/home/stop-practice-closures/more-than-500-gp-practices-have-closed-in-last-five-years-stark-government-figures-reveal/20007867.article#.VKqofIvijTQ
On doctors.net, there is a thread keeping tabs of closures that grows ever larger. Locally I know one 3-partner practice who all resigned following a rent revaluation that the CCG refused to reimburse. I know of several PFI/ LIFT GP surgeries that are facing the same problem. I believe the problem is even more acute in rural areas.
Once a contract becomes uneconomic, existing partners are faced with the fact that the last man standing has to shoulder all redundancy costs, so things can collapse overnight.
MikeHaseler - a lot of what you wrote applies to the private sector. Bankers working at bailed-out banks engaged in massive systemic fraud, impoverished the global economy and still commit crimes with impunity (LIBOR and gold market fixing, HSBCs drug money laundering adventures etc.). They attack outsiders in precisely the way you describe but they are (ostensibly) private sector.
Many GPs condemned the nark who reported Mr Thomas to the GMC and the veiled threats against the Royal Marsden Prof Majeed. The ones who went after Mr Thomas that way have really shot themselves in the foot with their repressive impulses.
By asking questions, they're threatening to make someone accountable and we can't have that in the public service.
@TerryS "wimmin now get 80%"
"This article from 2001 states:
There is eight times as much money spent on specific female health issues as on male ones."
well thats not 80% vs 20% is it ?
it just says there are general health issues that men and women are exposed to
and another set which mostly only effect one sex.. of that second category most are for women ..makes sense ..cervical cancer, breast cancer post natal problems etc.,
There's an expression for this type of behaviour - "the tyranny of the the nice".
If an organisation exists to fulfil a noble objective then any criticism of that organisation is treated as if the critic is opposed to the noble objective.
Conceit. A person may believe they are morally good and superior to others and one cannot disprove this assertion. There are fairly objective assessments on intelligence, physical looks, physical fitness, music skills and most human qualities.
However, once someone believes themselves to be morally superior and more intelligent to others these factors combine to produce a a degree of conceit which is almost impervious to reason and even experience. Many people who work for the public sector do not work for an organisation which makes a profit and most people believe they are morally superior to those who do. It may be that the public sector, especially the NHS and education has replaced the Church in the Medieval Period whereby they consider themselves to be the depository of the nation's conscience.
I suspect that you don't really know your subject matter, Dr Thomas, very well. You say that he had "good intentions" in writing his articles for the Daily Mail. I wonder how you know this when I am sure you have never even met the Dr in question. Well, here's the truth from someone who does know him very well..
Dr (and not Prof as his Professorship was taken back by Imperial College recently) Thomas is NOT a well-meaning person. For those of you who know him in the medical profession, he is an antagonistic, egotistical, and bombastic surgeon. He is renown for being curt to his staff and intimidating to his peers. What's worse is that he has been verbally abusive to his patients in the past, sometimes minutes before an operation to remove a life-threatening tumour. He is far from the kind, caring, grandfatherly surgeon some of you might consider him to be.
If you knew this background of Dr Thomas you will understand why it's not about free speech nor about whistle blowing. Dr Thomas' articles are the products of bitterness and anger within a mentally unstable individual, namely himself. He is not trying to share some constructive thoughts about the standards of GPs in the NHS, nor about women GPs, nor even about foreign patients who try to get free medical treatment illegally. He is just venting, and trying to clear his system of the anguish and angst that has accumulated in him over the years. This might be from childbirth or this might be from his stressful work. Either way, if you do a touch more research on Dr Thomas, the truth will emerge as to his true persona and his reasons for writing so much rubbish in the Daily Mail.
We should also not attack Drs like Dr Majeed nor the many others who have struck back at Thomas. Like you and I, they are normal human beings with feelings and emotions. You said that you used to work in "big business" and that the opinions of your "middle managers" would not concern you. Yet, if one of them had gone to your senior manager to complain that you are a waste of time and money (as Dr Thomas had publicly voiced about NHS women doctors) would you not be aggravated?
So, please let's all get our facts straights. Just as an author of Hitler should familiarise himself with Hitler before writing about him, you should likewise get to know Dr Meirion Thomas before you share your thoughts in a public forum.
Thank you for reading and feel free to share your thoughts.