British Medical Journal and Freedom of Press
Daily
Observer
Lapius was busy underlining passages in the journal that lay
open on his desk. “Something must grab
you, Simon. I haven’t seen that since I
was a medical student.”
He chuckled. “Chalk one
up for the British Medical Journal. A
landmark case, and possibly a warning of things to come.”
“Why what’s going on across the briny?”
“An attempt at suppression of the fourth estate, the medical
fourth estate no less. You know the
papers of late have been full of the remarks by Whitehead, of the Nixon
administration, and Agnew before him which many have interpreted as attacks on
the news media. But my knowledge there
has never been an attack on the freedom of the medical press. Yet, one such occurred in
“You mean someone has threatened the freedom of the British
Medical Journal to publish what is sees fit?”
“Precisely, Harry.”
“What do they publish that’s so threatening? Some scientific articles, a few case
reports? What happened, did they latch
on to a new Andromeda strain? Did they
unwittingly expose the militaristic implications of the
“Nothing so flamboyant, my boy, but serious nonetheless.”
“I can see someone trying to liven the old girl up a
bit. A few cartoons from Punch, or
perhaps a few columns from the Village Voice, but who would want to suppress
it?”
“S.L. Drummond-Jackson, for one, Harry. It seems that he is a practicing dentist who
advocated the use of a new anesthetic procedure for dental surgery. The subject was examined by scientists who
published their results in the British Medical Journal, and who concluded that
the anesthesia had side effects which may well have been the cause of a number
of deaths. I guess old Drummond-Jackson
felt that this sort of publicity would be detrimental to his practice, so he
sued the authors of the article as well as the British Medical
Association. He demanded that the
British Medical Journal publicly renounce its position and undertake ‘not to
publish any similar statements in the future’.”
“They must have said some nasty things about
Drummond-Jackson in print.”
“That’s the strange part of it. It was a completely objective article
evaluating the worth of the anesthetic on the basis of the facts at hand.”
“Then it wouldn’t seem S.L. Drummond-Jackson had much of a
case.”
“Of course not, Harry.
But you don’t need a case to go to court. Taking someone to court is like a game of
chicken, a bullying tactic. If the
defendant backs down and settles out of court it’s been worth the effort. That’s the basis of many malpractice
cases. The threat is enough to force a
favorable settlement. But the British
Medical Journal is made of sterner stuff, and fought the case out in
court. It was a long, drawn out affair,
and even with all their resources, S.L. Drummond-Jackson fought them to a
standstill. The case was so costly that
at one point one party or the other insured the life of the presiding judge in
case his death caused a mistrial.”
“Well, I see the British Medical Journal is still sailing
under its old masthead, so they probably made out okay.”
“Barely. On
‘The
Defendants all recognize and acknowledge that the plaintiff is a man of the
highest integrity and skill and of outstanding ability as a dentist.’
“Note Harry, they say nothing about him as an
anesthetist. Then the Plaintiff made a
statement:
‘The
Plaintiff for his part withdraws any allegation against the defendants or any
of them of dishonesty or impropriety.
Further, he recognizes and acknowledges that the British Medical Journal
has the right and duty to its readers and to the medical profession generally
to publish articles such as that submitted to them by the individual
defendants, and to comment on them.’
“Clearly a victory for freedom of the medical press and for
the British Medical Journal in particular.”
“Yes, Harry, they must have made some strong points to squeeze
that statement of Drummond-Jackson, but it seems dangerous precedent. Hopefully, if any other such cases arise the
respective medical journals will show the same gumption as the British Medical
Journal. Otherwise we’ll be reading what
the Drummond-Jacksons and the advertisers would have us read, rather that the
free selection of scientific articles chosen on their merit.”
“Incidentally, Harry, how are you coming with that paper you
are writing?”
“Just fine, Simon.
Incidentally, would you do me a favor?”
“What is it my boy?”
“I intend submitting it to the Archives. You have some drag with the editor. Would you write him a letter on my behalf?”
I didn’t realize how strong Lapius was. He had me by the scruff of the neck and was
hustling me to the door. “I don’t know
whether to throttle you or leave you out with the cats,” he growled.