This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

A crowdfunding campaign has been launched to pay legal costs for a junior doctor who was struck off the medical register following a conviction for manslaughter.

More than £160,000 has been raised in support of Dr Hadiza Bawa-Garba, who was found guilty of manslaughter by gross negligence in 2015 over the death of six-year-old Jack Adcock.

The boy, who had Down’s syndrome, died 11 hours after being admitted to hospital following a heart attack brought on by septic shock due to a virulent form of pneumonia.

Bawa-Garba was sentenced to two years in prison, suspended for two years, and had originally been given a 12-month suspension from practising medicine.



Facebook Twitter Pinterest Jack Adcock died 11 hours after being admitted to hospital following a heart attack brought on by septic shock. Photograph: Caters News Agency

However at the high court in London last week, the General Medical Council (GMC) appealed against that decision and called for Bawa-Garba’s “erasure from the medical register”.

The decision was welcomed by Adcock’s parents, but it has angered thousands of doctors and supporters who say Bawa-Garba was partly convicted on the basis of evidence used from her own self-appraisal as part of her e-portfolio.

More than 1,500 doctors have since signed a letter expressing their “deep-seated concerns” at their colleague being struck off.

In the letter, they argue that the ruling threatens the “culture of openness” that is critical to learning from medical error and would result in others not being honest in their own self-appraisals.

The CrowdJustice campaign was set up by the junior doctors Moosa Qureshi, James Haddock and Chris Day, who said they were raising the money so that Bawa-Garba “can be offered additional independent expert legal advice in respect to challenging the decision that she be permanently erased from the medical register”.



They also plan to seek advice about her criminal conviction for gross negligence manslaughter.

The doctors said: “Dr Bawa-Garba’s case has extraordinary ramifications, with large numbers of doctors recognising that her conviction puts all doctors at risk in the context of a healthcare system which is clearly bearing enormous stress at a national level.

“The case also has implications for patient safety across the UK because healthcare professionals will henceforth be reluctant to share knowledge openly or reflect on clinical errors for fear of criminal prosecution.”

In a statement, Bawa-Garba’s former educational supervisor, Jonathan Cusack, said: “This case is crucial to patient safety and as those supporting Dr Bawa-Garba we would welcome a fully independent legal opinion.”

In response to the support Bawa-Garba said she was “overwhelmed with gratitude” and that she plans to employ a top legal team to review the high court’s decision as well as the criminal conviction.

In a statement, the GMC’s chief executive, Charlie Massey, defended its decision to push for erasure and said: “We know the strength of feeling expressed by many doctors working in a system under sustained pressure, and we are totally committed to engendering a speak-up culture in the NHS.

“Doctors should never hesitate to act openly and honestly if something has gone wrong.”