Reinstate Dr Raj Mattu

Sukhi D. started this petition to Rt. Hon. Jeremy Hunt, Secretary of State for Health started this petition to

Amidst much talk of protecting "whistleblowers", this case highlights the hypocrisy practiced by those who publicly profess to protect and support whistleblowers, while privately doing all in their power to harass, intimidate and discredit those who bravely speak out against malpractices.

Dr Raj Mattu bravely ‘whistle blew’ over excess patient deaths and unsafe overcrowding at University Hospitals Coventry & Warwickshire NHS Trust in 2001, which had a 60% excess death rate (more than twice the level found at Stafford Hospital). His concerns were ignored, and instead he was suspended for nearly 6 years on false allegations of bullying. Even after an independent inquiry concluded that he was to be fully reinstated, and over 200 allegations from the Trust were refuted point for point by the General Medical Council, Dr Mattu continued to be harassed and victimised, before being unfairly dismissed in 2010.

This gross miscarriage of justice has resulted in the destruction of Dr Mattu's health and career, but its implications are even more far-reaching. Millions of pounds of taxpayers' money has been wasted in a decade-long vendetta by senior Trust managers to make an example of this eminent cardiologist, and yet no one in a position of authority has intervened despite being made aware of the case. Behind the rhetoric we are fed by politicians and administrators, the obligation to protect clinical staff when they make public interest disclosures or whistle-blow lies unfulfilled. Every day this travesty continues unaddressed is another day of wasted taxpayers' money, another reminder of what happens to those who speak out against malpractice and mistreatment, and so another day of patients' lives at risk. This case is typical of what happens when the little man speaks out - let's make it atypical by showing our support; let's stand up for people who suffer because they stood up for us.



A full account of Dr Mattu's ordeal can be found here: http://www.gopetition.com/petition/34952.html

