Bloodgate rugby doctor allowed to return to work

Panel chairman Dr Brian Alderman said Dr Chapman was guilty of “serious misconduct” but she was “severely depressed” at the time.She would not have acted in the way she did but for her “altered state of mind”, he said.

He added: “The panel has concluded that, while at the times these events occurred your fitness to practise was impaired, looking forward, your fitness to practise is currently not impaired.”You do not pose any risk to patients or the public. The panel accepts that there is a public interest in retaining the services of a good doctor.”Dr Chapman was suspended without pay from Maidstone Hospital in Kent after the incident and is currently unemployed.She had not been allowed to work until the outcome of the GMC Fitness to Practise hearing, which could have struck her off. Giving evidence last week, Dr Chapman had cried as she described what had happened: “I was horrified, just horrified. This is a very huge game and they cheated. I was very ashamed that I gave into the pressure.”

The case of Dr Wendy Chapman raised some interesting ethical questions for the GMC panel.
Is it ever acceptable for a doctor to deliberately harm a patient when there is no medical reason to do so?

The panel found that on the day of the match Dr Chapman was placed under a unique and difficult condition and on the spur of the moment made an error of judgement.

She had been suffering from depression and was waiting to hear the results of a breast cancer scan. The panel found that on the day her judgement was likely to bring the profession into disrepute.

However they have taken into account the personal difficulties she was experiencing at the time. In the heat of the moment where the Harlequins player asked her to cut his lip she felt under huge pressure and when some officials from the club concocted a story to cover up his cheating Dr Chapman felt she had no choice but to go along with it.