Neurologist’s voluntary erasure “was illegal”
The process that allowed a neurologist at the centre of Northern Ireland’s biggest patient recall to remove himself from the medical register voluntarily was an unlawful “exercise in corner cutting,” a High Court judge ruled. Last month Mr Justice McAlinden quashed the decision of a medical practitioners tribunal to grant Michael Watt voluntary erasure from the register. Delivering his full judgment on 17 April, the judge concluded that the tribunal had no jurisdiction to hear the case, but he deferred his full reasons until later. (Full story doi:10.1136/bmj.p891)