Doctors must blow whistle on peers

THE president of the Medical Council last night said doctors should be legally obliged to notify the council about incompetent or “aberrant” practices by colleagues.

In a far-reaching response to the Lourdes Hospital Inquiry, Dr John Hillery said that such obligations already existed in the council’s ethical guidelines but should now be given a statutory footing in the Medical Practitioners’ Bill, to be published in the autumn.

Speaking in Dublin last night, Dr Hillery said he shared the disbelief that the practices of Dr Neary could continue under the eyes of other doctors without any of them questioning what was happening or trying to stop it.