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Podiatrist: I will go to jail to protect my patients

Discussion in 'United Kingdom' started by NewsBot, Jan 20, 2014.

  1. NewsBot

    NewsBot The Admin that posts the news.

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    Podiatrist: I’d go to jail to protect my patients
    Full story
     
  2. Admin2

    Admin2 Administrator Staff Member

  3. Re: Podiatrist: I’d go to jail to protect my patients

    :hammer:

    I quite agree with this article, there is a definite "FLAW" in the way the HPC are serving the client ! Which is supposed to be the Patient !!

    Our patients respect a "TITLE" that is what we pay for in the HPC, and if they ignore mis-conduct of fellow professionals, then they are not doing their work are they ?

    This man is a man of principles. and for that, he is willing to go to "Jail " and also might loose his clientel as well !

    What is this profession thinking of ?

    Caroline the Pod
     
  4. Podess

    Podess Active Member

    Re: Podiatrist: I’d go to jail to protect my patients

    Personally I think Mark is playing a dangerous game.

    As he has already pleaded guilty, he can only appeal against the sentence and not the conviction.

    If his appeal against sentence fails, the court will then review the sentence passed and can substitute any sentence the original court could have passed, up to the maximum sentence available to that court.

    This means there is a possibility that the sentence could be increased.

    An additional risk is that he might be ordered to pay the costs of an unsuccessful appeal.
     
  5. blinda

    blinda MVP

    Re: Podiatrist: I’d go to jail to protect my patients

    For once I agree (in part) with you, Podess. In that it is a very real risk. Call it dangerous if you like, but certainly not a "game". Worst case scenario; Mark faces a custodial sentance in order to highlight the flaws in current legislation, which fails to protect the public from former podiatrists struck off from the HCPC register as `unfit to practice`. Admirable principles in my book.

    That said, you`ll have to wait, as will the rest of us, to hear the outcome tomorrow. He has my, and that of many other podiatrists, full support regardless of end result.
     
  6. rosherville

    rosherville Active Member

    Re: Podiatrist: I’d go to jail to protect my patients

    Blinda

    [Iin order to highlight the flaws in current legislation, which fails to protect the public from former podiatrists struck off from the HCPC register ][/I]

    You and I may believe that, but there is another argument that has been put forward.
    The HCPC does protect the public by maintaining a 'gold standard', the public can choose to consult a registered practitioner with some degree of protection or they have the freedom to choose any other !

    We are living in a time when protectionism, cartels and monopolies are less fashionable with the public.

    Regards
     
  7. blinda

    blinda MVP

    Re: Podiatrist: I’d go to jail to protect my patients

    Righto, John. You carry on thinking that the hcpc "maintain a gold standard" .

    Nevermind.
     
  8. rosherville

    rosherville Active Member

    Re: Podiatrist: I’d go to jail to protect my patients

    Blinda

    You carry on thinking that the hcpc maintain a gold standard

    Read what I said, that's just what I did not say. Some do believe that a standard is being maintained and it can be so argued.

    The fact that we disagree does not make it invalid, but it's worth bearing in mind when going out on a limb !

    Regards
     
  9. davidh

    davidh Podiatry Arena Veteran

    Re: Podiatrist: I’d go to jail to protect my patients

    Good news this lunchtime. I'll leave it to the man himself to break it though!
     
  10. rosherville

    rosherville Active Member

    Re: Podiatrist: I’d go to jail to protect my patients

    David

    Excellent, I hope. If part 11 of the appeal is accepted would it not mean we could all deregister and continue to use our title ?

    Regards
     
  11. Re: Podiatrist: I’d go to jail to protect my patients

    Short post just to say the court quashed conviction and sentence. Will post further when I get home....
     
  12. blinda

    blinda MVP

    Re: Podiatrist: I’d go to jail to protect my patients

    :drinks :drinks:drinks
     
  13. davidh

    davidh Podiatry Arena Veteran

    Re: Podiatrist: I’d go to jail to protect my patients

    To add to Bel's :drinks, many congratulations to Mark for sticking with his principles.
    I look forward to Marks full account later tonight/tomorrow.
     
  14. Ian Drakard

    Ian Drakard Active Member

    Re: Podiatrist: I’d go to jail to protect my patients

    Some more :drinks:drinks:drinks
     
  15. AngieR

    AngieR Active Member

    Re: Podiatrist: I’d go to jail to protect my patients

    I support all the other posts and am also pleased with the result.

    Looking forward to reading the transcript and what this will mean to the future of the profession.:drinks
     
  16. Simon Ross

    Simon Ross Active Member

    Re: Podiatrist: I’d go to jail to protect my patients

    So he's a jolly good fellow, so he's a jolly good fellow, so he's a jolly good fellow..............
     
  17. blinda

    blinda MVP

    Re: Podiatrist: I’d go to jail to protect my patients

    Yep, we're still t' pub in that London......
     
  18. W J Liggins

    W J Liggins Well-Known Member

    Re: Podiatrist: I’d go to jail to protect my patients

    Add my congratulations. I look forward to the details and hope that they reflect to the discredit of the HPO.
     
  19. rosherville

    rosherville Active Member

    Re: Podiatrist: I’d go to jail to protect my patients

    I've written to the HCPC press dept asking that they give the same level of coverage to this decision as they did for the first hearing. Watch the website press page but don't hold your breath !

    Could this lead to mass deregistration ?
     
  20. Re: Podiatrist: I’d go to jail to protect my patients

    Thank you for all the kind comments. There is much to write up about the proceedings today but just now, sitting on the train from London, it will have to wait until tomorrow before I can furnish you with the details and implications of the court's ruling. Briefly the conviction, sentence and costs from the hearing on 11 November have been set aside - and the HCPC will have to decide whether to re-submit a new summons. The Judge's decision was founded on the issue of whether I had intent to deceive which is integral to the charge - and he decided that there was no deception, hence the outcome. There is much more to report but that will have to wait I'm afraid. Thank you also to Bel, Linda and Peter for taking the time (again) to come up to town and give support - to you I am indebted more than you appreciate...
     
  21. Re: Podiatrist: I’d go to jail to protect my patients

    Mark:

    You are a shining example of how one man, firm in his convictions, can make a difference for our profession and the people of our communities who suffer from foot-related pathologies.

    For the rest of you, Mark's example should be considered very carefully by all podiatrists as to how disobedience to "authority" can make a difference.

    Congratulations, Mark!!
     
  22. Jacky Nowle

    Jacky Nowle Member

    An observation

    With the amount of money that the HCPC has wasted on the Mark Russell case, where will they get the money from, oh an increase in our fees!
     
  23. blinda

    blinda MVP

    Re: Podiatrist: I’d go to jail to protect my patients

    It was an absolute pleasure to be there.

    Hope you`re busy changing all your letter heads to `The Artist Formerly Known As A Podiatrist` ;)
     
  24. blinda

    blinda MVP

    Re: An observation

    An improvement on Mark being liable for costs, wouldn`t you say? I assume, then, that you will also be writing to the Chair and Registrar of the HCPC to enquire what they intend to do regarding the highlighted limitations of Protection of Title, and encouraging our colleagues to do the same?
     
  25. Re: Podiatrist: I’d go to jail to protect my patients

    I for one would like to hear more details about what happened exactly at Mark's hearing. Can anyone provide more information for those who want to know?
     
  26. rosherville

    rosherville Active Member

    Re: Podiatrist: I’d go to jail to protect my patients

    Kevin

    Simplified, and I`m happy to be corrected.

    Mark pleaded guilty to breaching legislation but at the hearing evidence, previously agreed not to be presented, was presented. This resulted in a fine and outrageous costs.

    Mark then appealed the sentence and costs, this was accepted on the grounds that the evidence presented should not have been; the sentence and costs were 'set aside'.

    Mark now believes the legislation may not be mandatory. So it`s back to square one, waiting to see how the HCPC will proceed. It`s down to a point of law which must be decided or tested.

    Could be a costly business but if the prosecution fails the HCPC might as well not exist !

    My view has always been that if you had been practising for a number of years using a title, this could not be retrospectively changed (human rights); being only applicable to the newly qualified. Again this would need testing in the courts.

    Maybe we`re one step nearer to a General Podiatric Council !

    Regards
     
  27. Re: Podiatrist: I’d go to jail to protect my patients

    Hi Kevin,

    I'll do that gladly - just give me a few hours as I'm expecting some other developments.

    Best wishes
    Mark
     
  28. Re: Podiatrist: I’d go to jail to protect my patients

    Always delights to make you smile, John! :drinks
     
  29. Simon Ross

    Simon Ross Active Member

    Re: Podiatrist: I’d go to jail to protect my patients

    "I'll do that gladly - just give me a few hours as I'm expecting some other developments"


    Mark,

    a few hours or...... days? surely other developments can't take place over the weekend!
     
  30. Re: Podiatrist: I’d go to jail to protect my patients

    Kevin, et. al,

    The charge I faced under the Health Professions Order was misuse of title with intent to deceive, either expressly or implicitly. That is how it is written in Article 39.

    When I received the summons from the HCPC last March it contained the charge and a bundle of evidence gathered by two FtP case officers. In both bundles were separate evidence which suggested that since 2008, I not only had misused the title, I had done so by using a prefix – either HCPC/HPC/Registered or State or a combination of. This evidence I knew to be unsound.

    Since deregistering and notifying the registrar of my intention and decision, I took every precaution to remove all reference to these – for obvious reasons. I still consider myself a podiatrist and wasn’t going to be duplicitous and call myself something else to evade the regulation. But I wasn’t registered to the HPC or the State – so it was obvious that had to go. I wrote to the HPC case officer in 2008 and informed him that I had done so. My stationary, business cards, website all removed references to these prefix – and an explanation of my registration status was posted online and sent to all agencies. An explanation was necessary to my patients as many held health insurance policies that required HPC registration to qualify. Those patients who decided to stay with my practice – and that was the majority, I treated at the usual fee less their insurance contribution, which varied between 50 and 100%.

    Looking at evidence that suggested I had used these prefix in the date specified by the charge I knew had to be wrong. When I examined this evidence I noted it came directly and indirectly from an ex business associate – an osteopath from whom I rented a room. This evidence had been tampered with – letters purportedly coming from me had some of the various prefix added as well as my old registration number. Thankfully, I was able to trace the originals and retrieved them from GPs and patients and so, when I attended the court in May 2013 for the pleading diet, I pled not guilty.

    Just prior to the hearing I was approached by Counsel for the HCPC and two solicitors and asked if I had legal representation. Of course, I hadn’t. The next thing Counsel said to me was that “this was a very reluctant prosecution” – and that very much set the tone of that and subsequent discussions. I was asked what I intended to do – and on what grounds I intended to defend.

    I explained the only evidence in the summons papers I contested was that which suggested I had misused the titles by using the prefix – and the various websites that have been discussed previously – all historical to my deregistration. I produced the evidence to the Counsel and solicitors and they examined and discussed these together. I was then asked if that evidence was dropped, what would be my intention then. I advised them I would plead guilty.

    In front of the bench I submitted my plea of not guilty and I offered a skeleton argument which he accepted – namely that I wished to challenge the legislation. The plea was accepted and a trial date for 2 September was set.

    In court, following the hearing, I was again approached by Counsel for the HCPC and the solicitors and they suggested we work towards an accepted agreement of facts. On June 13 I had a four-way telephone call with the Counsel, and the two solicitors and I again reiterated my position that at no time had I deceived or misled anyone and that I had never used the prefix to the title since 2008. I was again assured that they fully understood and respected my position and they agreed to remove the evidence submitted by the osteopath as it was clearly unsound. On that basis, Counsel drew up a set of agreed facts and I indicated to the HCPC that I would be willing to change my plea. This was remitted to the court.

    After a few hics and ups a sentencing hearing was set for 11 November last year and I attended the City of London Magistrates Court where the charge that I had misused a professional title, namely shiropodist and podayatrist, to which I was not entitled – and of course I pled guilty.

    The Counsel for the HCPC then gave her case summary, which not only referenced the evidence that was struck out as unsound, but depicted me as a mischievous individual whose reason for committing this offence was unknown and that by doing so, I had, by implication, misled and deceived the public. My plea in mitigation – the text of which had only been given to the magistrates a few minutes earlier – fell on deaf ears and I was sentenced to pay a fine and costs.

    The basis of my appeal, letters to solicitors and the HCPC – and the nature of the prosecution have all been uploaded here and serves as a historical fact.

    In court four of the Old Bailey on Wednesday the crux of the appeal centred around the term ‘with intent to deceive’. This is an essential ingredient to the charge as it is written thus in Article 39.1(b) “a person commits and offence if he uses a title to which he is not entitled with intent to deceive, either expressly or implicitly.” You will also find this on the HCPC website in their press release of the case on 11 November. If you read the legislation closely, you will note that the ‘intent to deceive’ is integral to the charge. Without an intention to deceive, there is no offence.

    I could have used Former HPC Registered Podiatrist – or as Bel has suggested the Artist Formerly Known as a Podiatrists. AFK Podiatry – sounds pretty good. According to the Counsel on Wednesday, that would not be a breach of the legislation. But Podiatrist – with or without a prefix – is.

    What was vitally important was establishing the Means Rea – my intention at the time of committing the offence – and as the appeal was to change my plea – what was the reason(s) I changed my plea to guilty and what was was “in my head” at the time. I was asked to take the stand and take questions from both Counsels and the Judge. It was suggested by prosecuting counsel that I was a sophisticated man who knew fine that the charge had included an element which stated “intent to deceive”. I explained that throughout discussion and agreement with her - a sophisticated QC with a good understanding of the law - I was assured they knew that there had never been any attempt to deceive and that I had acted only in the interests of our patients. I was given the impression and had wrongly assumed that this part of the charge had been dropped and would not form any basis of the case from the time of agreement in June. I explained that when this issue of deception had raised during the prosecution’s case summary in November – I had been taken aback. In my view, she had not only misled me but misled the court.

    The first I knew I had been prosecuted with an offence with intent to deceive was when I was alerted to the HCPC Press Release on this site.

    What proved really critical, however, was something that the Judge noticed himself – a minor detail that we were not aware of. When the charge was read out by the clerk of court on November 11 – in papers prepared by the HCPC – the phrase “with intent to deceive” was not read out or included in the notes by the clerk. I only pled guilty of misuse of title – and that, I’m afraid, really isn’t an offence under this legislation.

    The appeal was upheld.

    Legally, the ball is back in the HCPC’s court. There are some political developments as I have been told to expect a letter from the Health Secretary – still waiting. But I shall be writing to the HCPC again to ask them for another meeting in the very near future to discuss how we go forward from here.

    If there is another case at the magistrates, it will not include the Counsel who prosecuted up until now as she has had her papers withdrawn. But if there is another case, it will be defended vigorously - but I really do hope that is the end of the matter. We shall see. At the end of this I have only one question for the regulator. What is really more important in a case such as this? To secure a conviction or to establish the facts and the truth? We shall see.

    http://www.blackpoolgazette.co.uk/news/crime/podiatrist-at-appeal-court-1-6468478

    Best wishes
    Mark
     
  31. blinda

    blinda MVP

    Re: Podiatrist: I’d go to jail to protect my patients

    Call me a cynic, but IMO the word `wrongly` was deliberatley misplaced by the HCPC before the word `assumed`, in the sentence highlighted in bold. It should have taken the more accurate position as a prefix to `given`.

    A calculated act? Who knows....
     
  32. Re: Podiatrist: I’d go to jail to protect my patients

    You are getting cynical. I put it down to bad company...
     
  33. blinda

    blinda MVP

    Re: Podiatrist: I’d go to jail to protect my patients

    I blame Iain Banks.
     
  34. Re: Podiatrist: I’d go to jail to protect my patients

    I blame your recent trip to Spain!
     
  35. Kaleidoscope

    Kaleidoscope Active Member

    Re: Podiatrist: I’d go to jail to protect my patients

    Mark

    Sorry to be so tardy in adding my comment to Bel's and saying what a pleasure it was to be watching as your guilty plea was removed and your costs etc. were set aside!

    I must say though that the copious amounts of wine consumed afterwards has left me a little (shall we say) fragile to say the least - but it was worth it for the lovely evening we all spent together afterwards and it was also very nice to meet Peter Graham!

    Do please keep us all posted as regards any more developments....

    Cheers

    Linda Russell
     
  36. Re: Podiatrist: I’d go to jail to protect my patients

    Thanks Kevin – you are gracious as ever. I would also like to thank someone else who you will not have heard of.

    There is always a motive behind these things – and a driving force. You are familiar with the former; this is the latter.

    When I was much younger – in my late teens, my real passion was climbing. Like Rob Kidd, I grew up and lived with it – and was fortunate enough to meet and climb with some of the very best in Scotland. Just before I started podiatry in Edinburgh in the summer of 1980 – I was up in Glencoe for the weekend on my motorbike – a Kawasaki Z1000 – and looking for a climbing partner and I found him in the Kingshouse Hotel in the middle of the glen. He was from Glasgow and a member of the Creag Dhu mountaineering club – a small man about mid forties at the time – quiet and very menacing looking. He asked for a lift back to Jacksonville – their club hut under the Buachaille Etive Mhor; the miniature Eiger at the head of the glen and a rock-climber’s paradise. If there was a comparable mountain in status in your part of the world it would be Half Dome.

    When I dropped him off late that Friday night he said “you climbing the morrow?” and that, I realised, was the invitation. I slept in my sleeping bag under the stars about half a mile away from Jacksonville that night, wondering what the next day would bring.

    It was August and very hot. By ten we were under the Rannoch Wall – about three-quarters of the way up the north face and were picking off the classic routes one by one. The hangover was long gone. Just after lunch, when the sun was at his hottest, we were sat at the foot of the wall again – a 800 feet 80 degrees slab of red rhyolite – when he suddenly announced. “Two rules you got to learn. Number one: you aye climb as if you didnae have a rope.” And with that he set off up another climb this time leaving the rope behind and climbing solo.

    Reluctantly I followed, but soon enough my attention was on the rock and not what the consequences were and before I knew it I was lying panting at the top. The old man was skinning up another fag and grinning like a cat and we laughed at the stupidity of it. When he was halfway down the cigarette he announced the second rule: “never climb up anything you can’t climb down” and with that he handed me the remainder of the cigarette and headed over the cliff unroped. I didn’t know what he had rolled and had taken a few puffs before I realised – it was my first (and unfortunately not the last) spliff I have had – and probably not the best preparation for what happened next, but after I stopped feeling sick, I followed him over the edge of the cliff and started climbing down. The route was called Agag’s Groove.

    Obviously I made it – but it was and remains the scariest thing I have ever done. Maybe the joint helped – his “Dutch courage” – as he called it later.

    That night we were back in the Kingshouse and celebrating with a few other members of the Glasgow Club. I was invited back to stay at their hut that night – something I regard as one of my greatest achievements by the way - but for a few hours more we racked up just about everything of the shelves behind the bar. I was driving the bike too – drink driving hadn’t been invented then – and could hardly stand when we crashed out the bar about midnight. All the other blokes drove back in a van, but the old man insisted on riding pillion and pulled on my spare helmet.

    I can’t remember driving up the single track road and onto the main road, but somewhere near the bridge over the River Coupal the bike suddenly started shaking violently and weaving across the road and I nearly lost it – and there was a car behind. I don’t know how we didn’t crash and sort of regained control when suddenly the shaking started again.

    This time I glanced in the mirror and I could see the old man was sitting up in the seat and was facing backwards. I thought he was just gesticulating drunkenly at the car behind – but then I realised he was scrapping at his helmet, trying to pull it off. He had been sick. In a full face helmet. Eventually he managed to pull up the visor before he drowned it the stuff – an evil mix of crème du month frappe, whisky, vodka, beer and mince pies – and succeeded in spraying a shaft of vomit over the traffic behind. What a man! As it was August and up the west coast of Scotland, whoever was in the car behind us would have been killed by the midges when they stopped the car.

    Later that night, when we had drank some more and I was playing guitar in the hut, I asked him about a climb I had done the previous winter – but had chickened-out on under a huge ice pitch. He had been the first ascentist. He said: “Sometimes it’s a leap of faith. Sometime you don't know where it’s going. You just make the move and hope it works out. Once you’re committed, you just got to keep the heid.”

    His name was Norrie Muir and it was some of the best advice I’ve ever received and I am most grateful to him this week.

    If you don't mind, I think a short leave of absence is required - catch you soon.

    Best wishes

    Mark
     
  37. Re: Podiatrist: I’d go to jail to protect my patients

    Thanks for the extra details, Mark. From what I can see, it makes absolutely sense to me as a Yankee podiatrist what is happening to you.

    I hope that whoever is going after you gets what they rightly deserve. One of the things I despise the most are seeing those who are "in power" trampling over those who aren't "in power", sometimes just for spite.

    Just tell me who I need to make up a voodoo doll for and I'll start pushing some pins into some very painful places for your accusers over here in California.;)
     
  38. Re: Podiatrist: I’d go to jail to protect my patients

    That first sentence of my last posting should have read:

    "Thanks for the extra details, Mark. From what I can see, it makes absolutely no sense to me as a Yankee podiatrist what is happening to you."

    It is nice to see someone like Mark Russell take up this cause and also to see that some of his UK podiatric colleagues are actively supporting him. However, it would also be nice to see more UK podiatrists support him more actively since it appears, at least from across the Atlantic, that Mark's cause is an honorable one and his actions demonstrate the high ideals that I would think deserve the support from all UK podiatrists.
     
  39. rosherville

    rosherville Active Member

    Re: Podiatrist: I’d go to jail to protect my patients

    Kevin

    You`d be surprised how much has been going on behind the scenes for a long period of time in objecting to the HCPC.

    it would also be nice to see more UK podiatrists support him more actively

    The only way you would be likely to see this is if many de-registered or let there registration lapse. For many this would mean losing their jobs, which I doubt you would advise !
    It would also mean they practised without professional indemnity, which would hardly suggest they had their patient`s best interests at heart.

    Regards
     
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