Climate protest GP loses High Court challenge against GMC suspension

A retired GP fighting her suspension from the medical register for taking part in climate change protests has had her appeal dismissed by the High Court.

Dr Sarah Benn, who took part in climate change protests at a Warwickshire oil terminal in 2022, was referred to the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS) for multiple breaches of a court order and was suspended for five months in April last year.

Following the tribunal’s decision, which prompted doctor leaders to voice concerns, the BMA committed to backing Dr Benn by funding the appeal against her suspension.

Today the High Court handed down judgment and dismissed the appeal brought by Dr Benn against the decision that she should be suspended from the medical register on the basis that her fitness to practise was impaired through misconduct.

In her judgement, Mrs Justice Yip said that the MPTS acted ‘proportionately’ in imposing a period of suspension allowing for the possibility of ‘demonstrating insight into the impact of a medical professional repeatedly acting outside the law’.

She said: ‘In my judgment, it is not wrong to regard Dr Benn’s conduct in repeatedly breaching the injunction (to the extent she was imprisoned) and her stated intention to continue to act outside the law as being incompatible with her status as a member of the profession, whatever her motivations for that.

‘It follows that I do not consider that the Tribunal were wrong to find that Dr Benn’s fitness to practise was impaired.’

The BMA said that this judgment is ‘naturally disappointing’ and will be ‘very worrying’ for doctors who want to express their concerns about the climate crisis.

BMA representative body chair Dr Latifa Patel said that doctors may be expected to adhere to the law, but that ‘we all know that there are circumstances in which a law can be unjust’.

She added: ‘Taking part in peaceful protest does not impact a doctor’s ability to practise medicine. The GMC needs to take a far more flexible and pragmatic approach.

‘Dr Benn is being punished twice for the same thing – and something that bears no influence on her clinical skills, ability or safety.

‘We will now be carefully considering the tribunal full judgement and any next steps, including grounds to appeal.’

GMC chief executive Charlie Massey said: ‘We note the High Court’s decision today to dismiss Dr Sarah Benn’s appeal against the five-month suspension imposed on her by a medical practitioners tribunal.

‘In a balanced and considered judgment Mrs Justice Yip found that Dr Benn’s conduct did amount to misconduct and emphasised that it was this conduct, not her beliefs, that had brought her before a medical practitioners tribunal.

‘The judgment concluded that in finding her fitness to practise impaired the tribunal had based their decision not merely on Dr Benn’s actions – which fell below the standards of personal conduct expected of a doctor – but also on her intention to continue breaking the law.

‘The judge also agreed that a doctor’s status as a trusted professional is called into question if they not only break the law but refuse to be bound by the law.

‘We agree that climate change is one of the greatest threats facing us all, particularly given the serious threat a changing climate poses to human health and wellbeing.’

In November, Health for Extinction Rebellion together with doctors and activists petitioned the GMC to reverse Dr Benn’s suspension and the suspension faced by another GP, Dr Diana Warner, who took part in a climate protest blocking the M25 motorway and was suspended for three months following an MPTS hearing in August. 

The GMC published a document in the summer clarifying the threshold for investigating doctors who protest, saying that they have the ‘right to campaign’ but ‘must follow the law.’

Mr Massey added: ‘Our guidance is clear that doctors, like all citizens, have a right to express their personal opinions on important issues like climate change, and there is nothing in our guidance that prevents them from exercising their right to lobby government and campaign – including taking part in protests.

‘Our recently updated professional standards for all UK doctors, Good medical practice, also includes a new sustainability commitment, with a specific duty that all doctors should choose sustainable solutions.

‘However, patients and the public have a high degree of trust in doctors, and that trust can be put at risk when doctors fail to comply with the law.’

Dr Benn wrote for Pulse about her suspension, and she also wrote for Pulse in 2022 about her experiences in a women’s prison, saying she ended up there because she made clear to the judge that she felt no remorse and had every intention of returning to protest again.

Earlier this month, a Bristol GP who took part in a climate protest damaging petrol pumps was sentenced to 12 months in prison.