The local branch of the doctors’ organisation said it had repeatedly warned of the risk to local services if Deputy St Pier continued to pursue the cases of families who believed they had been badly served by paediatric services.
It said that Deputy St Pier had ‘continued to undermine Dr Sandie Bohin’s reputation’ and this had ‘exacerbated all of these issues’, leaving the local medical profession facing a reputational and potential recruitment crisis, with local children’s safeguarding services disrupted.
‘Medical professionals in Guernsey have reported they are scared to speak out even when they know it is in patients’ best interests for fear of being attacked without the right of reply in Guernsey’s government,’ it said.
‘Having been warned about these consequences Deputy St Pier has continued to attack one of Guernsey’s most respected clinicians.’
The BMA said it was reassured to see the independent inquiry into Deputy St Pier’s actions had resulted in a recommendation of suspension from the States and has urged deputies to consider the facts of Standards Commissioner Dr Melissa McCullough’s report during debate next week.
It added that Dr Bohin had been ‘exonerated by robust formal governance investigations’ but the deputy continued to ‘pursue a vendetta’ against her.
She revealed yesterday that she intends to retire in March, which the BMA said ‘deprives Guernsey of an outstanding doctor prematurely’.
Dr Bohin said in a statement that the ‘unrelenting personal vilification and harassment’ from within the island had caused her and her family stress and upset and led her to decide to retire earlier than she had planned.
Her employer, the Medical Specialist Group, has also come out in support of Deputy St Pier’s proposed suspension. It said that paediatric doctors were now fearing political intervention if they made a child protection referral.
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