A court has ruled that a doctor’s fitness to practice was impaired due to misconduct after she took part in a number of protests against Just Stop Oil.
Dr Sarah Benn, a GP in Birmingham until 2022, was arrested after taking part in protests at Kingsbury oil terminal, Warwickshire.
The General Medical Council (GMC) said the proceedings were not brought in response to his participation in protests, but because his actions broke the law and resulted in his imprisonment.
The court said it must now consider what sanction, if any, should be imposed on the doctor’s registration.
Dr Benn said that as a doctor she had a moral duty to take action to protect life and health and that the climate emergency was a health emergency that was “happening now”.
In court, the 57-year-old referred to the British Medical Journal and said it called on governments and leaders to take urgent action on climate change, particularly those in wealthier countries like the United Kingdom. United.
She also argued that there was evidence that nonviolent direct action helped change policy and law, and that this had been proven by history, citing the example of the suffragette movement.
She added: “How could my patients trust me again if I didn’t act to address the greatest health crisis we face?”
Ms Rolfe, acting as counsel on behalf of the GMC, said Dr Benn’s conduct had brought the profession into disrepute because she had broken the law by failing to comply with the injunction against protests at the oil terminal in Kingsbury on several occasions.
She added that Dr Benn’s fitness to practice was impaired because his conduct did not warrant patients’ confidence in the profession.
Ms Rolfe argued that it was not the participation in protests that posed a problem for the GMC, but the risk to public trust and respect for doctors by seeing a doctor flouting the law and openly declaring his intention to continue to break the law.
She added that although Dr. Benn had said that there may be members of the public who, now and in the future, will agree with what she did, there will also have groups in society, “who will disagree, will not understand, and I will never be able to understand.”
The court said in its findings: “The public must be able to trust that doctors will always act within the law. »
The hearing focused on three peaceful Just Stop Oil protests held outside the Kingsbury Oil Terminal on April 26, 2022, May 4, 2022 and September 14, 2022.
An injunction had already been granted against people taking part in protests against climate change in the terminal’s locality.
A High Court judge sentenced Dr Benn to eight days’ remand in custody for the events of April 26 and May 4, after she failed to respond to bail on May 4 and attended a demonstration at the terminal.
On September 14, Dr. Benn was arrested along with 51 others after obstructing a private access road, preventing vehicles from entering and exiting the terminal.
As a result, she was sentenced to 32 days in prison.
Dr Benn spent most of her career as a GP in Birmingham city centre, as well as a GP trainer and undergraduate tutor.
During the pandemic she has worked remotely for NHS 111, Worcestershire COVID Management Service, and onsite in her practice.
She continued to work as a GP at Hollyoaks Medical Center in Birmingham until 2022, ceasing her clinical work in April 2022 and relinquishing her license to practice in August 2022.
Dr. Benn said that since 2022, she has dedicated the majority of her time to environmental activism and volunteering.
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