When giants fight

Abstract

The gloves are off as the bout between Barts and the Royal London Hospital enters its final round. Whether Barts' services will move to the Royal London's site by 2000 will soon be known. In the meantime, the protagonists are fighting for all they're worth, and the contest has become even dirtier than before. Thanks to the press, the public has a ringside seat. In a story headlined “Top doctor accused of cancer errors” the Sunday Times alleged that misdiagnoses by pathologist Professor Sir Colin Berry eight years ago resulted in two patients having unnecessary mastectomies (6 November 1994). Last summer Berry “was given the most senior job in Britain's medical schools, becoming the first warden of the newly amalgamated St Bartholomew's and London School of Medicine.” Next day the Evening Standard reported that doctors were “furious at the way the 12-man appointments committee for the warden's job knew of the mistakes, but decided nevertheless to award it to Sir Colin.” What concerned a Barts representative was “Whether there was a deliberate attempt to conceal the error, in order to make what many of us regard as another political appointment driving the nails into the coffin of Bart's.” A …