Chapman free to work again

Chapman: Can practise medicine again

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The doctor at the centre of the Harlequins 'Bloodgate' scandal has avoided being struck off by the General Medical Council.

Dr Wendy Chapman deliberately cut the lip of Quins winger Tom Williams to cover up a faked blood injury in their 2009 Heineken Cup quarter-final with Leinster and later lied about her role in the incident.

A GMC disciplinary panel said that Dr Chapman's actions were not in the best interests of her patient but ruled that her fitness to practise medicine has not been impaired.

Dr Chapman was suspended by the GMC last September and faced being struck off at the hearing in Manchester.

Panel chairman Dr Brian Alderman stated that Dr Chapman was guilty of "serious misconduct" but said that she was "severely depressed" at the time of the incident.

State of mind

He also said that she would not have acted the way she did if it was not for her "altered state of mind".

He added: "The panel has concluded that, while at the times these events occurred your fitness to practise was impaired, looking forward, your fitness to practise is currently not impaired.

"You do not pose any risk to patients or the public. The panel accepts that there is a public interest in retaining the services of a good doctor."

The panel will consider whether or not to issue a warning to the doctor on Wednesday while legal representatives of Dr Chapman say she will not comment publicly on the hearing until then.

Dr Alderman said that Dr Chapman's mental health has shown a clear improvement following treatment, stating she is "much better now" and not now suffering from depression.

Better

"You have said you feel better now than you have for years," he said.

"The prognosis for the future is good and the panel accepts the medical opinion that you will in the future be aware if your mental state begins to deteriorate.

"Normally such misconduct could be expected to result in a finding of impaired fitness to practise.

"However, the circumstances of this case are wholly exceptional in that the expert medical evidence suggests that in the absence of depression you would have not acted in this way."

The panel accepted expert evidence that Dr Chapman would not have held back information about the incident for so long if she was not depressed at the time.

Dr Alderman then concluded that she was unlikely to repeat the behaviour after admitting her actions were wrong and having full insight of the events.