Suppressing the Press
Lapius
was busy underlining passages in the journal that lay open on his desk. “Something must grab you, Simon. I haven’t seen that since I was a medical
student.”
He
chuckled. “Chalk one up for the British
Medical Journal. A
landmark case, and possibly a warning of things to come.”
“Why
what’s going on across the briny?”
“An attempt at suppression of the fourth estate, the medical
fourth estate no less. You know the papers of late have been full of
the remarks by Whitehead, of the Nixon administration, and Agnew before him
which many have interpreted questioning bias of the news media. But to my knowledge there has never been a question about
the probity of medical journals.
Yet, one such occurred in England.”
“You
refer to the British Medical Journal headlines. Someone has threatened the
freedom of the British Medical Journal to publish what is sees fit?”
“Precisely,
Harry.”
“What
do they publish that’s so threatening?
Some scientific articles, a few case reports? What happened, did they latch on to a new Andromeda
strain? Did they unwittingly expose the
militaristic implications of the London Flu?
Is Scotland Yard breathing down their necks?”
“Nothing
so flamboyant, my boy, but serious
nonetheless.”
“I
can see someone trying to liven the old girl up a
bit. A few cartoons from Punch, or perhaps a few columns from the Village Voice, but
who would want to suppress it?”
“S.L. Drummond-Jackson, for one, Harry. It seems that he is
a practicing dentist who advocated the use of a new anesthetic procedure for
dental surgery. The subject was examined
by scientists who published their results in the British Medical Journal, and
who concluded that the anesthesia had side effects which may well have been the
cause of a number of deaths. I guess old
Drummond-Jackson felt that this sort of publicity would be detrimental to his
practice, so he sued the authors of the article as well as the British Medical
Association. He demanded that the
British Medical Journal publicly renounce its position and undertake ‘not to
publish any similar statements in the future’.”
“They
must have said some nasty things about Drummond-Jackson in print.”
“That’s
the strange part of it. It was a
completely objective article evaluating the worth of the anesthetic on the
basis of the facts at hand.”
“Then
it wouldn’t seem S.L. Drummond-Jackson had much of a case.”
“Of
course not, Harry. But you don’t need a
case to go to court. Taking someone to
court is like a game of chicken, a bullying tactic. If the defendant backs down and settles out
of court it’s been worth the effort.
That’s the basis of many malpractice cases. The threat is enough to force a favorable
settlement. But the British Medical
Journal is made of sterner stuff, and fought the case out in court. It was a long, drawn out affair, and even
with all their resources, S.L. Drummond-Jackson fought them to a
standstill. The case was so costly that
at one point one party or the other insured the life of the presiding judge in
case his death caused a mistrial.”
“Well,
I see the British Medical Journal is still sailing under its old masthead, so
they probably made out okay.”
“Barely. On
‘The
Defendants all recognize and acknowledge that the plaintiff is a man of the
highest integrity and skill and of outstanding ability as a dentist.’
“Note
Harry, they say nothing about him as an anesthetist. Then the Plaintiff made a statement:
‘The
Plaintiff for his part withdraws any allegation against the defendants or any
of them of dishonesty or impropriety.
Further, he recognizes and acknowledges that the British Medical Journal
has the right and duty to its readers and to the medical profession generally
to publish articles such as that submitted to them by the individual
defendants, and to comment on them.’
“Clearly a victory for freedom of the medical press and for
the British Medical Journal in particular.”
“Yes,
Harry, they must have made some strong points to squeeze that statement of
Drummond-Jackson, but it seems dangerous precedent. Hopefully, if any other such cases arise the
respective medical journals will show the same gumption as the British Medical
Journal. Otherwise we’ll be reading what
the Drummond-Jacksons and the advertisers would have us read, rather that the
free selection of scientific articles chosen on their merit.”
“Incidentally,
Harry, how are you coming with that paper you are writing?”
“Just
fine, Simon. Incidentally, would you do
me a favor?”
“What
is it my boy?”
“I
intend submitting it to the Archives.
You have some drag with the editor.
Would you write him a letter on my behalf?”
I
didn’t realize how strong Lapius was. He
had me by the scruff of the neck and was hustling me to the door. “I don’t know whether to throttle you or
leave you out with the cats,” he growled.