Events | 2009.12.20
UK libel law has gagged me, says leading Danish radiologist
A leading medical scientist is refusing to speak in England about findings from his work because he fears being sued for libel. Henrik Thomsen, a Danish radiologist, has said the health of patients in England is being put at serious risk because he and other scientists are prevented from sharing their knowledge, due to what they see as an increasingly draconian atmosphere in London\'s libel courts.
His decision follows a claim against him in the high court from a subsidiary of the conglomerate General Electric, which alleges Thomsen defamed it at a conference of his peers in Oxford in 2007 by warning that a drug manufactured by GE Healthcare had potentially fatal side-effects. Thomsen told the other scientists that Omniscan, a contrast agent used to improve the legibility of MRI scans, caused a potentially fatal condition in some patients with kidney problems. He claimed the problem – nephrogenic systemic fibrosis (NSF) – emerged in around 30 patients where he worked at Copenhagen University hospital.
GE Healthcare is understood to have already run up legal bills of more than £380,000 pursuing Thomsen, even though the case is unlikely to reach court for 18 months. Thomsen will have to meet the company\'s costs, which are likely to increase significantly, if he loses the case.
His defence lawyers, Carter Ruck, have written to Jack Straw, the justice secretary, pointing out that although the potential side-effects of Omniscan have been publicly discussed on television and in the press in Denmark, and in the press in the US, there has been no legal action taken in either territory.
Straw has announced plans to review England\'s libel laws, which he has said have "a chilling effect" on democracy.
"I am not giving lectures any more in the UK where it seems you can be sued for telling the truth," said Thomsen. "This is serious for me and my family, serious for patients and serious for society as a whole. My lecture in Oxford was about what I experienced over 18 months, and that story can\'t be changed. We thought we had an excellent drug and it turned out we disabled a lot of patients. The only way to improve treatment for other patients is to share this knowledge."
GE Healthcare alleges Thomsen claimed it marketed Omniscan despite knowing about its adverse side-effects. It alleges he claimed the firm suppressed the information and concealed it from radiologists, and was therefore guilty of exposing patients who used the drug to a condition that causes tightening of the skin. It claims that Thomsen may also have defamed the company "by way of innuendo".
The proceedings relate to a 15-minute presentation made by Thomsen to between 30 to 40 people at a "management in radiology" conference in Oxford in October 2007, and statements made in an article published in Thomsen\'s name in Imaging Management, a specialist magazine for managers in the field of radiology, with a circulation of about 1,000 copies within the jurisdiction of the English court.
Thomsen\'s lawyer, Andrew Stephenson, said his client\'s defence would be that the presentation and article were covered by qualified privilege, which can protect freedom of speech.
He said Thomsen would argue he had a duty to report his experience in managing the crisis which arose at his hospital when the link arose between Omniscan and NSF, and his audience had a legitimate interest in receiving that information.
GE Healthcare claims the privilege does not apply because he acted maliciously.
"We are defending the integrity of General Electric against comment which we believe are defamatory," the firm said. "We wrote to Henrik Thomsen and asked him to retract his statements in writing. This is not something we have done lightly."
Omiscan is one of several contrast agents sold by GE .
The company said more than 120m doses of its range had been sold in the last 20 years, and 99.5% of patients suffered no side-effects.
For more information, please visit
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2009/d[...]ntist-libel-law-henrik-thomsen
