A retired general practitioner has become the second doctor to have his medical licence suspended after being convicted of a non-violent offence during a peaceful climate change protest.
Dr Diana Warner, who has worked as a general practitioner in clinics around Bristol for 35 years, was sentenced to a total of six weeks in prison for twice breaching a civil protest ban order banning her from disrupting traffic on the M25, in 2021 and 2022. She was also sentenced to six weeks in prison in 2022 for glueing her hands to the courtroom during an arraignment at East London Magistrates’ Court.
Ms Warner told a Medical Practitioners’ Tribunal convened by the British Medical College (GMC) last week that she had taken part in “peaceful civil resistance” because of the government’s failure to protect people from the existential threat of climate change. But her barrister for the GMC argued that her actions “deserved to be described as deplorable by her fellow doctors and she has brought the medical profession into disrepute”.
The tribunal found nothing wrong with her clinical conduct but ruled that “her decision to participate in misconduct is likely to cause some patients to question her judgement and may undermine patients’ confidence in her as a doctor”.
The sentence comes after Dr Sarah Benn, a retired general practitioner from Birmingham, had her medical licence suspended for five months in April. Dr Benn was jailed for 32 days for breaching a separate private citizen’s order by protesting on the grass verge of Kingsbury Oil Terminal and sitting in a driveway in 2022. Dr Benn is currently appealing the decision with the support of the British Medical Association (BMA).
The first GP will face a similar tribunal next year. Another Bristol-based GP, Dr Patrick Hart, has multiple convictions for non-violent climate activism, one of which was a suspended sentence. Dr Hart has refused a formal warning from the GMC which means he will face a hearing in February next year and could prevent him from practising medicine.
Dr Emma Runswick, vice chair of the BMA council, said doctors should not be prevented from taking part in peaceful protests. “We warned that Dr Benn’s sentence sets a dangerous precedent by conflating an unrelated prison sentence with a doctor’s ability to provide good quality, safe care and maintain public trust. And now we are once again faced with a decision made about something that has no direct connection to patient care or clinical skills,” she said.
She called on the GMC to reconsider its decision to prosecute Ms Warner: “She has already been punished and to suspend her medical licence now is nothing more than a malicious attempt to discredit her skills and record.”
Some doctors say the medical regulator has not learned from its tough stance on breaking the law: this year the GMC apologised to at least 40 gay doctors who had been convicted and sanctioned under laws criminalising male homosexuality.
Ms Warner said the experience of being cross-examined was “frightening” and had left her with sleepless nights. She said she had tried every avenue to change government policy, including running as a parliamentary candidate for the Green Party.
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“The GMC failed to understand the context of my actions,” she said. “They argued in court that doctors must always comply with the law. But this is a dangerous stance. As a second-generation Holocaust survivor, I know that there are times when it is right to disobey the law or orders. We are not sending people to gas chambers, but failure to reduce emissions will lead to millions of deaths.”
The GMC said Warner had been automatically referred to court because he had a criminal conviction and received a prison sentence. “Doctors, like all members of the public, have the right to express their personal opinions on issues including climate change,” said Anthony Omo, the GMC’s director of medical qualifications. “But when a doctor’s protest leads to breaking the law, doctors must understand that it is their actions, not their motives, that will be scrutinised. Patients and the public place a high level of trust in doctors – that trust may be at risk if doctors fail to comply with the law.”
