A NHS doctor who was suspended from her profession for taking part in climate protests with Just Stop Oil eco-zealots has today lost her appeal against the ruling.
Dr Sarah Benn was slapped with a five-month suspension by the General Medical Council (GMC) after the watchdog found her activism had impaired her fitness to practice.
The ‘well-liked’ family GP was jailed for 32 days in 2022 for breaching a court injunction when she took part in a protest outside the Kingsbury Oil Terminal in Warwickshire.
She was slammed when her suspension order was handed down in April last year for giving ‘no acknowledgement that what she has done was wrong’.
Now Dr Benn has failed in her appeal at the High Court against the ruling with a judge today throwing out her challenge.
Dr Benn had taken part in a number of Extinction Rebellion and Just Stop Oil protests, starting in October 2019, and from 2022 has taken part in a series of demonstrations outside the Kingsbury Oil Terminal, in Warwickshire.
A High Court injunction had banned such protests and she was arrested several times for ‘deliberate contravention of the injunction’.
It ended up with her being handed a 32 day jail term in September 2022, but despite spending time behind bars she vowed to continue her activism.
Dr Sarah Benn is prictured here taking part in a climate protest outside the Kingsbury Oil Terminal in Warwickshire
Dr Benn arrives at the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service in Manchester – April, 2024
The GMC, the watchdog overseeing the fitness to practice of medics in the UK, went on to find her guilty of misconduct and rule that her fitness to practice was impaired because of her climate activism.
Dr Benn, from Birmingham, West Midlands, claimed her actions were part of a doctor’s ‘fundamental duty is to protect health and life’.
But she was handed a five-month suspension from the medical register in April last year.
She went on to appeal against that ruling to the High Court, relying as part of her evidence on a survey signed by more than 1,000 doctors and other healthcare professionals.
It showed that ‘95% of participants felt that Dr Benn’s actions did not undermine the public’s trust in doctors and 96% disagreed with the conclusion that her fitness to practise was impaired’.
But Mrs Justice Yip, ruling on the case, today threw out the doctor’s challenge, saying the GMC panel was not wrong to find that Dr Benn’s continued commitment to potentially illegal climate protest amounted to misconduct.
The judge said the GMC panel’s finding that they saw Dr Benn’s ‘stated intention to continue to act outside the law as being incompatible with her status as a member of the profession’ could not be legitimately challenged.
Giving her ruling, the judge said: ‘Upholding the rule of law is essential to maintain the fabric of society and doctors have a role to play within that process. The public must be able to trust that doctors will always act within the law.’
Dr Benn was suspended from the medical register for five months after being jailed for 32 days after she took part in a Just Stop Oil protest
Dr Benn, from Birmingham, says she informed the General Medical Council and her employer after each arrest and argued that her actions are consistent with medical ethics
Going on to say that the ruling of misconduct and sanction could not be challenged, the judge concluded: ‘The finding that Dr Benn’s fitness to practise was impaired was not based merely on historical wrongdoing which fell below the standards of personal conduct expected of a doctor, but also took account of Dr Benn’s stated intention to continue to behave in the same way.
‘In my judgment, it is not wrong to regard Dr Benn’s conduct in repeatedly breaching the injunction – to the extent she was imprisoned – and her stated intention to continue to act outside the law as being incompatible with her status as a member of the profession, whatever her motivations for that.
‘The simple fact is that Dr Benn believes that it is appropriate to continue to take action that is unlawful to draw attention to her very real concerns about climate change. She minimises the impact of her actions on public resourcing.
‘It was reasonable to allow Dr Benn the opportunity to reflect on the impact of her stated intent to continue her misconduct on her standing as a medical professional.
‘Accordingly, I agree with the tribunal’s decision.’
Dr Benn ceased active clinical practice in 2022 but has remained on the medical register.
