Doris Jones’ article (WDDTY, vol 12 no 5) most succinctly put the position I and my patients found ourselves in as the result of the kangaroo-court methods of the General Medical Council (GMC); and now we learn that Dr Peter Mansfield has also had to face the special brand of rough justice handed out by the Internal Orders Committee (IOC) of the GMC. He has fought the injustice with determination and vigour, but may be left hanging in suspense for months or even years, another form of abuse favoured by the GMC.

Unbelievably, the chairman of the IOC actually declares that they are not there to hear the evidence and so may, at a stroke, destroy a doctor’s practice and, as in my case, place hundreds of patients at risk without any evidence of wrongdoing at all.

This is not injustice; this is no justice at all, and the GMC is free to ride rough-shod - with no checks or balances - over all normal standards of judicial practice.

Public pressure must be applied to hold the GMC to account. I can no longer practice; I am financially ruined and so unable to defend myself, but I am preparing a book to help all those who suffer from these disorders to learn enough to help themselves. Patients need to enlist a sympathetic approach from their own doctors who are at present too frightened by the GMC and by complaints - not from patients, but from other doctors (as in the case of Dr Mansfield and myself) - to have the courage to listen to their patients.-Dr Barry Peatfield, Surrey