Letter: No law against bogus doctors

WHY DID the exposure of Dr Thomas Courtney, who was practising as a gynaecologist in Harley Street without specialist qualifications, cause outrage?

Anyone would think (and I imagine most people do) that there is a law that says to call yourself a specialist in private medicine you have to have the necessary training and experience to do so. Ludicrous as it is, there is no such statute.

I do not doubt that each of Courtney's victims had a distressing experience but there is far worse going on. For years it has been known that self-appointed surgeons with no appropriate training have been carrying out life-threatening surgery, usurping the skills of the consultant plastic surgeon.

Some of their unwitting victims have been paralysed and disfigured for life, and yet this barbaric practice is acceptable within law. Ironically, animals have better protection than people. Only qualified veterinary surgeons are allowed to operate on dumb creatures but where human beings are concerned, anyone can have a go.

That's what I call outrageous.

John Terry

The National Hospital for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery

Bromsgrove, Worcester