CHILD SEX ABUSE DOCTOR FAILS IN COURT BID
Dr Marietta Higgs yesterday failed in her application for a High Court injunction blocking planned disciplinary action by the Northern Regional Health Authority for her role in the Cleveland child sex abuse affair.In a reserved judgment in London, Mr Justice Hutchison said the health authority's decision to take action based on the findings of the Butler-Sloss report "cannot be seriously criticised".
The issues involved in the case had already been "very fully investigated" by the inquiry and there were "no grounds" for granting her application.
Dr Higgs, who sat in court throughout the hour-long judgment, made no comment as she left the court.
But her counsel had told the judge she was "minded to appeal".
The health authority was awarded costs and undertook to "endeavour" to continue Dr Higgs' secondment to a threatened post at a hospital in Newcastle, where she went after the affair, until the appeal had been heard.
Following the Cleveland inquiry report in 1988, the regional health authority made a disciplinary decision preventing her from continuing her work in Cleveland or any child abuse-related work anywhere in the region, even to care for newborns praised in the inquiry report.
Dr Higgs decided to challenge this decision in court.
The secretary of the Medical Protection Society stated they would support her appeal, noting that since the Cleveland inquiry, she has worked in Newcastle caring for premature babies and has not been involved in diagnosing or caring for abused children.
The case revolves around her role in the controversial Cleveland child sex abuse investigation and subsequent disciplinary actions against her, which were upheld by the court, with support from her professional body for an appeal.
