For that, the Medical Council found my comments “objectively racist” and put me through a year of ‘re-education’ that I was expected to pay for myself. In the process, New Zealand lost a GP with almost 40 years’ experience and a deep commitment to genuine patient care.
I’ve just told the whole story on the Free Speech Union’s Free to Speak podcast, which you can watch here:
Dr David Smylie spent almost 40 years as a doctor in Britain, Australia, the US and New Zealand, including two years in Aboriginal health in the Australian outback. By 2022 he was a senior partner at Cambridge Medical Centre in the Waikato. This article was sourced HERE
Click to view
Here’s how it started
I’ve practised medicine in Britain, Australia, the US and New Zealand, including two years providing care to Aboriginal Australians in the Outback. In 2022, I was a senior partner at Cambridge Medical Centre in the Waikato. I had a blemish-free record.
That November, a sales rep from a nutrition company emailed me and other health professionals an invitation to a sponsored education evening. Her email opened “Ate Marie Everyone”. She meant “ata mārie,” meaning “good morning.”
I’m a Scot with a dry sense of humour, and I couldn’t resist the typo. I replied the moment I read it:
Click to view
Was it wise? No, and I wish I hadn’t sent it. It was a hasty, knee-jerk reaction to the language in her email, not a calculated attack on her. It was also private: it went to her alone, and none of the other invitees were copied in. And she was a sales rep, not a patient or a colleague. I didn’t think it was a big deal, and it never crossed my mind that I might hear from the Medical Council over it.
Nine days later she wrote back saying it was “offensive and inappropriate”. That same day, her manager reported me to the Medical Council.
Then the Medical Council got involved
I did what I thought a sensible professional should do. I didn’t argue. I went along with the process. I regretted doing so later.
Within days I’d written to the Council with an apology for her, and in January my lawyers asked for it to be passed on.
In February 2023, before the Council had even referred my case for investigation, I did three online courses off my own bat, on bias in health care, disability equity and cultural competency. Five or six months later, the committee investigating me would demand I send them a written critique of what I’d learned.
In May the Council appointed a Professional Conduct Committee to investigate me. They interviewed the rep and her manager. The rep told the committee an apology would have made her feel a lot better. Mine was sitting in the Medical Council’s file, and nobody had told her.
When the committee’s chair suggested she might meet me face to face, one of the other members jumped in and warned her off. Meeting someone like me could be bad for her mental health: “…a bit hard, isn’t it? Traumatising?” And in the same breath: “it’s tough calling out racism.”
I could have appeared before the committee in person. But having read those transcripts, I didn’t believe I’d get a fair hearing. In August my lawyers asked again for my apology to be passed on. Still nothing.
So why was my apology never passed on? First, because she hadn’t been the one who had complained, the Council had “no basis” to pass it on. Then the Committee made her a formal complainant anyway, but decided that passing on my apology would “interfere with an active investigation”. Their own investigation. Finally, they ruled that an apology only has value if it’s made directly, at the time, and therefore refused to pass mine on at all. You really couldn’t make it up.
The verdict
In September 2023, the Committee delivered its verdict. My comments were “objectively racist, offensive, and insensitive”. Whether I’d meant any harm was “of little consequence”. My four sentences even had “the potential to contribute to current health inequities”. The three courses I’d done unprompted were only “the beginning of your journey”, and I lacked “insight”.
Click to view
It acknowledged that my practice had “not yet received a complaint” about my care. Note the “yet”. Even so, it couldn’t rule out that I’d be a risk in future, especially to the Māori community and to patients “whose gender expression is important”. That last part came from my remark about pronouns.
The committee’s remedy was “counselling”. In practice, that meant what I’d call twelve months of reprogramming. The Council called it an “Educational Programme”. I had to see a Council-approved supervisor every month, and the supervisor reported on me to the Council every month.
There were readings on Te Tiriti, colonisation and institutional racism, discussion of “the concept of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) as a concept”, and strategies for managing my “implicit biases (which are inevitable)”. If the supervisor reported badly on me, my case would go back to the Council.
At the end I was to write two essays: 500 words reflecting on my email, and 1,000 on structural racism in New Zealand health care. And I was expected to pay for all of it: $125 an hour plus GST for the supervisor, plus their travel time and petrol.
Click to view
As it turned out, I didn’t pay the supervisor a cent. The Council eventually agreed that one of my partners at the practice, who had a lot of experience teaching students and trainees, could take on the role, and she kindly didn’t charge me. (I made sure a few bottles of very good wine and some flowers came her way at the end.)
But that doesn’t change the principle: the Council expected me to pay for my own punishment.
Before the programme started, I’d managed to apologise to the sales rep directly, and she had accepted. My lawyers told the Council, and asked for the programme to be halved and the essays dropped. It went ahead anyway. I sat through all twelve sessions.
But, out of principle, I would not write those essays.
So I left New Zealand
So, I left. I’m now practising overseas. I’m told I might be allowed to work in New Zealand again if I write them. Clearly, that is not going to happen.
Those two years were a living nightmare. I lost more than 10kg and a great many nights’ sleep, over something a sensible regulator would have settled with a quiet word.
At a time when Health NZ are reporting severe staffing shortages, and are looking to bring in staff from overseas, I have to be blunt: based on my experience, I would not advise any health professional to work in New Zealand until the regulators get back to their core purposes.
The Free Speech Union is asking for regulators to stay neutral and stick to their core purpose and function of keeping patients safe, and I hope that spares the next doctor or nurse in my position.
Back the FSU’s call for neutral regulators
I loved living and working in New Zealand, and it really saddened me to have to leave in the circumstances that I did.
Best wishes,
Dr David Smylie
Former senior partner | Cambridge Medical Centre
Here’s how it started
I’ve practised medicine in Britain, Australia, the US and New Zealand, including two years providing care to Aboriginal Australians in the Outback. In 2022, I was a senior partner at Cambridge Medical Centre in the Waikato. I had a blemish-free record.
That November, a sales rep from a nutrition company emailed me and other health professionals an invitation to a sponsored education evening. Her email opened “Ate Marie Everyone”. She meant “ata mārie,” meaning “good morning.”
I’m a Scot with a dry sense of humour, and I couldn’t resist the typo. I replied the moment I read it:
Click to view
Was it wise? No, and I wish I hadn’t sent it. It was a hasty, knee-jerk reaction to the language in her email, not a calculated attack on her. It was also private: it went to her alone, and none of the other invitees were copied in. And she was a sales rep, not a patient or a colleague. I didn’t think it was a big deal, and it never crossed my mind that I might hear from the Medical Council over it.
Nine days later she wrote back saying it was “offensive and inappropriate”. That same day, her manager reported me to the Medical Council.
Then the Medical Council got involved
I did what I thought a sensible professional should do. I didn’t argue. I went along with the process. I regretted doing so later.
Within days I’d written to the Council with an apology for her, and in January my lawyers asked for it to be passed on.
In February 2023, before the Council had even referred my case for investigation, I did three online courses off my own bat, on bias in health care, disability equity and cultural competency. Five or six months later, the committee investigating me would demand I send them a written critique of what I’d learned.
In May the Council appointed a Professional Conduct Committee to investigate me. They interviewed the rep and her manager. The rep told the committee an apology would have made her feel a lot better. Mine was sitting in the Medical Council’s file, and nobody had told her.
When the committee’s chair suggested she might meet me face to face, one of the other members jumped in and warned her off. Meeting someone like me could be bad for her mental health: “…a bit hard, isn’t it? Traumatising?” And in the same breath: “it’s tough calling out racism.”
I could have appeared before the committee in person. But having read those transcripts, I didn’t believe I’d get a fair hearing. In August my lawyers asked again for my apology to be passed on. Still nothing.
So why was my apology never passed on? First, because she hadn’t been the one who had complained, the Council had “no basis” to pass it on. Then the Committee made her a formal complainant anyway, but decided that passing on my apology would “interfere with an active investigation”. Their own investigation. Finally, they ruled that an apology only has value if it’s made directly, at the time, and therefore refused to pass mine on at all. You really couldn’t make it up.
The verdict
In September 2023, the Committee delivered its verdict. My comments were “objectively racist, offensive, and insensitive”. Whether I’d meant any harm was “of little consequence”. My four sentences even had “the potential to contribute to current health inequities”. The three courses I’d done unprompted were only “the beginning of your journey”, and I lacked “insight”.
Click to view
It acknowledged that my practice had “not yet received a complaint” about my care. Note the “yet”. Even so, it couldn’t rule out that I’d be a risk in future, especially to the Māori community and to patients “whose gender expression is important”. That last part came from my remark about pronouns.
The committee’s remedy was “counselling”. In practice, that meant what I’d call twelve months of reprogramming. The Council called it an “Educational Programme”. I had to see a Council-approved supervisor every month, and the supervisor reported on me to the Council every month.
There were readings on Te Tiriti, colonisation and institutional racism, discussion of “the concept of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) as a concept”, and strategies for managing my “implicit biases (which are inevitable)”. If the supervisor reported badly on me, my case would go back to the Council.
At the end I was to write two essays: 500 words reflecting on my email, and 1,000 on structural racism in New Zealand health care. And I was expected to pay for all of it: $125 an hour plus GST for the supervisor, plus their travel time and petrol.
Click to view
As it turned out, I didn’t pay the supervisor a cent. The Council eventually agreed that one of my partners at the practice, who had a lot of experience teaching students and trainees, could take on the role, and she kindly didn’t charge me. (I made sure a few bottles of very good wine and some flowers came her way at the end.)
But that doesn’t change the principle: the Council expected me to pay for my own punishment.
Before the programme started, I’d managed to apologise to the sales rep directly, and she had accepted. My lawyers told the Council, and asked for the programme to be halved and the essays dropped. It went ahead anyway. I sat through all twelve sessions.
But, out of principle, I would not write those essays.
So I left New Zealand
So, I left. I’m now practising overseas. I’m told I might be allowed to work in New Zealand again if I write them. Clearly, that is not going to happen.
Those two years were a living nightmare. I lost more than 10kg and a great many nights’ sleep, over something a sensible regulator would have settled with a quiet word.
At a time when Health NZ are reporting severe staffing shortages, and are looking to bring in staff from overseas, I have to be blunt: based on my experience, I would not advise any health professional to work in New Zealand until the regulators get back to their core purposes.
The Free Speech Union is asking for regulators to stay neutral and stick to their core purpose and function of keeping patients safe, and I hope that spares the next doctor or nurse in my position.
Back the FSU’s call for neutral regulators
I loved living and working in New Zealand, and it really saddened me to have to leave in the circumstances that I did.
Best wishes,
Dr David Smylie
Former senior partner | Cambridge Medical Centre
Dr David Smylie spent almost 40 years as a doctor in Britain, Australia, the US and New Zealand, including two years in Aboriginal health in the Australian outback. By 2022 he was a senior partner at Cambridge Medical Centre in the Waikato. This article was sourced HERE
16 comments:
You have done nothing wrong. You come from a country whose national pastime is making fun of the English. The English in turn are presently imprisoning people for similar communications with respect of migrants. The West has gone mad and you are a victim.
This is outrageous. I sent a similar humorous email to family members , when one member on my husbands side went completely woke and was tracing and informing us all of some distant Maori heritage. It was also at the beginning of all this nonsense. It's simply a reaction to virtue signallers.
I’m a fifth generation kiwi with seventh generation grandchildren and totally disgusted at what my country has become. The gutless medical council is only one of many organisations crawling with woke imbeciles tolerated by weak politicians.
Thanks to a very stupid medical Rep and her pathetic boss, NZ has lost a valuable asset. I hope that their business is widely made known and treated with distain in the market place.
DON'T offer to apologise.
DON'T agree to any political re-education.
DON'T give an inch.
STAND AND FIGHT and give it to the marxofascist bastards as best you can and get as much publicity for your case as you can.
NEVER SURRENDER. NEVER CAPITULATE.
This is how they treat heretics.
I always reply to any communications with
-'can you please resend with the communication in full English, as I may have missed to context in the non-English part'.
Maybe I need to go to a NZ University, or now-a Sydney Uni, for further education (indoctrination), or will a 'camp' be available soon (depending on an election?).
I expect there are some perfectly reasonable people on the Medical Council who have been bullied, intimidated, threatened to agree the the prime leaders of this debacle.
Stand up , push back.
Even blind Freddie can see where NZ is heading and it's a disaster.
To Barend V at 8.09: Agreed, push back hard.
Once the other side can see they're in for a fight, they'll be like the Royal Society of NZ with the Listener 7 - they will see their position is indefensible and will climb down with red faces.
My position is this:-
I respect all people equally, but when it comes to communication:-
I am not deaf
I am not Maori
I am not blind
I am not Chinese
Therefore, I do NOT use sign language, Māori (Te Reo), braille or Mandarin.
However I fully accept and respect that some people need or prefer to use these languages.
All I ask is that I do not have any of these forced upon me.
It is as simple as that !!
The Red Guards appear to have established a NZ chapter.
Off to the Gulag with anyone who disagrees with the management - to the gulag for re-education, until you comply with the indoctrination.
This is truly Soviet style manipulation of our citizens.
How has NZ come to this?
Why do we ordinary citizens allow this ?
Friends elsewhere in the world are in disbelief when I tell them about these mandates from Maori and woke leftists.
Anonymous 5.04 is spot on. The reason we arrived at this despotic state is because we have piss weak politicians who are totally subservient and side with every wacko in order to preserve their own precious careers over their constituents best interests.
A proportion of medical people , refusing to give into this tyrannical behaviour are now in alternative health focusing on patient self care and non pharmaceutical approaches. I entirely commend Dr David , but the corruption of the medical establishment is evident in many areas . The forced covid vaccine was a real revelation, of the power they have .
As a uni. student I worked in a Seaside Extension Mental hospital and saw real horrors of women who had been institutionalized by husbands , supported by the 'family' doctor, because the husband wanted a divorce .
The whole medical establishment frightens me and has done so for decades .Far too much power. It is disgraceful doctors are not coming out en masse to fight this .Then there are the medical staff who managed to get jab exemptions for themselves. I would rather live in poverty than give into this totalitarianism . Like Nazi Germany , surely there will be a reconning , eventually.
Wow, what a sook. My three year old toddler also hates it when he gets caught out. He’ll mature and get better at taking responsibility for his actions as he grows up.
Well, I've been around a while and had more than a fair share of te reo forced upon me, but never previousy before have I seen "ata marie". Confronted with "ate marie", I would have dismissed it immediately as something not worthy of a moment's attention or, alternatively, if time was available, probably worthy of a piss-take along the lines as the good Dr responded. Whomsoever sent that out on a corporate letterhead/email deserves a reprimand. if not more. If you're going to pedal such pidgin nonsense, at least get it correct, Personally, I'd go out of my way to avoid dealing with such an outfit if this was their MO.
But really, the real woke idiots are those on the Medical Council's PCC. They ought to be hung, drawn, and quartered for deviating from the purpose of their existence. Talk about overreach - and up there with our RS's position on the Listener 7. All I can say is, that swamp needs to be drained - along with many of our other 'professional' governance bodies who have sucked on the Kool-aid of woke.
NZ, and the world really, simply has too many stupid people .... And stupid people know, fundamentally, that they are stupid and wield their petty power that reinforces their stupidity (which they don't realize, being stupid).
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