Emzo,

You may recall that a few – 5 to 10 – years ago, a medical examiner in, I believe, the north of the UK came to the conclusion that several of the schoolchildren she had examined in the course of a routine school medical exam had been abused.

The children were, upon her legal authority, sent to temporary foster care.

When the mother and/or father came to school to pick their child up that afternoon, they were referred by the school staff to a Social Services representative who advised them that their child had been placed in temporary foster care “for the child’s safety”. One can only imagine how they felt.

I’m not making this up.

Eventually, of course, this mistake was resolved and the children were returned to their parents and homes. The medical examiner/practitioner was not prosecuted, because, under the laws at that time, she had the statutory authority to act as she did.

With authority comes responsibility, and unfortunately from time to time, the system breaks down. It breaks down worse sometimes than other times.

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Eudaimonia