'Bloodgate' doctor free to continue working

A doctor who deliberately cut the lip of a Harlequins rugby player to cover up a fake injury can continue to practise medicine, the English General Medical Council has ruled.

Wendy Chapman admitted cutting the lip of Harlequins winger Tom Williams after he was substituted during the English premiership club's Heineken Cup quarter final loss to Leinster in April 2009.

Williams had chewed on a fake blood capsule to force a late blood replacement substitution, allowing a specialist goalkicker - New Zealand's Nick Evans - to take to the field in an effort to save the game.

The GMC, concluding an investigation into the incident, said club doctor Chapman had committed serious misconduct but was under stress at the time, suffering from depression and awaiting the results of a breast cancer scan.

"You do not pose any risk to patients or to the public. The panel accepts that there is a public interest in retaining the services of a good doctor," the GMC said.

"The insistence by Tom Williams for you to cut him whilst in the highly charged atmosphere of the changing room was a unique situation which resulted in an ethical dilemma."

- Reuters