Plagiarism and how to get away with it
Tuesday 24 June 2008 at 00:01 BST
The short answer is that if you are a dapper media darling medical expert, then the chances are you’re safe.
Raj Persaud – writer, radio and television presenter, professor of psychiatry and occasional jobbing shrink with the South London and Maudsley NHS Trust – has been found guilty of plagiarism in his written work. Hauled before the General Medical Council, Persaud’s defence was based on something like (I paraphrase!):
“I’m so extremely busy and stressed out being the popular voice of psychiatry that I became a little confused, and overlooked the fact that I had not properly cited the work of others. And for that reason you should let me off.”
Going by the three month suspension handed down by the GMC, it could be argued that this is exactly what the UK medical profession’s regulator has done. Physicians have been struck off the medical register for less than what Persaud appears to have got away with.
How the BBC and Persaud’s publishers will react to the outcome of the GMC hearing is uncertain. But going by the number of disgraced politicians whose media careers have not been adversely affected by criminal convictions and prison sentences, I fear that Persaud will be allowed to carry on with his broadcasts and newspaper columns. Persaud is, after all, a highly talented populariser of psychiatry and psychological science.
Stumble it!
Tuesday 24 June 2008 at 12:18 BST
I see David Owen was one of those who spoke on his behalf.
Owen, who is also a former health minister, praised Persaud’s “rare skills” and his bridging of the gap between academia and the public’s understanding of mental health issues.
Raj Persaud’s period on All in the Mind reached a particular low point last year when he interviewed David Owen on his book The Hubris Syndrome. In the interview Owen portrayed various politicians as being somehow mentally ill.
Owen seemed unable to talk about any of his targets, I mean subjects, without mentioning his own relationship with them, and so the curious point that emerged was that those he portrayed as less than sane were people who had failed to heed his good advice, while those who seemed to have taken his words of wisdom to heart were all well balanced individuals.
The interview was completely unchallenging. No serious questions were raised as to the supposed psychological basis for Owen’s argument. Emphasis was placed on Owen’s past career as a neurologist as if this also qualified him as a psychologist. It was a mix of politics and personal vendetta masquerading as science, and Raj Persaud gave him a free ride.
Tuesday 24 June 2008 at 12:33 BST
Kellie - I don’t know why your comments are being treated as first-timers, and therefore flagged for moderation. I’ll try to sort this out.
As for David Owen, that behaviour seems entirely in character. Owen can of course do no wrong, and anyone who disagrees with him must be certifiable.
It’s sad to witness the
fallmoral collapse of Raj Persaud. He is, or was, a great science communicator, but lost it somewhere along the line. All in the Mind with Claudia Hammond in the presenter’s chair is once again a radio programme worth listening to.I really like the Telegraph of India’s description of Persaud’s three month suspension:
I see that Persaud remains persona entirely grata on Richard & Judy’s TV show.
Tuesday 24 June 2008 at 12:34 BST
I should perhaps have written psychiatric instead of psychological there, but either way neurology isn’t it.