ZOMBIE CONTENTIONS

When Scotland slipped convicted Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi onto the Compassionate-Release Slide to Freedom in Libya last week, I never considered the possibility that the prognosis offered, namely three months or less to live, was not based on solid clinical evidence. In a case this important, surely the Scots had not acted on the opinion of just any old sawbones they could afford. Surely experts on terminal cancer had weighed in learnedly.

Surely I jest.

From today’s Telegraph:

The furore over the release of the Lockerbie bomber intensified today over the medical advice given to the Scottish government on how long he has to live.

It emerged that the prognosis that Abdel Baset Ali al-Megrahi had a life expectancy of only three months or less was supported by an unnamed doctor who had no expertise in terminal prostate cancer.

The three-month time limit is important because Scottish Prison Service guidance says that compassionate release from prison “may be considered where a prisoner is suffering from a terminal illness and death is likely to occur soon. There are no fixed time limits but life expectancy of less than three months may be considered an appropriate period.”

The report recommending Megrahi’s release was prepared by a Dr. Fraser. Was the report Fraser’s opinion?  Well, no.  It seems that Dr. Fraser was responsible only for conveying the thoughts of a single, unnamed General Practitioner to Kenny MacAskill, the Scottish Secretary of Justice, who ostensibly had final say in the decision to release Megrahi.

Dr Fraser’s report says: “Whether or not prognosis is more or less than three months, no specialist ‘would be willing to say’.”

You may recall that on April 20th, 130 days agone,  Agence France-Presse had reported that Megrahi had “a few weeks to live.”  Given that drastically pessimistic false prediction, you would have thought that Mr. MacAskill would have dotted every i and crossed every last t before going ahead and releasing him when he did.  But nae:

Political opponents at Holyrood [the Scottish parliament] were today claiming that the conclusion reached by Dr Fraser was based on what the unnamed GP had said and had not taken into sufficient account the more guarded views of the prostate cancer specialists.

Dr Richard Simpson, a Labour MSP and a former associate member of the British Association of Urological Surgeons and member of its prostate cancer working group, has raised doubts about the three-month prognosis.

He said: “The Scottish government has misrepresented the medical evidence. The Justice Secretary chose to disregard the advice of specialists and release al-Megrahi on the opinion of one doctor, who we now know was not a specialist.

Ah, the Scots, too cheap to hire a specialist.