Dear Editor

Professor Wynne Godley's article about his analysis with Masud Khan (The Times 2, 23 February 2001) and the ensuing correspondence in The Times raises interesting points about the manner in which our profession handles complaints of gross professional misconduct and its consequences.

Those alarmed by the article may have been reassured by the kindly response from the President of the British Psycho-Analytical Society (5 March 2001) in which he expressed ‘concern, anger and regret at the maltreatment of a patient 40 years ago’. He went on to outline changes that have been introduced to protect patients. Indeed in the intervening years all the training organizations have done much to improve their complaints procedures. Nevertheless I understand Professor Godley's dissatisfaction with the President's response. In a subsequent letter (10 April 2001) Professor Godley drew attention to the question of responsibility and where it should lie in such cases. He wrote: