A case report was submitted in which the authors described a patient who had a poor outcome, and where many mistakes had been made during treatment. The authors of the paper were from a tertiary care centre. The poor practice had happened in a secondary care centre. One of the reviewers of the paper thought that the level of practice was so poor that action should be taken. The other reviewer thought the circumstances were not bad enough to report. But the paper had already been rejected. The authors were asked whether they should do more, but should the editors do more?
There are indications that something is badly wrong and possibly the likelihood that it could happen again. But is it the responsibility of an editor even if s/he is a doctor to investigate this further?
• If the editor presents the tertiary care centre with the review and questions whether there is any substance to the allegation of malpractice, would it be certain that they would have all the facts at their disposal?
• The authors should have sent a copy to the secondary care centre before submission of their article to a medical journal.
• But criticism of other people is common and making an accusation of negligence does require you to get permission first.
• Verification is needed to ensure that the information is correct and this should be done by an independent party.
• Approach the authorities of the secondary care centre to allow them to respond to the allegations made in the paper and the reviewer’s comments.
• Bring the matter to the attention of the chief executives in both centres so that it can be investigated properly.
The editor had extensive correspondence with the senior author of the paper, who provided an acceptable explanation of what had happened. No further action was taken.