Migraine doctor loses appeal against findings of dishonesty

A High Court judge has upheld two findings of dishonesty by the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service against a leading headache specialist in the conduct of a clinical trial.

Andrew Dowson, director of headache services at King’s College Hospital in London, appealed to the High Court after he was suspended for four months last February for a “serious breach of professional standards.”1

Dowson was co-principal investigator with Peter Wilmshurst, a cardiologist, on the ill fated Migraine Intervention with STARFlex Technology (MIST) trial, designed to test whether the closure of patent foramen ovale with a new septal repair implant could cure migraine.2

Mr Justice Edis ruled that the tribunal service panel …