David Cartland

Introduction

David Cartland was a general practitioner in Cornwall whose name was erased from the General Medical Council (GMC) register with immediate effect after a Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS) hearing concluded on 26 June 2025 with seventeen allegations found proved. The tribunal found that between 2022 and 2025 Cartland had harassed three doctors and a practice manager on social media platforms including X, Gettr and Instagram — calling one an “evil witch”, others “evil malicious scumbags”, alleging without foundation that one doctor had a sexual interest in sheep and making “despicable allegations” against another relating to paedophilia — and that he had acted dishonestly in offering to provide Covid-19 exemption certificates to people regardless of whether they had a medical exemption. Cartland, who did not attend his hearing, told the BBC he had “reacted poorly” and been the subject of a campaign of abuse and goading, and said his patient care was “never challenged”.

Background Information

Cartland practised as a GP in Cornwall and was a vocal questioner of the safety of the Covid-19 vaccines. The harassment found proved began in 2022 and continued into 2025 — through the pandemic years and after — targeting doctors and a practice manager who crossed his path, including those who opposed his views. The tribunal later heard he encouraged his followers to harass the complainants too. His defence at the tribunal, advanced by Paul Diamond, was that the three doctors had been “just as bad as him”. The published record this page draws on does not state his age, home town within Cornwall, or family circumstances, and this page does not guess at them.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Adjudicated vs. alleged. The findings below come from a Medical Practitioners Tribunal determination, which decides allegations on the balance of probabilities. They are regulatory findings, not criminal convictions, and this case involves no criminal charge.

The harassment spanned platforms and years. Thomas Moran, representing the GMC, told the tribunal Cartland had called one doctor an “evil witch”, another and a colleague “evil malicious scumbags”, and said one medical professional had “a sexual interest in sheep”. The tribunal found his posts were “hostile to the LGBTQ+ community”, and that he had made “despicable allegations” against one doctor relating to paedophilia with “absolutely no foundation”, while encouraging his followers to harass the complainants. The abuse ran from 2022 to 2025 on X, Gettr and Instagram, and the targets included a practice manager alongside the three doctors.

The second strand was the exemption certificates. The tribunal found that on 14 and 15 September 2023 Cartland had a conversation with a person — “which did not appear to be a genuine inquiry by this person”, the record notes — asking for an exemption certificate, and that he acted dishonestly in offering to provide Covid-19 exemption certificates to people regardless of whether they had a medical exemption. Cartland did not accept that this was dishonest. The panel determined the dishonesty amounted to serious misconduct. The tribunal’s judgment ran to 132 pages, and its erasure decision covered seventeen proven allegations in total; the MPTS called his misconduct reckless and dishonest and struck him off with immediate effect “to protect the public”.

In a statement to the BBC, Cartland said he “reacted poorly”, apologised for “saying things that he should not have said”, and said he had been “subjected to a campaign of abuse, smearing and goading from some of those who opposed his views”. He maintained that his patient care was “never challenged”. He did not attend the hearing that erased him.

Public Reaction and Consequences

The erasure drew sustained local and national coverage. BBC News reported the case on 27 June 2025, doctors’ network Doctors.net.uk ran the story under “GP struck off following ’threatening and abusive’ harassment online”, and CornwallLive published the fullest account — drawn from the MPTS’s full report, following seventeen days of hearings between 11 and 26 June 2025. That account adds detail the shorter reports compress: the people Cartland harassed included a consultant obstetrician who was her hospital’s maternity vaccine lead, a locum consultant in paediatric A&E at a children’s hospital, a viral immunologist and a former operational practice manager; he created an X account in another doctor’s name; he threatened one doctor with retaliatory action after she complained to the GMC; and when a practice manager’s email rejected his job application on principle, he shared screenshots of it with her personal contact details to his accounts, which the GMC said was designed to encourage others to harass her — an X following of more than 300,000. His defence framed the case as “freedom of conscience and free speech”. The record also shows consequences beyond the register: the erasure came with an immediate suspension covering the appeal period, and reporting of the case notes that the Disclosure and Barring Service barred Cartland from working with children and adults, and football authorities suspended his involvement in local football. The case became a reference point in discussions of doctors’ social-media conduct — the tribunal’s willingness to erase a GP for out-of-work online harassment, not merely for clinical failings, marked the boundary of professional standards in the social-media era.

Current Status

Cartland is struck off the UK medical register, erased with immediate effect when the tribunal concluded on 26 June 2025. The determination notes that erasure can be reviewed after a minimum of five years but is otherwise indefinite. The record this page draws on shows no appeal and no restoration application. The DBS barring decision is a separate legal consequence that operates independently of the medical register.

Impact on Their Career/Life

Erasure ends Cartland’s medical career in the United Kingdom: no GMC registration means no licence to practise in any capacity, NHS or private. A finding of dishonesty — the exemption-certificate scheme — compounds the harassment findings for any future restoration attempt, which the five-year minimum review period places at 2030 at the earliest. The DBS bar forecloses work with children or vulnerable adults in any field, not just medicine. The published record contains no information about his circumstances since the erasure, and nothing on this page should be read as going beyond it.

Sources

• *BBC News, “Cornwall GP loses registration for harassment of doctors”, 27 June 2025 — source
• *Doctors.net.uk, “GP struck off following ’threatening and abusive’ harassment online”, 26 June 2025 — source
• *MedicWatch, “David Cartland | General Medical Council 6166423” — source
• *CornwallLive, “David Cartland erased from medical profession and now full details of harassment revealed”, 10 July 2025 (via the Wayback Machine) — source