Ex-Harlequins doctor ashamed at role in Bloodgate scandal
THE EX-HARLEQUINS club doctor at the centre of the ‘Bloodgate’ scandal yesterday admitted she was “very ashamed” of her involvement in the event.
Dr Wendy Chapman, who confirmed she deliberately cut the lip of winger Tom Williams after Harlequins’ 6-5 Heineken Cup quarter-final defeat to Leinster in April 2009, told a General Medical Council hearing in Manchester there was “no justification” for her actions.
The Harlequins player twice asked Chapman to slice his lip as he was challenged over the authenticity of his ‘injury’ after he bit into a fake blood capsule to force his substitution in the dying moments of the match.
“I was horrified, just horrified. This is a very huge game and they cheated,” she told the hearing.
“I was very ashamed that I gave into the pressure.”
Chapman added:?“There was no justification. It was the wrong thing to do.”
Asked why she had cut him, she replied: “I don’t understand. It sounds really feeble. I knew there was huge pressure but normally I would just walk out.”
Chapman could be struck off after admitting to actions likely to bring the medical profession into disrepute and dishonest conduct.