Harlequins ‘Bloodgate’ doctor admits cutting Tom Williams’ lip
It’s almost a year-and-a-half since the Bloodgate scandal shook the core of English rugby union, but the shameful episode continues to have severe consequences.
The Harlequins doctor at the centre of the lip-cutting allegations, Dr Wendy Chapman, is now at risk of being struck off if the fitness to practise panel at the General Medical Council (GMC) hearing finds her guilty of misconduct.
She has been suspended from her main job at Maidstone hospital in Kent since the incident, and faces a total ban if the GMC consider her unfit for practise. In an attempt to save Chapman’s career, the player who infamously bit into the blood capsule and feigned injury, Tom Williams, said in evidence: "I asked Wendy to make the cut. I do remember that she was not happy about it. The atmosphere was extremely tense.
"I believe that Wendy pulled down my lip and attempted to cut it with a scalpel."
Chapman strenuously denies that her actions were designed to deceive others. She also emphasised that her role was not premeditated, and that she only made the cut at the “repeated request” of Williams.
But after being accused of bringing her profession into disrepute, there’s still a significant chance that Chapman will be hit with some sort of punishment for her part in the incident, which occurred in the Heineken Cup quarter-final defeat against Leinster at the Stoop, Twickenham in April 2009.
Williams was banned for 12 months – reduced to four on appeal – last July for admitting to using the blood capsule; while Quins’ head coach Dean Richards was handed a three-year ban by the European Rugby Cup (ERC) for masterminding the ill-fated plan.
The club's former physio Steph Brennan was given a two-year ban from the sport, and Harlequins themselves were fined £259,000.
But for all the banning orders and fines, it’s the shame and damaged reputation which continues to haunt the Guinness Premiership outfit.
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