ABSTRACT
Chapters 4-6 examined the failed attempts to set a new common law precedent in the early interwar years. The current chapter analyses two subsequent attempts to pass legislation conferring a level of privilege to doctors in court: the first in 1927; the second in 1936. Both were private member bills and both were put forward by Ernest Gordon Graham-Little. Born in Bengal and educated in South Africa where he took a B.A. in literature and philosophy at the University of the Cape of Good Hope, Graham-Little won a Porter scholarship to study medicine at London University. After graduating he spent time in Dublin and Paris before specialising in dermatology. He was the Independent Member of Parliament for London University from 1924 until the abolition of the university franchise in 1950, and was knighted in 1931.1 In 1931 he also changed his surname by deed
poll from Little to the hyphenated Graham-Little (The Times 12 February 1931, 9). While neither of his bills passed into law, they merit closer examination than they have hitherto received. Morrice mentions them in passing in his thesis, seeing them as nothing more than the reworking of old arguments (Morrice 1999, 279-80). While much of the debate associated with the bill was similar to previous discussions, this is indicative of the continued tension surrounding the issue of medical confidentiality throughout the interwar years, and the continued attempts to obtain medical privilege.
