Dr Rosalind Ranson says she lost her belief in human kindness as a result of her treatment at the hands of the Manx government.

The British Medical Association issued a statement regarding the £3.1m compensation award made to Dr Ranson, which is the single largest win for a whistleblowing case for the BMA.

Describing her past few years as ‘traumatic’, Dr Ranson said: ‘Doing my job to the best of my ability and fulfilling my professional obligations, meant that I personally paid a huge price.’

In January of last year, the tribunal heard how Dr Rosalind Ranson was unfairly dismissed from her role as Medical Director after she had urged the gov to depart from Public Health England advice in the early stages of the pandemic in 2020, which eventually it did.

She added: ‘For me it is a tragedy that my 35-year career in medicine has come to an end through these circumstances. I was proud of my professional integrity, my resilience, and my strength to stand up for those that I protected through my work as a doctor. I had so much more to give and so much more that I wanted to achieve, but those hopes are at an end.

‘My health has suffered, my reputation destroyed, my career shattered. I have lost my belief in essential human kindness because I have seen that the default position for many people was to protect their own personal interests, regardless of the consequences. When this behaviour extends to those who hold the most powerful of positions and in whom the public place their trust, then consequences must flow, action is needed, and the outcome of my Tribunal Hearing must not be the end.

‘Whistleblowing has the power to stop, prevent and avoid wrongdoing, prevent harm, and save lives. These opportunities were not just lost at the time but the failures to act on all the concerns I raised have to date achieved none of these things. Wrongdoing has gone unchallenged; harm has occurred not just to me but to others and I believe that there was avoidable loss of life.’

Tina Wisener and Kate Kapp of Doyle Clayton who were appointed by the BMA to represent Dr Ranson added: ‘The sum awarded to Dr Ranson reflects not only the career damaging treatment she was subjected to, but also the unreasonable way in which the [Isle of Man] DHSC conducted the litigation which, the Tribunal found, included more than one ‘false allegation’ about her.

‘She has been awarded sums for aggravated and exemplary damages, both of which are exceptionally rare. As noted by the Tribunal, these awards were made due to the DHSC’s ‘high handed, malicious, insulting and oppressive manner’ during the course of the litigation and were ‘warranted for [their] oppressive, arbitrary and unconstitutional behaviour’.

‘We praise the courage of Dr Ranson in raising these issues. Whistleblowing is not about personal gain, it is about exposing unethical behaviour and reporting it, often suffering professionally and personally as a result, as Dr Ranson has. We hope that some good will follow from this case.’