With remarkably clear words, the German Medical Association (BÄK) put its former president in his place.
According to a statement published on Wednesday, the Presidium of the Chamber "expressly" distances itself from Frank Ulrich Montgomery's criticism of the judgments of the courts in the corona pandemic.
And this, added the board, “both in content and in style”.
Kim Bjorn Becker
Editor in politics.
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At Christmas, the Hamburg radiologist Montgomery criticized the German judiciary for taking back political decisions on the corona measures too often, in his view. "I bump into the fact that little judges stand up and, like in Lower Saxony, 2 G in the retail trade because they do not consider it proportionate," said Montgomery of the newspaper "Die Welt". He has "big problems" with courts rejecting decisions that had previously been painstakingly made by scientific and political bodies.
Montgomery was the head of the BÄK until two years ago and has since then been Chairman of the Council of the World Medical Association.
The German medical profession is a member of the global umbrella organization through the BÄK.
The Chamber did not only address its former President with its criticism of Montgomery.
But to a certain extent also to a colleague who is well known to her when it comes to representing the interests of the medical profession around the world.
In the matter, the Presidium of the BÄK, to which the current medical president Klaus Reinhardt belongs, held many fundamental points against Montgomery.
“The separation of powers and the independence of the courts are constitutive core elements of our constitutional state,” the statement said.
"They are of central and fundamental importance for the medical profession in Germany and must not be questioned in any way."
When judges control the decisions of politics, this is not presumptuous, but simply a basis for the separation of powers. The Chamber "therefore expressly protests against the degradation of the work of independent judges in Germany".
So much to the point.
But the Medical Association went one step further and used their contradiction to clarify what they consider to be an apparently necessary clarification of the relationship between the BÄK and the World Medical Association and their respective chairmen.
The BÄK clarifies that it is the task of the World Medical Association to “discuss international medical-ethical questions”.
Montgomery is "mandated by the German medical profession to comment on the health-political opinion and decision-making process in Germany and thus to create the impression of speaking for doctors in Germany".
"Stand fully for the separation of powers"
This sentence aims at a point that is probably sore from the Chamber's point of view, after all, after leaving the Presidium of the BÄK, Montgomery is still heavily involved in health policy debates in Germany. Also and especially during the Corona crisis, from a medical point of view, he regularly expresses himself on questions whose primary professional commentary the Medical Association should claim for itself.
The attacked responded to the criticism of the BÄK on Thursday. "I stand unreservedly in favor of the separation of powers and the examination of proportionality," writes Montgomery in a statement that is available to the FAZ. He does not want to take back the word “little judge”. "I am fully aware that the choice of words is not only concise, but even provocative," explains Montgomery. "Personal insults to any acting persons are not intended, but today you (unfortunately) often need an escalation to increase visibility."
"Seasoned judges" would see the belittling form with a certain degree of sovereignty.
Regarding criticism from lawyers, Montgomery writes: “I have to endure that.” Incidentally, the attacked notes, he “at no time” presumed to speak for the German medical profession or the chamber that represents them.