“I’m not asking to be let off”—suspended climate activist GP Sarah Benn continues to stand her ground
Sarah Benn—the first doctor to face disciplinary action after being convicted and jailed for actions relating to climate activism—tells Adele Waters why suspension from the medical register will not stop her protesting “I don’t feel guilty. I don’t feel I’ve dishonoured the profession, and I think I could explain myself very well to anybody who thought that I had,” says Sarah Benn, climate activist and former general practitioner. Fresh from the decision by the UK’s Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS) on 23 April to suspend her from the professional register for five months,1 she finds the situation clear: the activism that led to her suspension was necessary to raise the alarm over the climate crisis and was also in keeping with a doctor’s mission to promote health and save lives. “The world is facing an unprecedented crisis due to the danger of climate and ecological collapse, and I believe that my actions are a justified and proportionate effort to raise an alarm about the