Lockerbie Bomber Doctor Defends His Prognosis

The doctor whom the Libyan government hired for a medical opinion on the health of Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset al Megrahi has given his first interview on the controversy, saying he would have been “more vague” if he’d known his three-month prognosis would be considered fact. Leading cancer specialist Karol Sikora had agreed with another oncologist that Megrahi had three months to live; he is now approaching the one-year anniversary of his release. Defending his prognosis on the basis of probability, Sikora said doctors don’t deal in certainty, but politicians do. “If you look at the survival curve, there's about a 60 percent chance of someone being dead in three months, but that doesn't mean he will die in three months,” Sikora said. "If I could go back in time I would have probably been more vague and tried to emphasize the statistical chances and not hard fact.” The doctor also bristled at the implication from critics that he was responsible for Megrahi’s release: “No one asked me, 'Should we let him out?' All they said was, ‘When do you think he will die?’”