Felicity Goodyear-Smith

Felicity Anne Goodyear-Smith (born 1952) is a medical doctor, academic, and public health advocate from New Zealand.

She is Academic Head of Department & Goodfellow Postgraduate Chair of General Practice & Primary Health Care in the Faculty of Medical and Health Science at the University of Auckland, New Zealand.

Goodyear-Smith is married to John Potter, son of Bert Potter who was the founder of Centrepoint Community in the 1970s.

Bert, John and five other members of the community were convicted of sexual abuse and served sentences.

In 1978 Goodyear-Smith was Ship's Surgeon to the 'Marco Polo' of Dominion Far East Line.

In 1979 Goodyear-Smith traveled to Jamaica and held positions as Junior Registrar in Obstetrics & Gynaecology, Victoria Lying-In Hospital, Kingston; Medical Officer, Family Planning Clinics and Venereology Clinics, Kingston; Medical Officer, Red Hill Health Centre and Police Medical Officer, Kingston, Jamaica from 1979 to 1981.

Goodyear-Smith has worked as a certifying consultant under New Zealand's abortion act since 1981 and has published papers on related topics such as termination of pregnancy and contraception.

Goodyear-Smith obtained a Diploma in Obstetrics in 1983 from the University of Auckland, New Zealand.

In 1987 she obtained Vocational Registration as a General Practitioner with the Medical Council of New Zealand and became a Member of the Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners (MRNZCGP) in 1992.

Goodyear-Smith has published a number of papers around the medical aspects of incidents of sexual abuse and in 1987 she co-authored a guide for general practitioners undertaking sexual assault examinations, Sexual assault examinations – a guide for medical practitioners, the first NZ text on medical examinations in this field.

During the 1990s Goodyear-Smith actively discussed and published concerning issues with the recovered memory movement in New Zealand.

In 1994 Goodyear-Smith published a book titled First Do No Harm: the Sexual Abuse Industry which looked at then current research internationally in the field of sexual abuse and challenged prevailing opinions on suggestibility in this area.

Reaction to the book was divided, with responses from both the clinical and political fields.

Goodyear-Smith was one of a number of professionals and others who formed Casualties Of Sexual Abuse (COSA) in 1994 in response to what they believed were " the increasing number of false allegations of sexual abuse being made in New Zealand, which follow trends established in other countries."

Her Masters thesis in General Practice at the University of Otago in 1997 was also concerned with this topic.

She also held concurrent positions as Assessment Visitor, Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners 1998 to 2006; Locum Medical Officer, Auckland prisons 1990 to 2007; forensic physician with particular expertise in sexual assault cases 1979 to 2012; acted as a General Practice locum at Browns Bay Medical Centre and Calder Centre of the Auckland City Mission 1995 to 2012 and Certifying Consultant, Auckland Medical Aid Centre since 1983.

The national organisation closed in 1999, the Auckland branch in 2000.

In 1999 Goodyear-Smith jointly published a paper with TM Laidlaw researching gender imbalances in services provided to victims of domestic abuse.

Goodyear-Smith has since researched and promoted support for male victims of domestic abuse and men's health in general.

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In 2000 Goodyear-Smith was commissioned by an organisation (unnamed) to conduct a review into the health and safety of genetically modified foods for submission to the Royal Commission on Genetic Modification in New Zealand.

Her paper was not used by the commissioning organisation but the research and conclusions was published in a journal article and several book articles.

The journal article stated "GM foods may be as safe as conventional foods but public distrust runs high. It is important that discussion is informed by science and that claims of both benefits and risks are evidence-based, to ensure that the process is driven neither by the vested interest of the bio-technical multinational companies on the one hand, nor ill-informed public fears on the other."(p. 371)

In 2001 the New Zealand Ministry for Health issued a Family Violence Assessment and Intervention Guideline which proposed all female patients over 16 be routinely examined for sexual abuse.

On the basis of a review of the evidence for this screening using international criteria Goodyear-Smith disagreed with the proposal and published several papers on the matter.

In 2006 Goodyear-Smith was asked to review an alleged sexual abuse case involving gonorrhea in an infant.

This led to a review of the literature revealing both sexual and non-sexual possible means of transmission of gonorrhea in children.

This review was contested by some practitioners.

Goodyear-Smith was the medical adviser to the defence at the trial of George Gwaze who was twice charged and acquitted for the rape and murder of his ten year old niece.

In 2008 she became a Member, and in 2014 a Fellow, of the Faculty of Forensic & Legal Medicine, (MFFLM, RCP) Royal College of Physicians.

Goodyear-Smith was founding Editor in Chief, Journal of Primary Health Care from 2009.

Goodyear-Smith is Academic Head of Department, General Practice & Primary Health Care at the Faculty of Medical and Health Science University of Auckland.

She did her doctorate at the University of Auckland and wrote a 2011 doctoral thesis titled Evolution of the eCHAT: Case-finding to improve health and happiness.

She is a Member of the Royal Society of New Zealand (MRSNZ).

In 2011 the New Zealand Government released a discussion document requesting submissions suggesting policy changes and delivery of services to improve outcomes for vulnerable children including possible mandatory reporting of child abuse.

In 2015 she published a book about the trial and medical and forensic issues involved titled Murder that wasn't – the case of George Gwaze.

"The Gwaze family's story illustrates how a fixed mindset can emerge at the outset of an investigation and be perpetuated every step along the way. The hope is that understanding how mistakes were made in this case can serve as lessons for the future."

She became a Distinguished Fellow, Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners FRNZCGP (Dist) in 2016.

The award was made "for her services to fostering and contributing to research and academic teaching in general practice."

"[Goodyear-Smith] "has inspired undergraduate general practice teaching, developed postgraduate primary health care programmes and remains a critic and conscience of primary health care.""