Ruling on doctor over false accusation

Dec 4 2007 icWales

A General Medical Council panel is expected to reach a decision today in the case of a leading paediatrician found to have wrongly accused a grieving mother of drugging and murdering her 10-year-old son.

Dr David Southall, 59, is due to appear before a GMC Fitness to Practise panel in London.

He faces a misconduct charge and the possibility of being struck off.

Dr Southall has been found to have added to the distress of the mother - identified only as Mrs M – whose 10-year-old son hanged himself in June 1996.

Last week, making submissions on Dr Southall’s behalf, Kieran Coonan QC, said his client had a “degree of zealous enthusiasm and conviction that he was right” in his suspicions about Mrs M.

He said Dr Southall became involved in the case after having “child protection concerns”.

Mr Coonan read testimonies from more than 10 of Dr Southall’s colleagues in support of him.

The hearing was also told that Dr Southall was being investigated by police over a claim he assaulted a child.

The allegation was made by the parents of the boy – a former patient identified only as Child H – to South Wales Police.

Dr Southall worked as a consultant paediatrician at London’s Royal Brompton Hospital from 1982. He held the same post at the North Staffordshire Hospital in Stoke-on-Trent, in 1992.

The hearing heard Dr Southall was suspended from child protection work in 2004 after being found guilty of serious professional misconduct in relation to the case of Sally Clark, who was wrongly jailed for killing two of her sons.

He accused Mrs Clark’s husband, Steve, of murdering the two baby boys on the basis of a television interview.

Members have been deliberating and are not expected to reach a decision before 2pm.