Doctor accused mother over death

Prof David Southall is appearing before the GMC

A paediatrician accused a mother of killing her son, a General Medical Council disciplinary panel has heard.

The panel heard from a prosecutor how Professor David Southall told the mother she had drugged and murdered her son, who was found hanged.

The doctor faces allegations of acting inappropriately and causing distress.

It is also alleged he was not acting in children's best interests by transferring records from a London hospital to one in Stoke-on-Trent.

In 2004, Prof Southall was found guilty of serious misconduct after accusing Steve Clark of murdering two of his sons and banned from child protection work for three years.

The fresh allegations relate to cases in his care during the 1980s and 1990s.

Open verdict

Richard Tyson QC told the panel of a case involving the death of a 10-year-old boy who hanged himself in June 1996.

An inquest recorded an open verdict.

The child, who cannot be named, was found dead hanging from a belt from a curtain pole in the family home, Mr Tyson said.

Social workers became involved in the case when fears were raised over the safety of another son in the family and Prof Southall told the local authority involved he believed the mother was suffering from Munchausen by proxy - where parents induce fake illness in their children.

'Crown prosecutor'

He also later told the mother that she had drugged her child, waited for him to go to sleep and then wrapped a belt around the curtain pole, lifted him up and buckled the belt around his neck, waiting until he died, Mr Tyson said.

Prof Southall acted as a "detective or crown prosecutor" when he interviewed her, he said.

"We would say this doctor is basically on one track. He's on a murder investigation and he's not carrying out the full assessment asked of him by the local authority but he's pursuing one particular theory with vehemence and assiduously," Mr Tyson said.

Other allegations faced by the professor include not acting in the best interests of children when he transferred medical records from the Royal Brompton Hospital in London to a new job at the North Staffordshire Hospital in Stoke-on-Trent.

The hearing continues.