Doctor censured over sleep pills

The GMC branded Dr Iain Kerr's actions "irresponsible".

A Glasgow doctor behaved irresponsibly by prescribing sleeping tablets to a patient who talked of killing herself, the General Medical Council has ruled.

A GMC Fitness to Practise Panel said Dr Iain Kerr's decision was "inappropriate and irresponsible".

But the GMC said he was not irresponsible for telling colleagues he had prescribed sleeping pills to patients to help them end their lives.

The hearing into the 61-year-old from Williamwood Medical Centre continues.

The panel said Dr Kerr's decision to give the 87-year-old woman, referred to as Patient A, pills after she told him she wanted to commit suicide was "likely to bring the profession into disrepute and not in your patient's best interest".

He was also branded irresponsible for not referring Patient A, to hospital after she overdosed on Temazepam tablets in 2005.

Panel chairman John Donnelly said the doctor's decision to give her more Temazepam tablets several days later was "illogical".

Mr Donnelly said: "Patient A was an elderly lady who made her end-of-life wishes quite clear, in that she did not want to become a burden upon her family. The panel found that she was determined to end her own life."

But the panel, sitting in Manchester, found Dr Kerr had not prescribed sleeping pills to Patient A after she told him she was unhappy with her quality of life.

It also found he had not failed to take adequate measures to dissuade her from suicide.