One of Britain's most eminent paediatricians was ordered to be struck off the medical register last week, a decision that surprised many in the medical profession.

The General Medical Council found Roy Meadow—an internationally recognised child abuse specialist who was knighted for his services to paediatrics—guilty of serious professional misconduct over evidence he gave at the trial of the solicitor Sally Clark for the murder of her two sons.

Mrs Clark was convicted of killing both her baby sons and served three years in prison before she was freed and her conviction quashed in 2003 after a second appeal (BMJ 2003;326: 304).

In a damning judgment, the GMC told Professor Meadow, 72, that he had acted beyond the limits …