A consultant at Great Ormond Street children's hospital, London, was suspended from the medical register for six months last week for carrying out a cardiac procedure on a 6 year old girl without her parents' consent.

James Taylor, a paediatric cardiologist, was found guilty of serious professional misconduct by the General Medical Council for performing a balloon dilatation catheterisation on Debbie Jenkins, who died the following day. Her parents, Ross and Carolyn, had consented only to a diagnostic catheterisation. The Jenkinses gave evidence that they had specifically stated they did not want Debbie, who had previously had two open heart operations, to undergo balloon catheterisation because they regarded it as risky.

An allegation …