GMC is accused of having altered the burden of proof in Southall case

doi:10.1136/bmj.b1446

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Clare Dyer

¹BMJ

The General Medical Council’s decision to strike the paediatrician David Southall off the medical register was “essentially geared to the maintenance of public confidence in the profession,” the GMC’s counsel, Robert Englehart QC, told the High Court in London last week.

A GMC fitness to practise panel found in December 2007 that Dr Southall was guilty of serious misconduct for accusing a mother of murdering her child and ordered him to be struck off (BMJ 2007;335:1174; doi:10.1136/bmj.39420.690845.DB). He is appealing against the findings of fact, the misconduct decision, and the sanction of erasure.

“They weren’t saying this is a sanction which is required because patients are at risk,” said Mr Englehart. “They were saying this is a sanction which is right for this sort …