GP found guilty after giving pills to suicidal woman

Published on Wednesday 23 July 2008 21:54

A GP who gave sleeping pills to a potentially suicidal patient who went on to kill herself was yesterday found guilty of misconduct by the General Medical Council (GMC).

Dr Iain Kerr, 61, prescribed 30 sodium amytal pills to the former businesswoman in 1998 after she told him she had considered suicide.

A GMC Fitness to Practise Panel found his actions to be "inappropriate, irresponsible, liable to bring the profession into disrepute and not in your patient's best interest".

The same ruling was made against the Glasgow GP for failing to refer the retired businesswoman, known as Patient A, to hospital after she overdosed on Temazepam tablets in December 2005.

Two days later the doctor prescribed more tablets, and the 87-year-old killed herself, using Temazepam, two weeks after her failed suicide bid. Suzanne Goddard QC, counsel for the GMC, said what Dr Kerr did was "akin to handing her a noose with which to hang herself. That is not the role of a doctor".

The panel ruled Dr Kerr's actions brought the profession into disrepute for not making a record of why he had prescribed sodium amytal pills to four patients and for poor record-keeping in relation to a fifth patient.

Mr Donnelly said: "The panel finds that, on the basis of the facts, found proved, your fitness to practise is impaired by virtue of your misconduct."

The GMC panel will reconvene today to consider what penalties, if any, the doctor will face.