Doctor's job in jeopardy after he prescribed sleeping tablets to a suicidal patient

Aug 27 2008

The job of a Scottish doctor is under jeopardy after he prescribed sleeping tablets to a suicidal patient who then took her own life.

Dr. Iain Kerr, a Glasgow GP who was suspended for six months, is now in danger of having his contract terminated after being found guilty of misconduct by the General Medical Council's Fitness to Practise Panel.

Patients of the Glasgow GP are planning to protest against the possibility that he could lose his job and have organised local meetings to discuss ways of supporting their family doctor and are planning a demonstration.

Feelings are running high and some have written to NHS managers while others have called on local politicians to intervene and do whatever it takes to save Dr. Kerr's job.

The GMC panel found Dr. Kerr guilty of misconduct following hearings in Manchester in July after it was found he had prescribed a retired businesswoman with the sleeping tablet sodium amytal in 1998, "solely for the purpose of ending her life".

The panel also said he showed poor clinical management after she took an overdose of a different drug in 2005, and that the sodium amytal was prescribed without adequate reason, contrary to guidance.

The panel were also told that Dr. Kerr prescribed sodium amytal pills to five other patients, despite the fact that four of them did not suffer from insomnia and acted inappropriately by not making a record of why the four were prescribed the drug.

The Suicide Act 1961, which prohibits assisting suicide, applies only in England and Wales and in Scotland those who assist another to commit suicide are usually charged with culpable homicide.