Six GPs and a pathologist criticised by the inquiry into serial killer doctor Harold Shipman will face professional conduct committees, the General Medical Council in Britain confirmed today.
Dr Peter Bennett, Dr Susan Booth, Dr Jeremy Dirckze, Dr Stephen Farrar, Dr Alistair MacGillivray and Dr Rajesh Patel worked as GPs in Hyde, Greater Manchester, where Shipman's practice was based.
The six regularly signed cremation forms for Shipman, as another doctor is needed to confirm a patient's death.
They were criticised by the Shipman Inquiry for failing to question the doctor's unusually high death rates, his presence at many deaths and his use of terms such as "old age" and "natural causes" under the cause of death section of the form.
The doctors signed a total of 214 forms for Shipman's patients. The inquiry ruled that 124 of those patients were unlawfully killed.
No dates have yet been set for the hearings.
Dr David Bee was a consultant pathologist whose post mortem on one of Shipman's victims was described by inquiry chairman Dame Janet Smith as "deeply flawed" and "lax."
He admitted to the inquiry that he felt under pressure to find natural causes of death to avoid an inquest. His hearing is listed to take place on September 27th.
Shipman killed at least 215 people over 23 years by deliberately administering overdoses of the painkiller diamorphine.
He was jailed for life in 2000 for 15 counts of murder but was found hanged in his cell at Wakefield Prison in January this year.
PA