London - A consultant who carried out a heart procedure on a girl of six without the consent of her parents, was yesterday found guilty of serious professional misconduct.
Dr James Taylor, a consultant paediatric cardiologist at Great Ormond Street Hospital, had his registration suspended for six months. Debbie Jenkins, died after suffering irreversible brain damage after Dr Taylor (61) had carried out the procedure. The child's parents, Ross and Carolyn Jenkins, said they did not want the procedure to go ahead.
After a four-day hearing the General Medical Council found that Dr Taylor had not been aware that Debbie's parents did not wish the procedure - the insertion of a balloon catheter - to go ahead, but found he did not have "sufficient medical grounds to proceed in the absence of parental consent".