BRITAIN: The British paediatrician Prof Sir Roy Meadow was yesterday struck off the medical register after being found guilty of serious professional misconduct over evidence he gave in the trial of a mother alleged to have killed her two children.
In a highly critical judgment, a General Medical Council (GMC) fitness to practise panel concluded that Prof Meadow (72) had "abused his position as a doctor" by giving misleading evidence in the trial. The panel said the consequences of his errors "cannot be underestimated".
It said his actions had "seriously undermined" the position of all doctors giving evidence in trials.
Prof Meadow, from Woodgate Lane in Leeds, also gave evidence in two other high profile child murder trials in which mothers were wrongfully convicted.
The panel said he failed in his duty as an expert witness and was wrong to compare the possibility of Ms Sally Clark's two children dying natural deaths to the odds of horses winning the Grand National. The panel found on Wednesday that Prof Meadow had misled the jury at Ms Clark's trial, but concluded that he had not done so intentionally.
Ms Clark was found guilty in 1999 of murdering her sons Christopher and Harry but had her conviction quashed by the Court of Appeal in 2003.
The GMC panel focused on Meadow's use of statistics, especially the fact that he told the jury there was only a one in 73 million chance that both Clark children had died through natural causes.
They said this resulted in the "false implication" that there was only a one in 73 million chance that Ms Clark had not killed her children.
The panel chairwoman Ms Clark-Glass said: "You should have taken great care to provide a context for the benefit of those people who may have well been under the impression that you were still giving evidence in the realm of your expertise.
"This is a grave error, one which had serious implications and repercussions for many people, not least those who work in the field of child protection.
"You are an eminent paediatrician whose reputation was renowned throughout the world and so your eminence and authority carried a unique responsibility to take meticulous care in the case of this grave nature."
In a statement, the Clark family welcomed the GMC's decision. The Clarks said: "We are pleased that, after nearly seven long years, Meadow has finally been held to account by his profession for his erroneous and misleading evidence, which we feel was primarily responsible for the terrible miscarriage of justice suffered by Sally."
The statement went on: "We are deeply disappointed that Meadow apparently still stands by his false evidence, that he has refused to accept responsibility for his actions and that although he has apologised for giving misleading evidence, he has still failed to apologise to our family, or to any of the other families affected by his behaviour."
Prof Meadow was the third doctor to have been found guilty by the GMC of serious professional misconduct and sanctioned for their behaviour in the Clark case.