The attorney general, Lord Goldsmith, is to investigate allegations that a consultant paediatrician used by the courts as an expert witness, kept thousands of secret files and tampered with children’s medical records from criminal cases he worked on in the last decade.
A General Medical Council investigation into the controversial paediatrician Professor David Southall has revealed that he may have kept 4,450 "special" files separate from patients’ normal hospital records.
The Crown Prosecution Service has now been asked to cross-check the documents, and identify those relating to prosecutions.
Lord Goldsmith said in a written statement yesterday: “The General Medical Council has started a hearing into allegations of professional misconduct by Professor David Southall, a consultant paediatrician. It is said that he kept so-called “special case” files containing original medical records relating to his patients that were not also kept on the child’s proper hospital file.
“Concerns have been raised that in some of those cases criminal proceedings may have been taken but the existence of the files not revealed, resulting in their not being disclosed as part of the prosecution process. I share those concerns.”
The GMC case has now been adjourned until November. Professor Southall is accused of keeping “secret medical records” on four children, tampering with records and not making files available to others in the children’s care.
The Attorney General added: “What is not clear at this stage is the nature and extent of the failure of disclosure, if such it be. I have therefore decided that I will conduct an assessment of the cases where Professor Southall was instructed as a prosecution witness to determine whether any “special case” files existed in any cases involving criminal proceedings. Once that assessment has been completed, I will decide what, if any, further review is required.”
Professor Southall has previously been found guilty of serious professional misconduct by the GMC in 2004 and was barred from child protection work for three years.
He denies serious professional misconduct in the current proceedings against him.
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