Also - from the Western Mail:
Welsh parents 'accused' by shamed doctor
A welsh mother last night spoke of how a doctor found guilty of serious professional misconduct had accused her husband and her of abusing their sick son.
Davina Hollisey-Mclean said Professor David Southall had accused them of harming their son, Ben, and in 1991 of arranging to have tests performed on him at the University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff, behind their backs.
The doctor was yesterday banned from taking part in any child protection work either in or outside the NHS for the next three years.
The General Medical Council (GMC) heard how he had accused Steve Clark of killing his children Christopher and Harry after he watched a Channel 4 Despatches documentary about the case in April 2000.
The consultant paediatrician will now face the GMC again in January when seven further sets of parents' complaints are heard.
Prof Southall had said it was 'beyond reasonable doubt' that Mr Clark had killed his children and expressed concern for the Clarks' remaining child, Child A.
Denis McDevitt, chairman of the professional conduct committee, said it was 'extremely concerned' the doctor had formed a 'definite view' without interviewing the Clarks or seeing medical reports.
Mrs Clark, 40, was convicted in 1999 of murdering her two sons but cleared by the Court of Appeal in January last year.
Mrs Hollisey-Mclean told the BBC last night how her family had been drawn into a nightmare after encountering the paediatrician.
She said, 'On the first visit he was absolutely charming. Quite honestly, he could have charmed the birds out of the trees.
'However, I got to know and see a very different side to Dr Southall.
'As long as things are going his way he's fine but it seems to me he changes if anyone stands in his way.
'Ben was born in 1985. He was born with breathing difficulties. He was under the care of Great Ormond Street [children's hospital].
'He was a very happy, courageous, superb little boy who taught us so much and especially gave us his love.
'The idea was that Dr Southall had developed a new monitor which would alarm when a child's oxygen levels were dropping.
'It was an early warning system and we wondered whether this would have been of benefit to Ben, rather than the system we were using which only told us when he had stopped breathing.
'On the second visit in 1990 his attitude had changed. We were asking questions about the test he intended carrying out on our son and the treatment that he was suggesting that was totally different to what Great Ormond Street said should happen,' Mrs Clark said.
When the parents consulted the doctor who had been treating Ben, he advised them to disregard Prof Southall's suggestions.
She said, 'When we said no to Dr Southall and said no to his tests [. . .] Dr Southall, unbeknownst to us, started to pursue us and made allegations of child abuse in relation to both myself and my husband.
'We were the first couple worldwide to be jointly accused of Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy and, eventually, Dr Southall intervened in the treatment plan of Great Ormond Street and contacted social services in London - even though the ones in Wales had said they weren't concerned, [that] we were loving caring parents and Ben was in a loving, caring home.
'Dr Southall wouldn't take any notice and he activated social services in London,' Mrs Clark said.
'It was decided in a case conference that Ben should go into hospital away from us for 28 nights and tests should be carried out on him.
'We were totally against Dr Southall being involved in tests in any way.'
On July 18, 1991, Ben was admitted to the University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff.
His mother said, 'Unbeknownst to us, on the very first night Dr Southall's technician and Dr Southall's equipment was brought into the University Hospital of Wales and behind our backs the tests were carried out.
'The technician had no contract to be in the hospital and on his own admission wasn't qualified to assess any damage that may have occurred to Ben while the investigations were taking place.
'What happened to our son while away from our care in hospital is the subject of a police investigation.'
Mrs Clark said she was surprised by yesterday's judgment.
'To be honest, I didn't expect anything to happen because of our experience over the last 13 years. We have lost faith in justice and the child protection system.'
When asked how different her family's lives would be today if they had never had contact with the doctor she said, 'My husband says our lives are not what we would chosen for ourselves.
'For Ben, life, I believe, would have totally different.
'Ben will never fulfil the potential that he had and Ben is frozen in time, really, at the age of about five.
'He has profound speech and language difficulties.
'For him, life will never be what it should have been,' Mrs Clark said.
After the hearing Prof Southall's solicitor, Margaret Taylor, said, 'Prof Southall is very relieved that the GMC has decided that he should be permitted to continue to work as a paediatrician.
'Although disappointed that the committee has applied conditions to his registration, he sincerely hopes that the decision will not deter other paediatricians from continuing to act in the particularly difficult area of child protection and speaking out when they suspect a child has been abused.'
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And from the (Birmingham) Sunday Mercury:
JUSTICE FOR JULIE: More complaints for shamed Prof
DISGRACED Midland paediatrician Professor David Southall has kept his hospital job despite being found guilty of serious professional misconduct.
But campaigning parents who say they have been wrongly accused of child abuse, last night warned that there are more complaints to follow.
The child expert, who works at the University Hospital of North Staffordshire, will face seven more charges at the General Medical Council in February.
And Andrea Dean, from Newcastle-Under-Lyme in Staffordshire, said she is waiting for her case against the doctor to to be reviewed, too.
Like Stephen Canning, Mrs Dean was accused of being a threat to her children by the paediatrician - even though he had never met her.
On Friday the GMC found Professor Southall guilty of serious professional misconduct after he alleged that Mr Canning killed his children after simply watching him being interviewed on a TV programme.
He had conditions placed on his licence which means he is banned from child protection work for three years.
But he can continue to work at the hospital in his other roles.
Professor Southall had previously claimed that Mrs Dean might kill her children after reading a vet's report into the brutal deaths of the her pet dogs.
Following his reports to child protection agencies, her two young daughters and son were taken into care.
A court battle had to be launched before the children were eventually returned to Andrea.
'More allegations have been made against Professor Southall,' she said last night. 'Stephen's case is just the beginning.
'He will face seven more charges in February and my own case against him is also being reviewed.
'It is strange that he has kept his job, I can't imagine anyone wanting to be treated by him after this.'
A spokesman for the University Hospital of North Staffordshire said: 'Professor Southall is an enthusiastic and energetic doctor who has contributed immensely to the welfare of children, not just in North Staffordshire, but across the UK and abroad.
'This penalty will allow him to continue to use his clinical skills for the benefit of sick children.'
And from the Guardian:
08/07/2004 12:38:44 PM EDT -- The Guardian
Couple accused of abuse suffered 17 years anguish: Censured paediatrician faces further hearings into claims that infants were removed from families because of his 'overzealous beliefs'
The controversial paediatrician David Southall, faces a further professional misconduct hearing into allegations by parents that he wrongly accused them of child abuse.
Six of the seven cases, some of which date back 17 years, involve parents who claim that he abused his position to have their children taken from them because of his overzealous belief that they were suffering from Munchausen's syndrome by proxy (MSBP), a diagnosis that parents deliberately harm their children to draw attention to themselves.
He was found guilty yesterday by the General Medical Council of serious professional misconduct for accusing a father of killing his two babies on the basis of a television programme.
Among the parents are mothers who were secretly filmed at the Royal Brompton hospital, south-west London, and North Staffordshire dis trict hospital, Stoke-on-Trent, in a research project intended to catch women whom Professor Southall believed were abusing their babies.
The allegations will be considered in January. Prof Southall denies wrongly diagnosing abuse. He could not comment on the pending cases.
Included in the list of complaints is that of Janet and Robin Alexander from Ludlow, Shropshire, who have waited 17 years for the chance to air their allegations against him. "The shadow of David Southall has hung over our lives all this time," Mrs Alexander said. "We have waited 17 years and we want to see the evidence we have against him heard."
The Alexanders claim that Prof Southall subjected their baby Lawrence to research without their consent and when they tried to remove him from the hospital, wardship proceedings were initiated.
Mrs Alexander said her son, who was born in 1986, suffered from repeated life-threatening collapses between the ages of six weeks and nine months.
"He would lose all his muscle tone, he gradually started going blue-grey around his mouth, and his heart would go practically down to nothing. To all intents and purposes he died. These attacks were happening three or four times a day."
They were referred to Prof Southall, who was described as a "world cot death expert" and at the time worked at the Royal Brompton. They claim that he was "rude, abrupt and confrontational" and told them their baby would have to be attached to "state-of-the-art" monitoring equipment.
"He never told us that we were part of any research project . . . and consent was not discussed," Mrs Alexander said. "But what we were really being sent to him for was covert video surveillance."
She alleges that she found out years later that they had been suspected of poisoning their child, although tests of his blood and the mother's milk proved negative. Over 10 days the couple lived with their baby in a hospital ward while he was monitored.
"The equipment was horrendous," Mrs Alexander said. "He had to be kept in a high-sided cot with bars for 10 days and nights continuously. He could barely move."
It was only later, she said, that they discovered from medical notes that they were being filmed. "We had no idea we were guinea pigs."
Lawrence was then tested for gastro-oesophageal reflux, a condition that can cause life-threatening episodes. Mrs Alexander claims Prof Southall continued to pursue his theory that the couple had MSBP and that their child was normal.
Exhausted by the tests on their baby, they told the doctor they wanted their son to be discharged from his care.
In response, they claim, the paediatrician asked them to attend a final diagnostic meeting. When they agreed he led them to a room full of lawyers and social workers, where wardship papers were served.
"I remember clinging on to a metal chair in the room and thinking, 'If I let go of this chair and take those papers my life is going to be finished, they are going to take him from me'," Mrs Alexander said. "I remember the sister prising my hand off the chair so that I could accept the papers. All the time Dr Southall kept saying, 'Your child is perfectly normal'."
An interim high court order gave care of the baby to the Royal Brompton. But eight months later, after the case was investigated by social services and the Alexanders were examined by a psychiatrist who said they were not suffering from any psychiatric disorder, wardship proceedings were dismissed.
They lodged their complaint against Prof Southall in 1987 and say for the past 17 years the smear of child abuse has affected their son's education and their job prospects.
"David Southall sees MSBP everywhere," Mrs Alexander said. "He failed to respect our privacy and dignity and his incorrect diagnosis left my husband and I with the stigma of being accused of being child abusers."
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Lots more in the same vein in the last week if anyone wants the links/stories.