A mother has denied pursuing a claim of serious professional
misconduct against controversial paediatrician and expert witness Dr David Southall in order to get media attention.
Deborah Henshall, 44, rebutted the accusation during a General Medical
Council (GMC) hearing in Manchester.
She and her husband Carl, 40, are complainants in a GMC case against Dr
Southall and two other doctors.
Their two baby daughters, Stacey and Sofie, took part in 'breathing tank
trials' at North Staffordshire Hospital following their respective
births in February and December of 1992.
Stacey died after two days and Sofie survived but was later diagnosed
with cerebral palsy.
The Henshalls claim that they did not give informed consent for their
children to take part in the CNEP (continuous negative extrathoracic
pressure) trials which involved placing premature babies into low
pressure incubators so they could breathe unaided.
Mary O'Rourke, representing Dr Southall, said to Mrs Henshall in
cross-examination: "You have pursued him because he is the high profile
person, he will get you the media attention.
"You know that using his name you will get the attention you want
because he is sometimes seen as a controversial figure."
Mrs Henshall replied: "I haven't pursued Dr Southall above or over other
doctors."
She said her complaint related to the standards of the research trial
and how it affected her children.
Ms O'Rourke also suggested that Mrs Henshall's 16-year campaign to
obtain a GMC hearing had a negative impact on medical practitioners.
She said: "You have been causing problems, so we are being told by
paediatricians, right round the country.
"Your campaign and unjust allegations has been affecting clinical
practice."
The GMC allege that Dr Southall, Dr Stephen Spencer and Dr Martin
Samuels "failed to ensure appropriate procedures were in place to obtain
informed parental consent to the patients' participation in the CNEP
trial".
It is also claimed they "inappropriately delegated" the task of taking
consent to too many different staff who were not provided with adequate
training for the task.
They are also said to have misrepresented within the parental
information leaflet that the technique had shown to be safe and did not
ensure every parent had a copy of the leaflet.
Both Dr Southall and Dr Spencer are also accused of inaccurately
describing the procedures of the trial in their application for ethical
approval.
Dr Spencer is also alleged to have failed to ensure appropriate steps
were taken to treat hypoxia (shortage of oxygen) suffered by Sofie.
In 2004 Dr Southall was suspended from child protection work over his
role in the case of solicitor Sally Clark, wrongly jailed over the death
of her two sons.
He accused Mrs Clark's husband Steve of murdering the two boys on the
basis of a television interview.
The hearing was adjourned until Tuesday.
end