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Government and medical regulators are failing to defend expert paediatricians against attacks

Professor Terence Stephenson said child health doctors faced intimidation in the difficult field of child protection and could be put off acting as expert witnesses in court.



Prof Stephenson who is a child health expert and dean of the faculty of medicine at Nottingham University, said paediatricians were coming under fire from threats of litigation, loss of livelihood and persecution by parts of the media.



He is calling on Prime Minister Gordon Brown to ask the Government to conduct a survey of paediatricians to determine their views.



This will cover whether they feel intimidated about giving evidence in child abuse cases and the numbers who have felt deterred from giving such evidence in court.



Several high profile paediatricians have come under fire in recent years over their child work. Dr David Southall was found guilty in December of serious professional misconduct and struck off the medical register by the General Medical Council (GMC).



He was said to have abused his position by accusing a mother of drugging and murdering her son. He later defended himself, saying the first priority of anyone in child protection had to be the child.



Another doctor, Professor Sir Roy Meadow, was found guilty by the GMC in 2005 of giving incorrect and misleading evidence in court during the case of the late solicitor Sally Clark.



He was struck off the medical register but later won a High Court battle, with the judge saying the GMC should not punish experts over evidence given in good faith.



A spokesman for the GMC said: "By creating an impression that the GMC is intent on unfairly persecuting paediatricians involved in child protection work there is a real risk of creating, or adding to, the very problem that our critics say they wish to resolve. Paediatricians attract complaints like other doctors. But it is untrue that large or disproportionate numbers of paediatricians are represented in our fitness to practise procedures."

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