THE GMC’s decision to strike Sir Roy Meadow off the medical register will be viewed with dismay by most doctors.

Many already feel that Sir Roy has been made a scapegoat for all those social workers, doctors and others who over the years have adopted a politically correct approach to children’s affairs that have all too often destroyed families.

Now there will be even greater unease that he has been struck off, not for a medical error that might endanger those in his care, but because of misleading evidence in court.

The decision will not only destroy an eminent doctor’s reputation but will discourage other doctors from stepping into court as expert witnesses.

Sir Roy Meadow is a paediatrician who, over the years, has done great service to his field. There can be few doctors who haven’t had to deal with children who have been mistreated by their carers whether parents, siblings or childminders. Sir Roy was one of the few who refused to keep his doubts to himself.He brought serious problems into the open and his actions must have saved many children. His misfortune is that his dogmatic opinions became bracketed with similar characteristics too often displayed by the social services when dealing with family problems. The wider misfortune is that doctors will now think twice before offering themselves as expert witnesses.

So, too, will community paediatrics suffer. This area of medicine has become an unpopular speciality since it became fashionable to hound the doctors involved.

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