A FAMILY doctor who kept his job despite prescribing sleeping pills to a suicidal woman has said that he remains in favour of patients having the right to end their lives.

However Dr Iain Kerr, a GP in Glasgow, has given an assurance that he will not prescribe potentially fatal drugs to patients who want to kill themselves.

The doctor said he had “learned his lesson” and would not put himself in the same position again.

“I’m not going to get involved with anybody or anything that could be construed as assisted suicide,” he said.

“It’s a legal constraint on me but I am determined to obey the law for the rest of my career. I agree that I did something that was fundamentally wrong in the eyes of the law but in terms of what you might call natural justice, the view of what many people consider acceptable, I wasn’t necessarily wrong although legally it is wrong.

“I don’t feel guilty. I just feel regret for the stress it’s caused my patients and my family.”

The doctor said he had great sympathy with sufferers of terminal illnesses, such as the MSP Margo MacDonald, and called on politicians to consider changing the law on euthanasia.

However, he said he would not let his “personal opinions” affect his patients after NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde decided against terminating his contract last week, meaning he will be free to return to practising in February.

In 1998, Kerr prescribed 30 sodium amytal tablets to an elderly woman, known as Patient A, after she told him she had considered suicide. The pensioner later disposed of the tablets because she did not want to get Dr Kerr into trouble after learning he was being investigated for his views on assisted suicide.

Seven years later, in December 2005, she used temazepam in a failed suicide bid, but Dr Kerr did not refer her to hospital. The woman killed herself 11 days later, using a cocktail of temazepam, antihistamines and painkillers.

Kerr, 62, was found guilty of misconduct following a hearing by the General Medical Council (GMC) last month and faced the prospect of having the contract for his practice in Clarkston terminated. However, following protests from Dr Kerr’s patients, the health board ruled that the practice should remain open.

He said he wanted to put his experience behind him but remained supportive of the right to die for patients who are of sound mind.

MacDonald, who suffers from Parkinson’s disease, told fellow MSPs in March that she wanted to be able to bring about her own death if her condition deteriorates.

“The subject comes up from time to time and people express their views,” Kerr added. “I feel it would be appropriate to have a system allowing people control of the end of their life.

“That would have to have significant safeguards so that vulnerable people were not disadvantaged. The worry is that a person feels they are a burden to their families and might feel coerced into taking part in assisted suicide.

“I know the politicians have a lot of other things to consider but I think this is important.”

Dr Kerr was investigated by police in 2004 after he mentioned at an NHS appraisal that one of his particular interests was “end of life care”.

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