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Review into 4,000 'hidden files' kept by disgraced Southall
Last updated at 16:52pm on 20.02.07
Thousands of cases involving controversial paediatrician Professor David Southall as a prosecution witness are to be reviewed by the Attorney General, it was announced today.
The doctor has been accused of acting inappropriately and is facing a General Medical Council hearing in November.
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He is alleged to have kept about 4,450 "special" case files on children which were not stored on the child's correct hospital file.
The review will go back more than 10 years and will examine all the "special" case files created by Professor Southall, who practised from London's Royal Brompton Hospital and North Staffordshire Royal Infirmary in Stoke-on-Trent.
The Attorney General, Lord Goldsmith, told the House of Lords: "It is said Professor Southall kept so-called special case files containing original medical records for his patients that were not also kept on the child's proper hospital file.
"Concerns have been raised that in some of those cases criminal proceedings may have been taken but the existence of the files not revealed, resulting in their not being disclosed as part of the prosecution process. I share those concerns."
"I have thus decided that I will conduct an assessment of the cases where Professor Southall was a prosecution witness."
In the GMC hearing in November, one mother - identified only as Mrs M - said Professor Southall had accused her of drugging and hanging her 10-year-old son.
The GMC also heard that a Mrs H spent years trying to find information from her son's medical file after it was moved from the Royal Brompton Hospital by Professor Southall.
In the current GMC hearing - adjourned until November - Professor Southall is accused of 18 charges of tampering with medical records, keeping secret medical files and abusing his position relating to four children.
