A Very Dangerous Doctor

26 April 2011

A Very Dangerous Doctor, Thu 12 May, 9pm, Channel 4

 

The second film in a new run of Cutting Edge, Channel 4's flagship documentary series, is A Very Dangerous Doctor, which explores one of the longest-running, most emotionally-charged battles in British medical history. In one corner, a pioneering doctor who dared to accuse mothers of abusing their own children. In the other corner are the mothers who counter-claim that the doctor was the abuser; using his power so that he could research on the children to test his own medical theories.

With unprecedented to access to both sides of the story, this authored documentary, by Bafta award-winning film-maker Leo Regan, explores the controversy surrounding paediatrician Dr David Southall  and a group of mothers, who he accused of abusing their children. Filmed over two years, Regan gets to the heart of the war between doctors and mothers and tries to find out who is telling the truth.  

Dr Southall has been recognized as one of Britain's leading paediatricians and an expert in child protection. But a group of mothers believe he is a dangerous doctor, who abused the system and tried to further his career by illegally researching on their kids. They've spent the last 20 years fighting to hold him to account.

Dr Southall was lauded for his pioneering research work investigating cot death and is regarded as an international expert on Munchausen's Syndrome by Proxy, now known as FII (fabricated or induced illness), a condition which means parents deliberately induce or fabricate illnesses in their children to gain attention for themselves.

During his career he's been involved in over 100 cases where children have been taken from their families. This film meets some of the mothers accused of abusing their children, separated from their kids on the basis of his evidence. They deny harming their children and say he's destroyed their lives. They also claim that he used their children for un-consented medical research - leaving one boy severely disabled.

In 2010 the Court of Appeal overturned a decision to strike Dr Southall from the medical register, though he now faces further General Medical Council (GMC) sanctions which could see him struck off a second time. The GMC originally struck him off in 2007 saying he had abused his position by accusing a mother of drugging and murdering her son, and had acted inappropriately by keeping original medical documents on children in his own special case files, separately from their official medical records.

But Southall is also supported by many child health experts who believe he is the victim of a hate campaign by child-abusing parents in denial of their guilt.

Regan meets the parents who believe they were falsely accused and have devoted much of their lives fighting against the paediatrician's diagnosis. He meets other medical professionals who support them and follows Dr Southall as he defends his reputation, backed by fellow paediatricians who believe that the doctor is the subject of an orchestrated and vexatious vendetta.