Parents demand gag on cot death doctor's lectures
The Observer Sat, 15 Jan 2005 5:08 PM PST
The pediatrician whose discredited scientific evidence resulted in
the wrongful jailing of Angela Cannings for murdering two of her
children is continuing to promote his controversial theories about
child abuse to the medical community.


Jamie Doward, social affairs editor
Sunday January 16, 2005
The Observer United Kingdom

The pediatrician whose discredited scientific evidence resulted in
the wrongful jailing of Angela Cannings for murdering two of her
children is continuing to promote his controversial theories about
child abuse to the medical community.
News that Professor Sir Roy Meadow, who is to face a General Medical
Council hearing into his conduct next month, is continuing to
influence medical thinking about child abuse issues has sparked
outrage among families wrongly accused of killing their children on
the strength of his evidence.
Cannings, who was wrongly jailed for killing her two babies, partly
on the basis of Meadow's evidence, last week discovered she would
not be entitled to compensation. Tomorrow she will have a private
meeting with the Attorney General, Lord Goldsmith, at which she will
raise concerns that Meadow is continuing to discuss his
controversial theories at medical seminars in the UK and the United
States.
Medical experts fear doctors have been too ready to diagnose on the
basis of Meadow's theory about Munchausen syndrome by proxy (MSBP),
which suggests that parents harm their children to draw attention to
themselves. As a result parents have been accused when their
children's injuries have been due to other factors.
In Australia, the Queensland Court of Appeal has ruled that MSBP can
no longer be recognised as a psychiatric disorder.
Meadow's principal claim about cot deaths - that one child's death
in the same family is a tragedy, two is suspicious and three is
murder, which became known as 'Meadow's Law' - has also been
rejected by the British courts.
Despite the huge controversy generated by Meadow's theories, he
continues to be a big draw on the lecture circuit. Later this month
he will lecture to a 1,500-strong audience of child-protection
workers from 30 countries at a conference in San Diego in the United
States. The 'Quest for the Best' conference is billed as a platform
for health workers to learn 'best practices'.
Meadow is to give a lecture entitled 'The Medical Diagnosis of MSBP -
Warning Signs and Strategies for Diagnosis'. In a separate lecture,
he will also discuss how the backlash against MSBP has affected the
paediatrics profession. When Meadow addressed British doctors last
November, they were awarded 'personal development points' on their
CVs for attending.
Penny Mellor, who campaigns on behalf of parents wrongly accused of
suffering from MSBP and will attend Canning's meeting with
Goldsmith, said: 'Given the concerns about the use of expert medical
evidence which were raised in the Attorney General's review of
hundreds of criminal cases, many of which involved Meadow, I don't
understand how he can be allowed to continue lecturing.'
Meadow was unavailable for comment last night, but his supporters
have in the past accused his critics of conducting a vendetta
against him. They say the actions of a handful of campaigners have
damaged the image of paediatricians to the extent that many doctors
are turning away from the profession.
The appeal court ruled that Cannings' conviction, made on the basis
of the testimony of an expert witness, was unsafe. The ruling
prompted the Attorney General to announce a review of almost 300
cases in which parents had been convicted of killing their children.
The government also instructed local councils to look into almost
30,000 cases in the family courts where children had been separated
from their parents.
Meadow also gave prosecution evidence in two other murder trials
which were overturned on appeal. Sally Clark's conviction for
murdering her two sons was quashed after she had spent more than
three years in jail. Trupti Patel was also cleared of suffocating
her three babies.
Charles Pragnell, an expert defence witness in child prosecution
cases, has said previously that MSBP allegations have been
made 'with no attempt having been made to thoroughly investigate
possible causes of the child's illness from genetic disorders,
vaccine damage, effects of prescribed medications, exposure to toxic
substances, or severe allergic reactions'.