Detectives to investigate doctor who suffocated a 'hopeless' newborn baby

A hospital doctor who admitted suffocating a severely disabled baby 34 years ago is being investigated by murder squad detectives.

The junior doctor wrote a magazine article in which she claimed to have placed a pillow over a newborn girl for 20 minutes at a hospital in north London.

The then senior house officer in paediatrics said that she had killed the baby, which was born without a brain, to spare the parents the trauma of having to watch the child die.

The doctor wrote in the 1988 article: "I turned the baby on her face, put a pillow over her head and held it there until she stopped breathing. It took 20 minutes for her to die. They were the longest 20 minutes in my life."

She added: "Surely I am not the only doctor to have killed a severely handicapped baby."

The unnamed doctor, who used the pseudonym of Ivy Walker, is being investigated by detectives from the Metropolitan Police's Homicide and Serious Crime Command for evidence of murder or manslaughter.

The police have admitted that it will be extremely difficult to investigate an alleged incident, where there are no remains, involving something that happened at an unnamed location more than 30 years ago.

The case highlights the issue of how to treat newborn babies with no chance of living. A recent poll of Irish paediatricians found that 75 per cent have admitted withdrawing or withholding life-saving treatment from "hopeless" newborn babies. Opponents of any form of euthanasia believe the act is murder and should be treated as such.

In the case under investigation, the doctor wrote in the New Society magazine, which has since been incorporated into the New Statesman, under the headline "Killing for Kindness".

The paediatrician said that, at the time, it was thought best for the parents not to see the newborn child in cases which were hopeless - an approach that has since changed.

The baby girl was suffering from anencephaly - a defect resulting in the absence of a large part of the brain - which usually leaves the child blind, deaf, unconscious and unable to feel pain. If the infant is not stillborn, then he or she will usually die within a few hours or days after birth.

The doctor wrote: "The obstetric staff ... were adamant that the baby must not live, even for a few hours, as that would mean the parents would have to be told she was alive. They would then have the distressing experience of having to register the birth and then the death of their child."

The paediatrician said that after suffocating the child, "I fled the maternity unit in tears". The medic continued: "The guilt and sorrow I felt at the time are, to some extent, with me still. I can still see her face, blotching and purple from asphyxia." The doctor said that, with 16 years of experience, she knew "it was wrong of us to deny those parents the opportunity to grieve."

Early this year the British Medical Association, which represents more than 130,000 doctors, voted to oppose all forms of assisted dying. In the first detailed examination of child euthanasia a study of Dutch doctors reported 22 "mercy killings" of terminally ill babies since 1997. None of the doctors involved was charged, although euthanasia for children is illegal in the Netherlands.

The UK campaign group, Dignity in Dying, believes only adults of a sound mind should be given the choice to take their own lives, and that cases involving children should be left to the courts.

Euthanasia - a personal testimony

This is an edited extract from an article written in 1988 by a doctor under the pseudonym of Ivy Walker

In the summer of 1972, I was a senior house officer in paediatrics at a large north London hospital.

One Sunday lunchtime, not long after I had started the job, I was called to the labour ward to an anencephalic[literally brainless] child. I asked why I was needed, because these children are usually stillborn, and was told: "To deal with the baby!"

The birth was fairly easy. As soon as the cord was cut, the baby and I were ushered out. There was great haste about this as the parents had been assured that the baby would be born dead and that they should put it out of their minds immediately. But the baby, a girl, was not dead. Apart from the entire absence of a brain, she was perfect in every other way.

The obstetric staff... were adamant that the baby must not live, even for a few hours, as that would mean the parents would have to be told she was alive.

They would then have the distressing experience of having to register the birth and then the death of their child. It was thought by everyone, including me, that this would be too much for them. They had been told the baby was dead and dead she must be.

It was made clear that I was the paediatrician and the baby was my problem. So I turned the baby on her face, put a pillow over her head and held it there until she stopped breathing.

It took 20 minutes for her to die. They were the longest 20 minutes in my life. I became increasingly distressed and when eventually she did die, I fled the maternity unit in tears. I do not know what happened to the baby's body afterwards, though I suspect it was taken to the hospital incinerator. The whole point was to ensure there was nothing for the parents to have to bury.

The guilt and sorrow I felt at the time are, to some extent, with me still. I can still see her face, blotching and purple from asphyxia.

In the light of 16 years' experience, I would, of course, handle the situation very differently now.

Looking back, it seems incredible how little I and the rest of the profession knew then about the emotional side of pregnancy, birth and the need to mourn one's dead baby.

It was very wrong of us to deny those parents the opportunity to grieve. We probably prolonged the very distress we were trying to prevent.

Hardest of all to live with is the knowledge that I caused another human being more distress in death than she would have had dying naturally. This baby would certainly have died within a few hours - why, why did I have to interfere?