A doctor still practising at the age of 87 was struck off after giving two children unconventional treatments.
Dr Jean Monro, who qualified in 1960, prescribed unlicensed medication to a girl and made a boy wear an oxygen mask for four hours a day.
The devout Christian, who runs a private clinic with her sons in Hemel Hempstead, was described as a risk to patient safety at a tribunal that concluded last month.
She is believed to be the oldest doctor to have her name removed from the register of medics.
The hearing at the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS) in Manchester, which ran from May to October, heard that Dr Monro had treated a five-year-old girl at her family-run clinic Breakspear Medical in 2020.
It was told the girl became ill after inhaling mouldy water in her grandmother’s bathroom after sucking on a rubber duck.
Dr Monro prescribed her the drug cholestyramine, which is not licensed in the UK for children. The treatment can cause malabsorption – difficulties absorbing nutrients from food – which can lead to malnutrition, according to the American Journal of Medicine.
Unable to afford further appointments, the girl’s parents sought treatment from the NHS, where a paediatrician questioned Dr Monro’s treatment.
Dr Monro was later reported to the General Medical Council (GMC).
‘No evidence of regret’
At the tribunal, barrister Christopher Hamlet, representing the GMC, said: ‘‘Dr Monro has produced no evidence of regret or insight and there has been no reflection, no acknowledgement of fault, and no attempt at any remediation by her.’‘
Dr Monro did not attend the hearing but submitted a statement saying: ‘‘I have caused no harm to this child.
“I acted in her best interests at all times and I provided the best advice and guidance to her mother. If you believe that I fell short of the expected standards, I disagree.’‘
Dr Monro had already been suspended for 12 months following a different tribunal last year, which had looked at her treatment of a six-year-old boy in 2015.
Her treatment involved the boy, who had an infection of the lymph nodes, wearing an oxygen face mask for several hours a day. The 2023 tribunal had considered the treatment “inadequate”.
Taking both cases into consideration, MPTS chairman Debi Gould ruled last month that Dr Monro should be struck off for showing “a reckless disregard for the principles of good medical practice”.