David Southall, a British pediatrician, is in disciplinary hearings after accusing a mother of drugging and murdering her ten year-old son. Southall apparently made the accusation during an interview with the mother, as part of preparing a report for local authorities regarding the mother's care of her younger son. The deceased, whose death was ruled as either a suicide or an accident by British courts, was found hanging by a belt from a curtain rod in the family home.

The doctor became a controversial figure in 2004 after a similar accusation to the father of two deceased sons. That case resulted in a judge forbidding Southall from working in child protection.

In spite of public criticism, many child health experts call Southall a pioneer, believing that it's important that he -- and others like him -- "test new ideas" and "challenge received wisdom." In court testimony, he was called a "pioneer", going where "others fear to tread" in his attempts to thwart child abuse. Southall has also contributed important research to SIDS (referred to as "cot death" in the linked article), as well as work in the study of Munchhausen's syndrome (caregivers who deliberately keep their children ill to draw attention to themselves).

For a man in Southall's position, vigilance must seem imperative in response to what he sees -- the truly awful things parents are capable of doing to their children. However, in accusing a mother deemed innocent by the courts of murder, the doctor seems to have gone too far.