The General Medical Council's decision not to strike off consultant paediatrician David Southall after he accused a father of murdering his two baby sons on the basis of a television documentary was strongly condemned in the High Court as a failure to protect the public.
Professor Southall "to this day believes he is right and has shown no insight, remorse or contrition" a judge was told yesterday.
Prof Southall was barred from any child protection work for three years by the General Medical Council's professional conduct committee after being found guilty last August of serious professional misconduct.
But a QC for the Council for Healthcare Regulatory Excellence (CHRE) said the High Court the penalty was " manifestly inadequate and inappropriate".
The GMC had "woefully failed" to "maintain confidence in the medical profession," said Monica Carss-Frisk QC.
The case arose after Sally Clark - later cleared by the Court of Appeal - was convicted of the murder of her baby sons, Christopher and Harry Clark.
Ms Carss-Frisk said Prof Southall saw a Dispatches programme about the Sally Clark case broadcast on Channel 4 television on April 27 2000.
His serious professional misconduct arose when he expressed the view "based on little more than the television programme" that Mrs Clark's husband, Stephen, "was guilty beyond any reasonable doubt of having murdered two of his children, and therefore his third child - Child A - was at risk".
Ms Carss-Frisk said the appropriate penalty was the erasure of Prof Southall's name from the register of medical practitioners.
Mark Shaw QC, appearing on behalf of the GMC, said: "I am not prepared to accept that erasure is the only possible sanction." The hearing continues.
