Doctor guilty of misconduct over case of girl, 13, whose death led to Martha’s rule

Martha Mills. Martha’s rule gives the right to a second medical opinion in English hospitals. Photograph: Mills/Laity family photograph/PA

A senior doctor has been found guilty of “misconduct which impairs his fitness to practise” in relation to his treatment of a 13-year-old girl whose death led to the adoption of Martha’s rule.

The disciplinary panel reached its decision having determined that Prof Richard Thompson failed to escalate the treatment of Martha Mills to an intensive care unit or to conduct a direct in-person review and assessment, including of a newly developed rash.