Sir Roy Meadow Appeals

Over in London, Sir Roy Meadow is appealing from the General Medical Council's decision barring him from medical practice, according to a Reuters report. The ban was imposed as a sanction for testimony by Meadow, at a criminal trial, that the odds of two unexplained crib deaths in the same family were one in 73 million -- testimony now deemed to have been misleading.

We hold no brief for Sir Roy Meadow, and we find it appalling that mothers were convicted of crimes based on such testimony. But after much reflection, we also think the sanction of defrocking physicians for disfavored testimony is inappropriate. We'll be saying more about our reasons in the next little bit.