He always had the support of campaigners and patients, and last night those who backed Glasgow GP Dr Iain Kerr were delighted at his imminent return to work, albeit with restrictions.

CAROLYN CHURCHILL and MARTIN WILLIAMS

He always had the support of campaigners and patients, and last night those who backed Glasgow GP Dr Iain Kerr were delighted at his imminent return to work, albeit with restrictions.

Doctors, patients and other supporters have contributed to a fund to cover the cost of a £300-a-day locum to keep his post open during his suspension.

Sheila Duffy, of the Glasgow-based pro-choice group Friends at the End, said Dr Kerr was a "caring and compassionate" GP who "wanted to get back to work" and should never have been dragged in front of the panel to justify his actions.

"We are delighted he hasn't been struck off and he has the full support of most of his patients," she said. "There would have been such a public outcry if he had been, quite frankly."

Responding to the restrictions placed on the doctor, she said: "This guy is either fit to practise or he is not, if he is not, he shouldn't be practising.

"It looks like the GMC has just rapped him over the knuckles just to be seen to be doing something, to tick some boxes."

After his suspension from practice last July by a General Medical Council panel, a second hearing was held this week to review the case.

In a dramatic turnaround from his original hearing, Dr Kerr, 62, told the review panel, sitting in Manchester, that his views on physician assisted suicide had changed "considerably" and he believed there was "no place" for it in medical practice.

He said: "I do now see that acting in a way which I did was unacceptable."

But yesterday, the GMC panel told Dr Kerr: "The panel considered that your oral evidence did not demonstrate sufficient insight to reassure it that you fully appreciate the gravity or the wide ranging nature of the previous panel's findings."

The panel had earlier heard how in 1998 Dr Kerr prescribed sodium amytal to Patient A. The woman did not use the tablets and destroyed them several years later.

In 2005 Dr Kerr visited her after she took an overdose of temazepam in a failed suicide bid but he did not admit her to hospital.

He later prescribed her more temazepam and she died within a fortnight of intoxification from this and other drugs.

The first panel told Dr Kerr: "The panel is of the opinion that you allowed your views in respect of physician assisted suicide to influence your treatment of Patient A.

"You made a serious misjudgment and embarked upon a potentially criminal act."

That panel also criticised Dr Kerr's failure to keep adequate records when he prescribed sodium amytal, which official guidance says should only be used to treat "severe and intractable insomnia" to five other patients.

Dr Kerr told the review panel on Thursday that the case of Patient A was a "unique" situation and he would not do the same again.

Last night Margo MacDonald, the independent MSP who is calling for change in the law to make assisted suicide legal north of the Border, said that Dr Kerr's case underlined the need for a rethink and feared the outcome would make doctors think twice about assisted suicide.

"I think it is a shame because I think at the very least the public wants the matter to be debated," she said.

Ms MacDonald added: "He should not have gone through this. The GMC is entitled to apply its rules and judgments but I think in this case it misjudged him if it thinks he is a person that needs continuing supervision as to the correct way to behave."