A SCOTTISH GP who confessed to helping patients take their own lives has died.
READ MORE: Scots doctor: I helped my patients kill themselves
Dr Iain Kerr, who was once suspended by the General Medical Council (GMC) for his actions, died at home in Glasgow aged 69 after a battle with cancer.
His former patients at Williamwood Medical Centre in Clarkston, East Renfrewshire, were among more than 200 people who attended his funeral at Busby Hotel on Monday.
His wife, Viviane Kerr, said: “With Iain it was always about other people. It was never about himself. He was a very modest man. He never blew his own trumpet. That was just his way.”
Dr Kerr was born and brought up in Glasgow, studied medicine in Edinburgh and spent some time working in the United States before he became a GP.
He was a keen runner and tributes have been paid to him by Giffnock North Amateur Athletics Club as well as Friends at the End (Fate), the voluntary group dedicated to legalising assisted dying in the UK.
Dr Kerr was a firm supporter of changing the law and once told how this arose from his experience with patients and reading about end-of-life issues. In 2008 he was suspended for six months by the GMC for prescribing tablets to an elderly patient so she could end her life.
In an emotional defence, he told the hearing: “In my opinion, sometimes the law of the land is out of step with what might be called natural justice or social justice or with what a significant minority of people think.
“There have been times when owning slaves was legal and women did not have the right to vote and these things we now think of as untenable.”
Publicity about his case sparked warm letters from his patients describing a doctor who even made home visits on his day off.
“I could go on about all the lives he has touched and all the lives he has saved, but I do not need to,” said Susan Raskin of Newton Mearns. “The people who have been lucky enough to be his patients know what I mean.”
That summer around 400 patients are said to have attended a hastily arranged meeting to show their support for their GP.
His wife Viviane Kerr, 66, said: “He helped everyone with everything. That is what came across with his patients. He was willing to listen to them, take their views into consideration, and I suppose was a legendary GP.”
In 2013, following his retirement, he confessed to assisting in the suicide of other patients who wanted to end their lives. He decided, he said, to speak up in a bid to inform debate on the issue. At that time former MSP Margo Macdonald was preparing a Bill legalising assisted deaths in Scotland.
Dr Kerr said he had supplied an elderly couple with sleeping tablets after they approached him in 1990 for help with a joint suicide.
He also admitted telling another pensioner how many pills he needed to swallow to end his life and visiting the patient while the overdose took effect.
Sheila Duffy, convener of FATE, said: “Iain was a genuine, caring, old-fashioned family doctor that everyone respected and looked to for help and reassurance. He stood up for what he believed in and this cost him dearly, because I know he disliked publicity and found it difficult to deal with.”
Giffnock North Amateur Athletic Club said Dr Kerr is constantly remembered by those who ran alongside him and was awarded several trophies over the years for his commitment to the club.
A competitive runner, Dr Kerr ran four marathons with his wife and raised money for the Prince and Princess of Wales Hospice by running – the charity also supported by donations at his funeral. Dr Kerr was also involved in volunteer work, including regular afternoons at a food bank.
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