A Scottish doctor who gave a potentially suicidal patient sleeping pills could be struck off by the General Medical Council (GMC).

Dr Iain Kerr prescribed 30 sodium amytal pills to the former businesswoman in 1998 after she told him she had considered suicide.

His action was today found proved by a GMC Fitness to Practise Panel, who ruled that it was "inappropriate, irresponsible, liable to bring the profession into disrepute and not in your patient's best interest".

The same ruling was made against the Glasgow GP for failing to refer the retired businesswoman, known as Patient A, to hospital after she overdosed on Temazepam tablets in December 2005.

Panel chairman John Donnelly branded the doctor's decision to prescribe her more Temazepam tablets two days later as "illogical".

The 87-year-old killed herself, using Temazepam, two weeks after her failed suicide bid.

The panel found Dr Kerr had not failed to take adequate measures to dissuade her from suicide.

Mr Donnelly said: "Patient A was an elderly lady who made her end-of-life wishes quite clear, in that she did not want to become a burden upon her family. The Panel found that she was determined to end her own life."

The GMC panel ruled that Dr Kerr's actions brought the profession into disrepute for not making a record of why he had prescribed sodium amytal pills to four patients and for poor record keeping in relation to a fifth patient.

The 61-year-old GP prescribed the pills to all five patients, despite the fact that four of them did not suffer from insomnia.

Medical guidelines stated that the powerful sleeping pills should only be used to treat "severe and intractable insomnia".

The five patients were four women aged 75, 76, 72 and 61, and a man aged 73.

One of the women suffered from depression, another was terminally ill, another had heart problems and the man had a drink problem.

The panel found Dr Kerr had not brought his profession into disrepute for telling colleagues he had prescribed sleeping pills to patients to help them end their lives.

Dr Kerr, who has practised medicine for 30 years at the Williamwood Medical Centre in Clarkston, Glasgow, said he gave Patient A the sleeping pills as an "insurance policy".

He told the seven-day hearing in Manchester: "She said 'Give me something that I can take if things get too bad' and I said yes."

She later disposed of the sleeping tablets because she did not want to get him into trouble after learning he was being investigated by health chiefs for his views on assisted suicide.

Patient A was an osteoporosis sufferer who loved playing bridge and attending family events but feared becoming a burden upon her family, the GMC heard.

Her son told the GMC she was strong minded and had a high regard for Dr Kerr.

He also said she was aghast at witnessing the deterioration and death of her sister from bone cancer.

Dr Kerr said Patient A had "firm views about how she wanted her life to end" and wanted to maintain control over what happened to her.

She had made an advance statement in which she expressed her desire not to be resuscitated if she became gravely ill, the GMC heard.

Dr Kerr was investigated by local health authorities after saying during an appraisal that his "achievements" included helping patients at the end of their lives.

Strathclyde Police investigated him but took no action after finding there was "insufficient evidence".

Dr Kerr told patients he was a member of the Euthanasia Society to give them the opportunity to discus "end of life matters".

The doctor, who he is married to a nurse and has three children, one a doctor, admitted that he was once a member of the Voluntary Euthanasia Society of Scotland.

He quoted Charles Dickens in branding the law an ass and said the law of the land was out of step "with what a significant minority of people think".

He told the GMC: "I think when dealing with someone holding a rational view of the circumstances in which they want to end their life, it was my duty to at least consider whether he or she had a reasonable opinion and that it was my duty to assist if I thought I agreed with that patient's assessment."

He also said his concern was for the wellbeing of his patients who had placed their trust in him.

The GMC Panel will reconvene at 9.30am tomorrow to consider what penalties, if any, the doctor faces.