A Scottish doctor was accused yesterday of prescribing tablets to an elderly patient to enable her to take her own life.

Dr Iain Kerr, a Glasgow GP, appeared before a General Medical Council hearing accused of giving the 87-year-old, who it is said was afraid of becoming a burden on her family, sleeping pills against official guidance. The woman later died of an overdose from different drugs.

A further five cases of inappropriately prescribing patients the same sleeping tablets, which official guidance say should only be used to treat "severe and intractable insomnia", were also brought before the hearing.

The GMC panel was told a poem written about death by a woman with a terminal illness was displayed on his surgery wall and that Dr Kerr stated himself, in a staff appraisal, "that he had given and would continue to give under the right circumstances (the sleeping tablet) sodium amytal ... for the purpose of the patient ending their own life."

Dr Kerr, who works at Williamwood Medical Centre in Clarkston, has admitted some, although not all, of the allegations against him. Strathclyde Police have already conducted an investigation and interviewed Dr Kerr, although it decided to take no action.

Concerns were first raised about Dr Kerr, a GP with 30 years' experience, following his annual appraisal in 2004, the hearing, in Manchester, was told.

Dr Maria Duffy, who conducted the appraisal, confirmed he had spoken of sodium amytal and said he had given the tablets to a patient to end her life, but she had not taken them.

Ms Duffy said: "I could not believe what he was telling me. I had never come across that before."

She later agreed: "I felt very uncomfortable with what he was saying and it went against GMC guidance on the duties of a doctor and it was against the law."

She went on to report the conversation to Greater Glasgow and Clyde Health Board, and the police were informed.

Initially the health board decided to routinely monitor the way Dr Kerr practised. This changed, however, when a consultant psychiatrist at The Priory hospital in Glasgow alerted a senior member of staff to a letter he received from Dr Kerr.

In it, Dr Kerr referred to his treatment of the 87-year-old, dubbed Patient A by the GMC, saying she had discussed suicide with him some years ago and he had supplied barbiturates - a type of drug which includes sodium amytal.

The Committee on the Safety of Medicines published guidance regarding sodium amytal in 1996, noting hazards associated with the treatment were well recognised and it should only be used to treat "severe and intractable insomnia".

Suzanne Goddard, QC, counsel for the GMC, told the hearing: "It is the GMC case that there is no evidence on her (patient A's) medical records that she was suffering from severe intractable insomnia."

The hearing was told that Patient A ultimately disposed of the tablets, not wanting Dr Kerr to get into trouble. However, the woman was found dead at her home on December 12, 2005, and the post-mortem concluded her death was caused by intoxification with three different drugs, including temazepam - which Dr Kerr is accused of prescribing for her just two days after she used it in a failed suicide attempt.

During meetings with health board staff, discussed at the hearing, the GP spoke about it not being his intention that she would use this medication to kill herself.

An investigation into Dr Kerr's prescribing of sodium amytal also brought to light the other cases where the GMC's expert witness suggests the use of the tablets "could not be justified based on the medical condition of the patients" as presented in the medical records.

A 75-year-old with a malignant disease of the immune system and a 73-year-old man are among the cases, as well as incidents where patients did have insomnia.

Dr Kerr admits prescribing sodium amytal to patient A with the intention that she should be able to end her own life, should she choose to do so.

However, he denies doing this after she informed him she was unhappy with her quality of life and that he did not take adequate measures to dissuade her. He also denies the actions outlined by the GMC were irresponsible and against his patients' best interests.